Digital – the Overnight Sensation Five Years in the Making
Author: Nick Mescher
‘Digital’ in business is an all-encompassing theme covering both the physical and virtual worlds – with digital transformation describing how it is altering businesses for the better at a rapidly increasing pace. We all know that diverse digital technologies are having a profound impact on every aspect of our lives. Existing business practices are being adapted every day, evolving to new digital methods to increase efficiency and keep pace with rapidly-changing market demands. Whilst the drive to powerful and all-encompassing ‘digital transformation’ does seem to be happening everywhere you turn, it is no longer an option for most organisations, but rather an imperative for business success. Yet, as the term ‘transformation’ implies, the process of becoming fully digitally transformed can seem like an overwhelming effort in its scope and complexity – the likes of which we’ve never experienced before.
Digital – the Overnight Sensation Five Years in the Making
The business implications for this new digital age are immense. Successful companies realise that digital is a journey not a destination.
Whilst most organisations today are no longer just yearning to be a part of the digital revolution, only some are completely transformed. Contrary to the beliefs of many industry spokespeople who believe that digital is simply IT by another name, I believe it’s more than that. While ‘IT’ has a connotation of ‘supportive infrastructure’ - digital is omnipresent in business. It is a true business enabler and critical to future company growth, driven by the business and core to company strategy.
With that definition comes a certain lustre that may have been missing from the information technology industry for many years. Some would even say that it is once again becoming enviable to be part of a rapidly growing industry that has been viewed by many as only gradually evolving for several years now.
It is true that many companies across many industries have already succeeded in transforming their businesses with complete integration of digital. In fact, many of those companies have completely disrupted their entire industry - often beyond recognition. But while several companies and indeed entire industries can now be considered truly ‘digital first’, many others are still only on the cusp of change with digital. It is these industries and organisations that have spent years focusing on containing/reducing IT costs and ensuring overall efficiencies, that must now adapt themselves to fully embrace digital as a critical business driver.
These companies need to change the way they market themselves, sell products and services, launch new products and solutions, provide customer service, along with streamlining and improving their internal processes. They are essentially creating a completely new business model that could not exist without new technologies. Organisations that fail to cross the digital transformation gap face a steady decline in customer relevance, with the potential to ultimately fade into obsolescence.
What are the ways forward?
For an organisation to digitally transform, they simply have to fully embrace technology – right? Not really – since digital transformation transcends technology, there are many areas of focus for it to occur successfully and seamlessly across the entire organisation. While digital transformation is often viewed through a narrow technology lens, as just another mobile app project or e-commerce initiative, it must be more than that. Fundamentally, digital transformation is the result of enterprises seeking to adapt to new technology affecting markets and customers. However, true change is only possible if we fully embrace the implications across all areas of the organisation. Of course this includes technology, but we also have to look at business models, processes, people and culture, structure, pace of delivery, partners, and customer interactions. This includes effective internal systems, processes and value chains as an essential first step, but enterprises will also increasingly need to harness the capabilities and passions of people with the right skills and experience.
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