The challenges of digital transformation are many, from changing people’s mindset to selecting the right tools. But as FPT Chief Digital Transformation Advisor Phuong Tram said in a recent management workshop, the biggest challenge of all is to get consensus across the board.

“Each leader is an individual”, Tram said. The key isn’t getting an individual leader, but an integrated team of C-levels to sponsor digital transformation, he added.

Tram was once former Chief Information Officer at DuPont and currently serves as a board member of the Washington-based Technology Business Management Council, AT&T’s Executive Customers Advisory Board, Dell-EMC CIO Advisory Board, and Salesforce’s CIO Advisory Board and Research Board – apart from his role as Chief Digital Transformation Advisor at FPT.

“Digital Transformation is all about from to”, Tram said, noting that it would be impossible without leadership consensus on “where you are today and where you want to get to”.

Tram’s viewpoint was consistent with a recent Havard Business Review report which suggests that disagreement among top managers about goals is a top reason for digital transformation failure. “Without a clear understanding of the goal — and the means to the end — it would have been difficult to ensure that all elements of the business were on the same page”, the report read.

Tram also pointed out cross-function process management, people engagement, and customer-centricity as key to leadership when it comes to digital transformation.

“If you want to transform, you need to digitize the process, which is cross functions, from sales opportunities to order, services delivery and payment control”, he said.

“The role of leadership must be to create the environment where employees want to engage”, Tram affirmed, adding that “when you got customer-centricity, everyone works only for the customer. No one else but the customer”.

“Once you can engage technology, people, and leadership, you can fully transform”.