There are several challenges and obstacles that may confront digital transformation, and the goal here is to learn from past mistakes and lessons learned from others and not to delve into the same experiments that may lead to failure. We must study the risks, prepare solutions, and move clearly towards the desired goal of improving lifestyle, facilitating it, increasing productivity, and reducing costs in the long run.
One of the most important challenges facing digital transformation and hindering its success is the lack of a clear vision for digital transformation. As mentioned in the earlier parts of this article, vision is followed by wise leadership, then individual plans, company policies, and government policies towards digital transformation. Next, strategies are developed to implement the policies, followed by creating plans and work teams with clear tasks based on the strategies. From my perspective, keeping up with the transformation at an individual level is a shared responsibility between the individual and their institution. However, implementing the transformation at the institutional and governmental levels is done with a clear direction from decision-makers and senior management, followed by executing the plans for the rest of the departments at all levels until reaching the lowest functional level in the organization. Everyone should be successful partners, not competitors or divided on accepting or rejecting the transformation. Alongside the implementation, the culture of transformation is spread. Therefore, transformation here involves willpower, decisions, culture, plans, commitments, and predefined timelines for outputs that are reviewed, corrected quickly and directly, and executed without room for any individual procrastination.
Another important challenge is efficiency, which here means education, skill, and experience. Education is the foundation of all development, the basis of every seed of change towards the better. It encompasses all levels, including school, university, and professional education. Education is not limited to studying school books, college courses, or professional specializations. It is a broad concept that includes the desire for continuous learning, keeping up with developments, and being aware of everything an individual needs in their professional life in their field of specialization and any other area they may need during their work.
Skill development here goes hand in hand with education to meet work demands. As for experience, a reservoir of experience helps a person overcome challenges through continuous learning to refine their experiences and develop their skills. An expert can notice differences during continuous learning and keep pace with advancements quickly based on their aspirations and interests.
Another challenge is the technical challenge of the availability of systems, infrastructure, and capabilities supporting digital transformation. The major challenge lies in unifying efforts and harnessing them towards accelerating and succeeding in digital transformation. It should be clarified here that the required systems vary from simple systems like project resource planning systems to medium-level systems such as private institution networks or university platforms supported by their digital systems that serve their framework and interact with beneficiaries like students, faculty, and administrative bodies. Systems can also be larger and more comprehensive, such as the digital government or unified governmental network, through which all services can be provided to citizens quickly and effectively.
Another challenge is the financial challenge, the ability to invest in digital transformation. The journey of digital transformation is often costly and technically and financially challenging. Developing platforms, changing organizational structures and work frameworks in institutions and governments are processes that require a lot of time, resources, and funds. Therefore, it is necessary to consider building clear partnerships between the public and private sectors based on profit-sharing or a build-operate-transfer (BOT) system by utilizing local or external resources that share the same interests. It is important to note that all partnerships require governance, monitoring, auditing, and follow-up to ensure success and achieve the ultimate goal of transformation.
In conclusion, there are several challenges that may confront the journey of digital transformation, including having a clear vision, the challenge of efficiency, education, and skills. It is also crucial to realize that the technical challenge is very important for the success of the transformation. Finally, the financial challenge is one of the very important challenges but it can be overcome with proper planning and implementation.
Surpassing it through successful partnerships. The nature of possible digital transformation systems may vary in their technologies and capabilities depending on the desired goal, but all these systems share several things, including comprehensiveness in that they cover all beneficiaries regardless of their location, and they share flexibility, availability, the ability for continuous development, and the ability for stability and resilience in performance. When all challenges are overcome, this will reflect on the success and completion of the digital transformation, contributing to building the digital economy, improving business sectors, and enhancing the environment for innovation and investment.Specialist in the telecommunications and information technology sector and digital transformation
