What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is not just about technology (although obviously that is important), but is about the organisational and cultural changes needed to make the company entirely customer-centric.

In other posts we note that every company must make delivering value to its customers the whole reason for its being in business. If you’re not continually enhancing your products and services then you're not staying relevant to the market and your customers.

If this requires the whole company to change, to transform from its legacy-self, why is the phrase ‘digital transformation’ used so widely?

Digital refers to the company moving with speed and agility rather than a reference to technology. Speed and agility may be better defined as velocity, which gives momentum, focus which ensures direction and governance, and flexibility which provides the enabling environment for success.

Success in digital transformation - becoming a ‘digital master’ as defined by Westerman et al - requires inspired leadership far more than it needs technology. It’s a lot easier to buy the latest new tooling than it is to let go of the command-and-control method in which your organisation has always worked.

True digital transformation involves transforming the very focus of the organisation, to recognise that – as in real life - all the aces are in the customer’s hand. This means a significant cultural change. Executives are no longer the real decision makers, rather they become servant leaders - to fully empower their employees to understand the ever-evolving customer demand and to act on how to influence their purchase decisions.

A Pathway to Digital Transformation

Successful digital transformation enables companies to create value by both enhancing revenues and generating those revenues in a more cost-efficient fashion.

These are the key messages:

• Now, more than ever, becoming ‘digital’ is critical for commercial success. Covid-19 moved the dial from a Digital First strategy to one of Digital Only...
• Digital isn’t just about the technology, it’s about how the organisation delivers value to its customers.
• The digital journey will require transformations in empowerment, customer experience, operational processes & business models.
• Culture, insight, organisation & technology are levers that assist transformation and can provide a framework to assess maturity on that journey.
• Success on the digital journey requires company-wide collaboration and empowerment, but most of all it requires leadership.