Digital health brings potential for better health. To this end, healthcare organisations should be somewhere along a transformation journey of “becoming digital”, weaving digital into every aspect of the organisation.
Yet despite holding great promise, many digital transformations fail or fall short of expectations. In part, due to a misalignment between the desired future, execution and outcomes, and not seeing that the real challenge lies in changing the organisation.
In any digital transformation, the hard work lies in the transformation, not the digital. Boards and executives need confidence to commit that comes from not repeating the mistakes of the past.
So much rests on driving pivotal change in the face of short-term pressures and staying true to the vision. Organisational transformation can be long, difficult and littered with diversions. Boards and executives must have confidence that the transformation process is worth the pain of disruption. They need to be sure that it will deliver the vision, that the goals are sufficiently ambitious, and investments will give rise to the right returns. This is the case whether the transformational goals are introducing digitally enhanced care models, rolling out electronic record systems, replacing outdated information infrastructure, or underpinning a new capital development.
Digital transformations bring heavy demands.
Failing to learn from the experiences of others can give rise to a mismatch between expected outcomes and the limitations of what technology can deliver. Many approach change from a linear implementation perspective rather than a transformative mindset. Vendors may bring single-point solutions that resolve just one piece of the technology puzzle rather than considering the entire ecosystem of the organisation.
Boards and executives need to feel confident that the significant investment in technology is driven by strategy and purpose, not the other way around.
To bring it all together and supercharge the effectiveness of executing digital transformation, leaders need a roadmap and framework that guides confident execution.