Can The ‘Digital Business Manifesto’ Enable Success?

 

The digital enterprise environment should be more progressive and collaborative than ever. When it comes to crafting the direction of the business and the consequent strategy execution, ideals and aims should be shared across the company.

Consequently, are enough companies following practices that allow business objectives to be achieved collectively? Well, according to Gartner, the answer is actually an unclear one.

The digital business manifesto

However, the research company did offer what it believes to be the answer to any issues surrounding collaboration and garnering a more broad understanding of enterprise identity: the digital business manifesto.

While its contents can vary, in the simplest terms, this document should note down the core objectives of the business, and be distributed throughout to ensure that more of the workforce understands what needs to be done to meet objectives.

“The core principles and desired outcomes of a digital workplace need to be explained in plain language that reflects the culture and values of the organization, while offering prescriptive guidance. The digital manifesto is essentially a vehicle to make the digital workplace actionable and real to all stakeholders,” explained Matthew Cain, vice president and analyst with Gartner.

The digital manifesto can either sit as a standalone document, or be worked into the companies wider strategic planning processes, as many of the ideas in both will be shared and actioned similarly.

Share ideals across the enterprise

While the effectiveness of any new digital manifesto may be hard to measure, the organizational benefits of such a document can be far reaching. For example, research from digital marketing solutions provider 9 Clouds cites positive examples from craft beer company New Belgium and search giant Google.

What their manifestos have in common is that they humanize their endeavors, while also pushing the core brand of the business. This not only increases the reputation of the enterprise from the outside looking in, but also shows how the internal workforce can be influenced once they better understand the aims, objectives and identity of the company.