digital transformation

I have seen many businesses saying they have embarked on digital transformation while in reality, they have just digitized some of their processes.

There is confusion over the two terms, Digitization &Digital Transformation.

The two terms are often used interchangeably when their actual meanings are totally different. In fact, they point to two very different ways of responding to disruptive technology.

Let me talk about Digitization: It is doing the same things, differently.

Organisations creating numerous standalone strategies supporting value realisation, is as counterproductive as musicians in a conductor-less orchestra, only having their individual sheet music.

Do organisations need a Digital Strategy?

In Don’t Draft a Digital Strategy Just Because Everyone Else Is, Ken Favaro argues that

I recently chaired a panel interviewing inspiring women from different countries and backgrounds who have become recognised technology leaders in their fields. There was a lot of collective wisdom about how these women had navigated their careers and succeeded in becoming technology leaders. Here are three highlights from our conversation with the talented Sabah Carter, CIO of News Corp, Judith van de Pas, CIO of Shell Retail and May Yap, Global CIO of Jabil.

Career paths are not linear

Have you ever said a word so many times it begins to sound a bit weird? It’s known as ‘semantic satiation’ and happens when the person saying the word suddenly loses all sense of its meaning. It’s a peculiar phenomenon and one that happens, I believe, to the word ‘Digital’ for so many reasons.

Your organisation will likely have a digital transformation strategy in place and backed up by a digital leadership team and even a digital programme to make it all happen. ‘But’, you may wonder, ‘what is this ‘Digital’ thing and why does it require transformation’?

I was recently doing a bit of networking, talking about how we're using digital exemplar projects as a key enabler to drive our wider digital business transformation. For those who read my blogs, you’ll know I can’t resist a good analogy and the analogy I always use for this is that the exemplars are like icebreaking vessels; big, highly visible, strong and powerful.

Cybersecurity has risen as a key issue on the radar of virtually all organisations. As a recent AT Kearney report suggests, cyber-attacks have been topping executives’ lists of business risks for three straight years. In fact, the overwhelming majority of organisations have experienced some form of cyber-attack at some point over the past few years.

Over the last few years you can’t have failed to notice a number of factors coming together in a potent mix, creating the opportunity for “digital transformation”:

• availability of data,
• the power and availability of technology,
• mobile and cloud computing,
• peoples’ raised service expectations,
• a shift to more agile ways of working.

I’ve observed that this disruption is also driving an absolute requirement for a change in the way leaders lead. Some approaches are simply no longer an option. 

In 1837, Hans Christian Andersen wrote the short story called ‘The emperor’s new clothes’ a tale about two weavers who create a beautiful new suit of clothes that they say are invisible to those who are unfit for their positions, stupid, or incompetent – while in reality, they make no clothes at all, making everyone believe the clothes are simply invisible to them. When the emperor parades before the people in his new suit of clothes, no one dares to say that they do not see any clothes on him for fear that they will be seen as stupid.

For a long time I would ignore such questions as I wrongly concluded that they only applied to those who lacked some form of self-discipline but in reality, our ability to ‘manage’ what, for many, is a digital deluge is a challenge we all face whether young or old.

Today’s business environment embodies the phrase “survival of the fittest.” As in, if your organisation isn’t as productive and efficient as it can be, you’ll be left behind.

Introducing new technology in today’s digital world can help you remain competitive.

That’s not all though, the effectiveness of your solution depends on how you choose to implement it. If your employees don’t use the new tool, you won’t realise any of its benefits.

Fret not, with careful preparation, effective support, and defined end-goals, you can make your technology roll-out a success.