Stop writing digital strategies. Start delivering them.

Many contain sound analysis, ambitious but achievable goals and carefully constructed roadmaps. The problem is what happens after the document is approved.

South Africa has pockets of genuine digital excellence. Banking is an obvious example. Customers can increasingly open accounts, transact and access services without ever visiting a branch. But too often, the strategy becomes an end in itself. We don't need more digital transformation strategies. We need to get better at delivering the ones we already have.

That starts with people. A strategy only matters when it changes what people do. Who delivers it? Do they understand what it means for their jobs? Do they have the skills and tools to execute it? Is anyone monitoring whether the organisation is actually moving towards the intended outcome?

When strategy becomes a personal project Leadership changes can make this particularly difficult. Sometimes changing direction simultaneously is exactly the right thing to do. Markets change. Technology changes. Customers change. Circumstances change. But there is a difference between adapting a strategy and abandoning it because it belongs to someone else.

Leaders need to distinguish between personal achievements and organisational achievements. If a previous programme is delivering value, the incoming leadership should build on it rather than dismantle it simply to establish its own legacy. Continuity is often good management.

A strategy has to make sense beyond the boardroom A strategy can make perfect sense to an executive committee and mean very little to the person expected to execute it. People need to understand not just what the organisation wants to achieve, but what that means for them. Good strategic communication turns broad objectives into something people can understand and act upon.

At a large South African ISP I worked for, I saw the value of repeating a simple strategic message until it became part of the organisation's vocabulary. The customer was placed at the centre of the strategy, and that principle appeared in executive communications, customer success stories and discussions about failures. The message was difficult to misunderstand: if we don't keep customers happy, we don't have a business. Without the business, there are no jobs. That is how strategy travels from the executive suite to the person doing the work.

Become a lay expert in the core business An organisation cannot expect people to deliver a digital strategy if they don't understand technology, or what digital means in the context of their own organisation. That doesn't mean turning everyone into an engineer if you happen to work for an oil company. But it does mean giving people enough knowledge to understand the environment in which they work.

At Intellehub, for example, someone working in the bid office may receive a technology tender. They don't need to be a solutions architect, but they should have enough understanding of areas such as cybersecurity, connectivity, cloud and data centres to recognise what the opportunity is asking for.

Short, practical learning interventions can give employees a working understanding of the technologies their organisation uses and sells. More importantly, they help people see how their own role contributes to the wider business.

The lesson is simple: people need to understand the business before they can effectively use technology to change it.

On any project, the difference between having the right team and the wrong one is substantial. If people don't have the necessary skills or don't understand the brief, delivery slows down. The longer that continues, the further the organisation moves from its intended outcome.

Digital transformation requires digital literacy In the long term, South Africa's broad-based digital transformation success means overcoming a significant skills gap and an education system that does not consistently produce the capabilities the economy needs. We should be asking what kind of workforce South Africa needs to build over the next 10 or 15 years.

Technology can give young people remarkable opportunities. Affordable connectivity and increasingly accessible digital tools allow someone with curiosity and determination to learn, build products and create opportunities that might previously have been unimaginable. But whether it's education and training or in-house alignment with strategic goals and outcomes, people produce better results when they learn and operate in a conducive environment.

Good execution is not particularly glamorous. It means having capable people, giving them the right tools, making sure they understand the objective and checking regularly whether the work is producing the intended result.

About Intellehub ​​Intellehub is a trusted ICT solutions partner with a national footprint across South Africa. Founded in 2013, the company follows a design, build and operate model to deliver advisory, innovative technology, managed services, and people solutions that drive impact, scale, and compliance. Certified Level 1 BBBEE, ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 27001, Intellehub partners with global OEM leaders to ensure reliable delivery. Its portfolio spans Enterprise Architecture, development of innovative technology solutions covering business intelligence, cloud, AI/ML, IoT, IT & Cyber security, industrial automation, modern workplace and human capital development, supporting government and enterprise clients nationwide. For more information, visit https://intellehubsa.com/

Issued by: Michelle Oelschig, Scarlet Letter Contact details: 083-636-1766, michelle@scarletletter.co.z