Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation: Everything You Need To Know

Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, and get comfortable with failure.

Because digital transformation will look different for every company, it can be hard to pinpoint a definition that applies to all. However, in general terms, we define digital transformation as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business resulting in fundamental changes to how businesses operate and how they deliver value to customers. Beyond that, it’s a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment often, and get comfortable with failure. This sometimes means walking away from long-standing business processes that companies were built upon in favor of relatively new practices that are still being defined.

Digital transformation should begin with a problem statement, a clear opportunity, or an aspirational goal, Jay Ferro, chief information & technology officer of Clario, recently explained. “The “why” of your organization’s digital transformation might be around improving customer experience, reducing friction, increasing productivity, or elevating profitability, for example,” Ferro notes. “Or, if it’s an aspirational statement, it might revolve around becoming the absolute best to do business with, utilizing enabling digital technologies that were unavailable years ago.”

Leaders, think about what digital transformation will mean – in practice – to your company and how you will articulate it. “Digital is a loaded word that means many things to many people,” says Jim Swanson, CIO of Johnson & Johnson. When you discuss digital transformation, unpack what it means, advises Swanson, who led digital transformation at Bayer Crop Science (and previously served as CIO at Monsanto) before joining Johnson & Johnson in early 2020.

At Monsanto, Swanson discussed digital transformation in terms of customer centricity. “We talk about automating operations, about people, and about new business models,” he says. “Wrapped inside those topics are data analytics, technologies, and software – all of which are enablers, not drivers.”

“In the center of it all is leadership and culture,” Swanson says. “You could have all those things – the customer view, the products and services, data, and really cool technologies – but if leadership and culture aren’t at the heart, it fails. Understanding what digital means to your company – whether you’re a financial, agricultural, pharmaceutical, or retail institution – is essential.”

Melissa Swift, U.S. Transformation Leader at Mercer, agrees with Swanson’s take that the word “digital” has a problem because it means a lot of things to a lot of people.

“Say ‘digital’ to one person and they think of going paperless; another might think of data analytics and artificial intelligence; another might picture Agile teams; and yet another might think of open-plan offices,” she notes.

“Digital” is a hot mess of a word. And this causes a lot of grief in organizations.”

“Imagine ordering a hamburger over and over, and getting everything from a hot dog to a chicken sandwich to a Caesar salad…” she says.

Leaders need to be fully aware of this reality as they frame conversations around digital transformation. For advice from Swift on how to speak to this topic without getting burned, read our related article, Why people love to hate digital transformation.

Source: https://enterprisersproject.com/what-is-digital-transformation