Organizational Transformation
Successful Digital Transformation: 4 HR Challenges to Overcome
Learn key digital transformation strategies and how to overcome HR challenges for a successful technology transformation.
We've seen it time and again: businesses pour resources into digital initiatives, only to fall short of their goals. Why? It's often because they're missing a crucial piece of the puzzle: the right people, in the right place, at the right time. So how can you make sure you are successful when it comes to a digital transformation strategy?
Korn Ferry recently worked with a major retailer who faced this exact challenge. Their suburban Pennsylvania HQ wasn't exactly a tech talent hotspot, which meant their growth potential was capped.
Here's how we tackled it, and what you can learn from their experience.
1. Choose the Right Location
Finding the right location for a tech hub is crucial. It affects your ability to attract top talent and manage costs. You need to balance proximity to key markets with access to skilled workers and affordable labor. But in saturated tech markets, competition for talent is fierce. Focusing on good local universities for emerging talent pipelines and ensuring diverse talent pools can significantly enhance your recruitment strategy.
Conducting a thorough market analysis is key. It helps you understand local talent pools, competitive dynamics, and economic conditions.
We helped our retail client by studying locations across the US. We landed on North Carolina's Research Triangle—the sweet spot for the skills they needed that was cost-effective and had a good quality of life. We also guided them on best practices for the location build and helped recruit over 100 experienced tech professionals. Today, we continue to support their talent acquisition team, helping them create policies that have enabled the hiring of hundreds more to expand their digital capabilities.
Here are some important factors to keep in mind when choosing a location:
- Talent pool: Is there a steady stream of skilled professionals and university graduates, and a diverse talent pool?
- Competition: Who are your direct competitors?
- Cost of living: Can you offer competitive salaries without breaking the bank?
- Culture fit: Does the location align with your company's values and work style?
If you don’t have compelling ‘yes’ answers to these questions, it might be time to reassess your location strategy and explore alternative options that better align with your company’s needs and goals.
2. Build a Strong Employer Brand
In today’s job market, top talent can be hard to secure. How do you make sure top talent chooses you?
In tech, your reputation as an employer can make or break your hiring efforts. Our retail client had a strong consumer brand, but they were largely unknown in the tech community. We helped them build an employer value proposition that spoke directly to the tech talent they needed.
Important things to consider when crafting an EVP:
- Consumer brand doesn't automatically translate to an employer brand
- Tech talent often cares more about the problems they'll solve than your company's history
- Ensure you are crystal clear about the impact individuals can have on your company
3. Consider New Skills and New Roles
Digital transformation often requires skills your organization has never needed before. Data scientists, UX designers, cloud architects—these roles might be completely new territory for you. For our retail client, we didn't just help them hire, but we helped them understand what these new roles would do and how they would fit into the bigger picture. This meant defining new roles and required skills and identifying gaps in the existing workforce. Then, the client was able to decide whether to upskill current employees or bring in fresh talent and create job profiles to anticipate future trends and technological advancements.
We also advised on a “top down” hiring strategy. Hiring the top professionals in the local market with the new skill sets needed helped to ensure effective candidate screening, stacking the client’s credentials in the local market and driving a referral network/strategy.
Key considerations for building out new roles and identifying skill gaps:
- Don't just copy-paste job descriptions from tech companies—understand what you really need
- Be prepared to rethink your organizational structure
- Consider which skills you need in-house (upskill/reskill) vs. what you can outsource
4. Define Your Compensation Strategy
Top tech talent doesn’t come cheap. But throwing money at the problem isn't the answer either.
We helped our client develop a compensation strategy that was competitive but sustainable. This meant looking beyond just salary to consider equity, benefits, and career progression.
Insights we've gained:
- Salary benchmarks for tech roles can become outdated quickly
- Non-monetary benefits (like remote work options) can be powerful differentiators
- It is beneficial to be transparent about your compensation philosophy—tech talent appreciates straight talk
We conducted market salary surveys and provided insights into local compensation trends. This data-driven approach helped our client compete effectively in their new market and achieve their hiring goals.
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Digital Transformation Strategy: Putting It All Together
Successfully navigating digital transformation requires a holistic approach. It's not just about technology—it's about people. From choosing the right location to defining new roles, from crafting a compelling employer brand to offering competitive compensation, every piece of the puzzle matters.
By focusing on the human element—finding the right people, putting them in the right environment, and giving them the right incentives—you can dramatically improve your odds of success.
We've helped numerous companies navigate this journey. Are you ready to turn your digital transformation challenges into opportunities? Contact us to get started.
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