What is Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is the change associated with the application of digital technology in all aspects of human society.-Wikipedia

Digital Transformation is a buzz-word which has been cropping up in a big way over the last few years. Everyone talks of the need to have a Digital Transformation. But what exactly is it?

As defined in Wikipedia above we see a slightly limited definition, as it covers only half of the term “Digital Transformation”. The other half is the word “transformation”. When we talk of transformation, we associate it with a “Paradigm Shift” or Foundational change. This essentially means in the context of a business; that every aspect of the business from the operating model to the consumer needs changes. This is necessitated by change in consumer demand, competition and technology impact.

Technology has been affecting us for decades. Are you aware that it was an employee of Kodak, who demonstrated the first proof of concept of a working “Digital Camera” and by around 1989 and a working model like the ones available today was showcased? There was stiff resistance to this product internally at Kodak as it was felt that it would negatively impact their camera and camera films business. The quick shift to Digital Photography and the demise of Kodak is history.

Going further back by a hundred years, Western Union, the first true Communications company in the world failed to get on the bandwagon of a new product developed by Alexender Graham Bell, “The Telephone”. The rest is history

In the words of the Oxford dictionary, transformation is “a marked change in form, nature, or appearance”. Transformation of businesses has been happening for a very long time, the only change is that the latest change is impacted by technology.

Digital Transformation is now looked at as Transformation of business by the impact of Digital Technology, or being more specific Information Technology. Information technology has begun influencing business to such a large extent that business dynamics have been transformed. Logistics companies run on IT; e-commerce has changed retail; a downing of IT can stop all travel. Witness the outage in August 2016 wheren an outage at Delta airlines caused 2300 flights to be cancelled. HSBC, RBS and so many other banks have been greatly affected by well reported IT failures.

So we come to the moot point, all business, no matter which industry they operate in, are heavily reliant on IT. It is not enough for one or two functions like Marketing, Sales, Production to be digitally or IT aware and comfortable. All support departments HR, Finance, Purchase and others  have to be equally aboard on “Digital Transformation”. To achieve Digital Transformation you need to bring about a change in Mind-set, Processes, delivery capability and communication with all stake holders.