Have you heard the term “digital transformation”?
The fact that you are here suggest that you have.
I would not at all be surprised if you are confused by what this phrase means. As a thousand people what they mean by digital transformation, and you will get a thousand different answers.
Even the biggest names in the world of digital and technology are unable to provide a clear and concise definition.
Let’s clear this up, once and for all!
Definitions of Digital Transformation according to the big players
It makes sense that if we want to understand what digital transformation means, we should refer to the biggest and most reputable companies in the game.
From the Gartner Glossary
Who knows more about digital in the world, than the global digital trends analysis company Gartner.
According to the Gartner Glossary:
Digital transformation can refer to anything from IT modernization (for example, cloud computing), to digital optimization, to the invention of new digital business models. The term is widely used in public-sector organizations to refer to modest initiatives such as putting services online or legacy modernization. Thus, the term is more like “digitization” than “digital business transformation.”
This statement is confusing. According to this, digital transformation anything to do with a computer. While technically this might be true, it’s not very helpful.
Ok, let’s keep looking.
From the Global Management Consulting Firms
Deloitte is a company that signs up Governments and Multinational Corporations worth $10 if not 100s of millions of dollars in a single contract. If you’re doing that, you think you would be clear about the thing you are agreeing too.
Deloitte define digital transformation like this,
Digital transformation is how we future-proof a business: Shifting legacy customer, business and operating models into a new reality - where agility is the norm, human experience is the focus, technology and data are the enablers, and exponential value is the outcome.
Oh my. There are some quality buzzwords in this statement.
What does “new reality” actually mean?
“Agility is the norm” is certainly not the purpose of digital transformation. As someone working in transformation, I can tell you that technology and data are NOT the enablers, they are core to creation of value.
The phrase “Exponential Value” is confusing and doesn’t actually make grammatical or mathematically sense. Exponential value compared to what?
This statement is a buzzword salad written by a marketing team for the purpose of selling.
Those Big 4 Consulting firms are good a selling, that’s for sure!
Next!
Five Million Followers on LinkedIn can't be wrong?
McKinsey & Company are another of the global management consulting firms, who claim expertise in the space of digital transformation. There are hugely influential in the space, with a massive 5 million followers on Linkedin.
In an article published in June this year, the offers the following definition of digital transformation.
Digital transformation is the rewiring of an organization, with the goal of creating value by continuously deploying tech at scale.
This is a very narrow definition. If you think about it, “rewiring of an organization” doesn’t actually make sense. It’s a metaphor that suggest that organisations operate like a circuit board or electrical circuit. This metaphor breaks down as soon as you start thinking about culture, people and process, which are all important for the work of digital transformation.
What about “continuously deploying tech at scale?”. This again is very narrow thinking. Demonstrated by the fact that you can deliver a very effective transformation and not deploy new digital tech at all. Instead, say you can achieve significant transformation outcomes in your organisation by changing the purpose, people and/or process that determine how the technology you have is utilised.
Lesson here is that just because you have a massive social following, doesn’t necessarily mean you understand the work you do.
In the world of digital transformation, sales and execution are two very different things!
Google knows everything about technology, right?
If there is anyone who knows digital transformation, its Google.
According to Google’s Learn the Cloud website
Digital transformation uses modern digital technologies—including all types of public, private, and hybrid cloud platforms—to create or modify business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market dynamics.
Digital Transformation involves much more than cloud technology. For example, many projects involve Customer Relationship Management and Financial Management Systems that don’t practically involve the cloud at all.
This statement is incorrect in the sense that it doesn’t really get to the heart of what digital transformation is about. It is too narrow, both in the description of the technology in play, but also the benefit to be gained.
Clearing up the confusion about Digital Transformation
Here we have three of the world’s biggest companies working in the space of digital transformation, and clearly, none of them can define the term in a way that makes sense.
It should be little wonder why 70% of the worlds digital transformation initiatives don’t actually create any measurable business, social or environmental outcomes.
It is not a difficult thing to understand.
Digital transformation is evolving the maturity of the flow of information in your organisation.
That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less.
Simply defined, but very hard to do.
Digital Transformation is hard because of people, not technology
In my experience, I consider digital transformation to be around 15% about technology and 85% about people.
That’s because when you uplift the maturity of your information flows you change where the power lies within the organisations. You can’t do digital transformation and not fundamentally change the way that people work and the power that they hold within the workplace.
People, especially senior people get very nervous when they risk loosing control over the information flows that provide them with power and influence within the organisations.
Navigating the journey of digital transformation requires a clear and concise strategy. An approach that helps expose the opportunities and changles of people and platforms from the very beginning.
If this is something you need, then you will want to check out the Digital Transformation Masterclass.
