5 Tips on How to Make Digital Transformation Easier

At recent ACTION 2022, the only event dedicated to Actionable Reporting, a number of reporting professionals from PwC, KPN, Microsoft, Enterprise DNA and Zebra BI, gathered at a panel to discuss an intriguing headline: "Digital transformation is hard but you CAN make it easier."

It's a complex topic and we could talk about it for ages! We decided to choose the key learnings from the panel for you to see how experts suggest you should tackle digital transformation in your company.

1. At first, you should inspire 

At first, Sam McKay, Founder & CEO at Enterprise DNA believes you need to inspire others: create a great Power BI report and show it to the people. For example, design something with Zebra BI, a product with a purposeful and actionable design, and find like-minded individuals and excite them about it to get the initial buy-in.

You can start small.

2. Building trust is key

There's no linear route to success, it's a journey. Laura van den Eshof, Director Finance Insights & Analytics at KPN points out the importance of new reports being done right, and it's also key to understand your stakeholders' needs and get the right requirements from the end-user. What's their job, the most important KPI? The first question shouldn't be: tell me what do you need in the report?

3. By far the biggest obstacle is adoption

Andrej Lapajne, Founder and CEO of Zebra BI, pointed out that adoption is a complex equation with two parts: on one side, there are users, the people, and on the other part, there are tools. People are used to some tools, but nobody has really trained us how to create good reports as they don't teach this at many universities. That's why it's key to invest into training, educating, and empowering people with knowledge, and it's Zebra BI's duty to do so.

At the same time, the mission of Zebra BI is also to create better tools. Andrej would like to see the transition to real self-service so the adoption is as easy and user-friendly as possible.

Andrej talks more about adoption as a part of the Actionable Reporting manifesto.

4. You should be oriented toward the user

Michael Schneiders, Enterprise Architecture | Data Transformation & Strategy at PwC adds that users don't want to interact with technology too much and that they want to see immediate results. The value is driven by users' needs so they need to be put in front of the technology. For example, security and data management are important, but the first touch people get from the reports is in the reports that they're using.

Before developing any reports, it’s crucial to define first what questions do your business users want to answer. In a separate session from ACTION 2022, Michael Schneiders shared how his team used the design thinking process to understand what users really want, built wireframes, and went through multiple iterations to successfully prepare guidelines for report developers.

Watch the How-to session with PwC: Using report prototypes to make sure you're answering the right questions here.

5. You may have a good knife, but you have to learn how to cook

It's crucial to learn the principles of data visualization and design, and only then think about what technology you should use. What's the purpose of your report? The craftsmanship is important: the context, the right visual, the colors, etc.

You will never get a good meal out because of a good knife, it's always the cook that matters! With these words from Marc Reguera, WW PBI + Synapse Customer Engagement Lead at Microsoft, we're wrapping up our blog and invite you to share your progress and ideas with others here in the comment section.

Watch the full video session including Q&A from ACTION 2022

Watch this and many other how-to sessions from ACTION 2022, and learn how experts from the world's leading companies create their reports.