What is Digital Strategy?

A digital strategy is a plan for maximizing the business benefits of data assets and technology-focused initiatives. A successful digital strategy engages a cross-functional team within a health plan organization that includes executives across key business units (call centers, product & plan design, marketing, operations), and the digital and information technology teams (architecture, engineering, delivery). At its core, it’s making wise investment choices to maximize competitive advantage, growth, profit, and value—and then implementing with discipline.

A good strategy provides a clear roadmap, consisting of a set of guiding principles or rules, that defines the actions teams should take (and not take) and the things they should prioritize (and not prioritize) to achieve desired goals.

In its pure essence, a strategy is the blueprint for a digital plan that leaders align on and empower their team members to drive toward.

A digital strategy gives you more focus on your business goals and objectives (e.g. improve health outcomes and reduce operational costs) and clearly outlines the tactical steps to be taken.

However, there can be no strategy or plan without the ability to measure its success. Therefore, from the board of directors to the development team, clear objectives must be known, and each team must have specific and realistic measurable result targets for reaching those objectives identified up front - which allows teams to focus on the best possible digital solutions that will drive those results, and the freedom to pivot if results cannot be met.

One final note: a health plan digital strategy will require transformational thinking, both in terms of the use of new technology, but also in operational changes (e.g. policy and process) to support the organizational digital goals.