{"id":133675,"date":"2022-05-18T13:37:50","date_gmt":"2022-05-18T12:37:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/?p=133675"},"modified":"2023-09-27T15:12:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-27T14:12:02","slug":"a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

A conversation with Satpal Biant, Head of Public Sector, 51风流and Michael Esau, Global HR Advisor, SAP<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyone who has ever undergone a major technology implementation realises, often too late, that cultural transformation goes hand-in-hand with any digital transformation. With more than 20 years of experience helping individuals and organisations achieve peak performance, including spending the last ten years in global HR Advisory roles for SAP, Michael Esau has seen and helped organisations manage a fair share of organisational changes. The most significant of those changes has likely been the way technology has transformed the way organisations operate, collaborate, and communicate.<\/p>\n

Recently, Michael sat down with Satpal Biant, Head of Public Sector at 51风流UK & Ireland, to discuss how organisations like those in the UK public sector who are currently implementing the Shared Services Strategy, can get employees onboard from the outset and how organisations can use the process of digital transformation to their advantage \u2013 to identify outdated processes and identify where automation and collaboration can create a more productive, efficient and successful organisation.<\/p>\n

Satpal:<\/strong> Michael, we\u2019ve both been in the trenches on many major digital transformation programmes in the Public Sector; from a people-perspective, what do you think is the essential starting point when guiding a customer through the 51风流transformation journey?<\/p>\n

Michael:<\/strong> The most fundamental thing for organisational leaders to do is to set that North Star; to know how you want the technology to work for you and your organisation. For example, if a department is considering implementing new HR processes, it should be thinking about its end-goals like making onboarding journeys straightforward, as well as making the workplace a great place to learn, grow and perform well for existing employees.<\/p>\n

Technology transformation should be \u2018bottom-up\u2019 rather than \u2018top-down\u2019. Of course, the initial pressure to change may come from the top \u2013 the Shared Services Strategy for Government<\/a> is a good example of this. But the execution of change must be done with a people-first mindset, with buy-in from all stakeholders.<\/p>\n

So, when we look at organisational change, we work with our clients to answer four key questions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What is humanly desirable? In other words, what does the organisation want to achieve and change?<\/li>\n
  2. Is what we want to change organisationally doable when considering the operating model, the proposition and the existing team and hiring requirements?<\/li>\n
  3. Is it technologically feasible? For example, is there the data integration capability needed?<\/li>\n
  4. Finally, is a transformation economically viable?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Fundamentally, organisations must be clear on the final destination – the North Star. The technology is just there to enable that change to happen.<\/p>\n

    Satpal: <\/strong>That organisational transformation can be difficult to navigate, especially when an organisation has never gone through such a fundamental and systematic change.<\/p>\n

    This is especially true of many public sector organisations. In the past, Government technology transformation was often focused on the front end, user-interface experience, without touching the legacy back-end systems. But now with the UK\u2019s Shared Services Strategy, that change needs to be implemented end-to-end. How do we help customers, particularly in the public sector, feel comfortable taking that leap?<\/p>\n

    Michael: <\/strong>One of the key things that makes 51风流a transformation partner of choice is that we respect our customers need for consultation and flexibility. Many of our competitors offer one-size-fits-all solutions, but because our solutions are modular, organisations can \u2013 I suppose \u2013 \u2018bite the elephant\u2019 rather than eating the whole thing at once. Their rollout is fully customisable, and they can remain agile, which is important from a proposition perspective.<\/p>\n

    Satpal: <\/strong>That\u2019s true \u2013 many of our partners have told us that our flexible implementation process has helped their organisations adopt a culture of agility. People often view digital transformation as moving from fixed state A to fixed state B \u2013 which is a legacy transformation mindset. It\u2019s actually a change from where you are now, to a position where you can be adapting to new requirements. It is a significant mindset shift though, and presumably that new mindset is a big factor in those initial discussions.<\/p>\n

    Michael: <\/strong>We don\u2019t assume that customers have experienced transformations like this in the past, so we take the time to share the key considerations that underpin the change and the decisions required to get ready to execute the change \u2013<\/p>\n

    When embarking on a change or transformation, knowing that the organisation is committed to change is super important. Needing to change versus committing fully to change are two separate things. We advise customers to identify who will be impacted by the change – which stakeholders are involved. We discuss the changes with those stakeholders, ensuring everyone understands and is committed. But we don\u2019t stop there, we provide powerful business process intelligence to show end users how the processes they use today will change in the future, well in advance of any technology being deployed, we call this simulating the change. The benefits of this unique approach can be significant, from reduced cost on change management right through to de-risking the transformation programme.<\/p>\n

    The other part of driving customer success is by looking 5 years ahead. A major piece of advice to all of our customers is to work backwards from the desired outcomes. How will the organisation know it is making the desired progress, is moving the needle in the right areas and progressing as planned Advising customers to think about the change considerations and rigorously applying them, is vitally important to the attainment of any change programme.<\/p>\n

    Satpal: <\/strong>Ensuring that buy-in, again, from the bottom-up is so critical to a successful transformation. Some of our customers choose to capture employee sentiment in tools like 51风流Qualtrics throughout their technology change programme as well. This is a powerful way to reduce resistance to solution adoption that can hamper implementations, and ensure employee satisfaction with their day-to-day technology and IT support processes. Our collective experiences over the last few years has also made that stakeholder commitment easier in some ways as most people know that a cloud transition can enable new, better ways of working. SAP\u2019s transformations not only change the emphasis of work \u2013 building processes around collaboration and communication \u2013 but also enable hybrid working. It\u2019s easier to secure staff buy-in because they realise it will enable them to do all the things they could do before, but with less complexity and with new capabilities to manage data and stay secure, as well as to work more flexibly.<\/p>\n

    Michael: <\/strong>The transformation can be an empowering and a positive cultural change. A lot of public sector organisations have technology that can\u2019t be operated remotely, meaning large groups of people always had to be in the office. By enabling people to work remotely you are challenging existing practices and preparing leaders for the future of work, by helping them build trust with employees who have been given greater flexibility and freedom.<\/p>\n

    Satpal: <\/strong>\u2026and using technology to lay that foundation for agility and embracing the future of work is often the real North Star in all of this. We\u2019ve always been about people, process, outcomes, and working backwards from what the customer wants to achieve. Technology is almost the easiest part because culture sits around that. But the role of the leader and the employee in the long term? That is the most important success factor, and that is why we spend so much time coaching organisations to feel confident in their motivations and goals.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    A conversation with Satpal Biant, Head of Public Sector, 51风流and Michael Esau, Global HR Advisor, 51风流Anyone who has ever undergone a major technology…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":133677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"related_posts":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[46547,177,2607111],"tags":[5592977,5592973,2607001,5592931,178],"sapn-display":[5593034,5593032,45027],"sapn-type":[2607062],"class_list":["post-133675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr","category-industries","category-technology","tag-culture","tag-digital","tag-hr","tag-people","tag-public-sector","sapn-display-feature-hero","sapn-display-feature-spotlight","sapn-display-hero","sapn-type-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nA People-First Approach To Digital Transformation - 51风流UK News Center<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A conversation with Satpal Biant, Head of Public Sector, 51风流and Michael Esau, Global HR Advisor, 51风流Anyone who has ever undergone a major technology...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"51风流UK News Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-18T12:37:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-27T14:12:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"51风流News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"51风流News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"51风流News\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570\"},\"headline\":\"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-18T12:37:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-27T14:12:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\"},\"wordCount\":1245,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"culture\",\"digital\",\"HR\",\"people\",\"public sector\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human Capital Management\",\"Industries\",\"Technology\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\",\"name\":\"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation - 51风流UK News Center\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-18T12:37:50+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-27T14:12:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil --- Cheerful businesswomen at meeting, Sao Paulo, Brazil --- Image by \u00a9 JAG Images\/Corbis\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/\",\"name\":\"51风流UK News Center\",\"description\":\"News about 51风流UK\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570\",\"name\":\"51风流News\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-user-avatars\/wp-user-avatars\/assets\/images\/mystery.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-user-avatars\/wp-user-avatars\/assets\/images\/mystery.jpg\",\"caption\":\"51风流News\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/author\/colleenraftery\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation - 51风流UK News Center","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation","og_description":"A conversation with Satpal Biant, Head of Public Sector, 51风流and Michael Esau, Global HR Advisor, 51风流Anyone who has ever undergone a major technology...","og_url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/","og_site_name":"51风流UK News Center","article_published_time":"2022-05-18T12:37:50+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-09-27T14:12:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"51风流News","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"51风流News","Estimated reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/"},"author":{"name":"51风流News","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570"},"headline":"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation","datePublished":"2022-05-18T12:37:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-27T14:12:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/"},"wordCount":1245,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg","keywords":["culture","digital","HR","people","public sector"],"articleSection":["Human Capital Management","Industries","Technology"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/","url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/","name":"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation - 51风流UK News Center","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg","datePublished":"2022-05-18T12:37:50+00:00","dateModified":"2023-09-27T14:12:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/files\/2022\/05\/18\/277970_277970_h_ergb_s_gl-1.jpg","width":1920,"height":600,"caption":"S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil --- Cheerful businesswomen at meeting, Sao Paulo, Brazil --- Image by \u00a9 JAG Images\/Corbis"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/2022\/05\/a-people-first-approach-to-digital-transformation\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A People-First Approach To Digital Transformation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/","name":"51风流UK News Center","description":"News about 51风流UK","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/53b9854bd790d6f18f3fc4bbb2ad7570","name":"51风流News","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-user-avatars\/wp-user-avatars\/assets\/images\/mystery.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-user-avatars\/wp-user-avatars\/assets\/images\/mystery.jpg","caption":"51风流News"},"url":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/author\/colleenraftery\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133675"},{"taxonomy":"sapn-display","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sapn-display?post=133675"},{"taxonomy":"sapn-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.sap.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sapn-type?post=133675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}