What is Digital Transformation?

As I have participated and observed in a number of digital transformation and pre-digital transformation waves of changes, I have discovered and rediscovered what a digital transformation is. I’ve read a lot on the subject as well as listened to a number of prominent thought leaders talk about it. And then I think – think about it all the time – to understand it, visualize it, structure it and figure how I see it from my perspective. In this and a number of follow up posts I will try to put forward my perspective on the subject through a number of key questions. Some lines of thought may appear to be very similar to what you have heard, read or experienced. Some may sound very different and maybe to the point of craziness.

Anyway, let’s start with what is digital transformation?

The way I see it, there are two views of it – one is environmental, at a macro level. The other is organizational, at a micro level.

Why do you need to embrace Digital Transformation?

Think of a river – a river that is flowing steadily. You are standing on its shore. You have come here to compete at an annual raft racing competition. You and your friends compete here every year. And over time you have actually become very good at it. In fact, last time you were the winners. That is very important, since, as per the rules of this competition, as a winner the previous year you have an advantage in that you will be starting ahead the others. That is a significant advantage in any race. The location of the race is kept a secret and before starting you do not have any idea how the river behaves like as you go downstream towards your finish line.

All previous races that you attended before were held in parts of rivers where it was flat and steady. So, you expect the same for this race as well. The good thing is that you are an expert in racing in steady waters. Now, as the race begins, you are obviously pacing ahead of the others. You have got an advantage of being able to start ahead of the others, plus your skills are most suitable for racing in a steady stream. Soon after, the river starts to turn – towards right, then left and then right again. And after one specific corner, to your horror, you see that the river is entering a rapid.

Monologue on Digital Transformation

Sid and Siddhartha caught up for tea one afternoon and decided to talk about what was going on in the market.

Siddhartha: “Hey, good to see you. How is life? What exactly are you doing these days?”

Sid: “Hey good to see ya man. Life is pretty nice. My work recently has been in the space of Digital Transformation these days. I’ve been doing some projects in this space”

Siddhartha: “That sounds pretty interesting. I think I’ve heard about this term before – ‘digital transformation’. Perhaps you mentioned it to me. What is it by the way?”

Sid: “Let’s see how I can explain it to you. Well, you know about disruption and the startup tidal waves right?”

Siddhartha: “Yes, there has been a lot of action taking place in the startup world. They are doing a lot of great things, very fast and very economically. And in a lot of cases, they are doing things very differently. All of this is creating a huge wave of disruption for the businesses that are the leaders of the status quo”

Sid: “Good, so you’re up to speed with that! So, all those waves of disruption is taking a toll on the existing businesses that do not know that they have to change or do not want to change, and so are not able to improve and be better businesses for their customers”

Siddhartha: “Fair enough”

Sid: “So, what do those businesses do? They have two options – deny the fact that this disruption is going on and will be impacting them OR do something about it. And that something is broadly identified as Digital Transformation”

Siddhartha: “Got it. But tell me one thing – why is it called Digital transformation? It could have been called any other transformation or may be just transformation?”

Sid: “Good question. So, the wave of disruptions that we talked about has been primarily digitally driven. As a result, digital technology has started to take front and centre stage with regards to any business these days. The transformational response to this wave has been on all fronts, however, the most transformative changes have been digitally driven. The opportunities with digitally led transformation are so many that digital has been the thread that has been the one single connecting factor of this transformation wave – thus Digital”

Siddhartha: “Wow, that is amazing. For a moment I thought it only meant website redesign and mobile app design?”

Sid: “They are part of it, but they are just two pieces of lego in a huge lego package. And there are so many other lego pieces in this package. And the beauty of this thing is that you can join those pieces in so many different ways to make so many different creations. It all depends upon your situation and what works for you. Anyway, the basic idea here is – how do you disrupt yourself before someone else disrupts you and steals your customers.”

Siddhartha: “Wow, that’s amazing. Let’s catch up some other time to discuss a bit more on how you do it, perhaps with some examples.”

Sid: “For sure, I’d be glad to discuss that!”