(Asia) Rohit Dhawan, Analytics Platform Strategy, Regional Lead Asia Pacific Japan, Amazon Web Services, speaks with Virendra Dafane, Head of Data Foundation Services, about accelerating digital transformation and understanding digital strategy.

Dhawan says having the right team is key to accelerating transformation. The team has to have the right leaders who will empower other people and guide the transformation roadmap. There are a couple of other factors accelerating change. One is having the right operating model and a multidisciplinary team with a shared product vision. Another is having the proper program structure to create motivation for the transformation.

Regarding balancing investment between customer journey and optimizing internal processes, Dhawan says that the internal process must eventually cater to the customers’ needs —  directly or indirectly. AWS starts with customers’ needs and then thinks about internal processes.

Dhawan says digital transformation strategy means different things to different people. His advice for young professionals and strategy makers? To Dhawan, a digital transformation strategy is a plan of action:

Point One — The plan of action is not a constant. You need to revisit the plan every few weeks or every six months and adjust it based on results and learnings. 

Point Two —  Most digital strategies do not come to life because they are too theoretical. You need to start experimenting and fail sometimes.

Point Three —  Make sure the digital strategy has been created in consultation with all the relevant parties.