What’s the difference between digital and business transformation? We regularly see this question being asked when organisations start out on a change journey – so let’s explore in detail.
Obviously, the word Digital has been around for ages - take the Casio digital watch from the 1970s as an example. The term “digital economy” describing things-happening-on-technology emerged in the mid-1990s as people started to discuss websites and how to link those into business processes. By the early-2010s it was common to have job titles like ‘Head of Digital’ as more companies realised that the online way of interacting wasn’t going away. At the time, digital was heavily linked to marketing activity and websites. At this time, change programmes would still be described as business transformation.
The accelerating change that we’re seeing in organisations each year is that the number of roles where you can avoid computerisation is dwindling, as the ecosystems of the large tech firms penetrate more and more business areas – production, warehousing, logistics for example, are all now driven by technology in a way that would have seemed unlikely even just 5 years back.
Against this backdrop of large-scale technology adoption, as businesses assess their IT estate, they realise that their systems are often disparate and unconnected and that their business processes have become complex because of their technology choices. Looking for a way to resolve these issues, we see increasing numbers of clients looking for holistic transformational change as a way forward. Because of the reach of technology across all areas of the company, this is now described in terms of a Digital rather than Business Transformation.
However, it would be a mistake to see Digital Transformation as something completely new and different. Change programmes have always been about a mixture of people, process, data and technology, to focus on just one element to the exclusion of the others is a fast way to a failed implementation. It would be better to describe digital-enabled transformation, in the same way that we once described technology-enabled business transformation. This terminology acknowledges that it is the evolution of technology that is leading the way and providing opportunities for change, but at the same time enables everyone to remember that it is not just about chasing shiny new tech, there is still a need to remember the human in the process and bring them on the journey with you.
When we engage with a new client who is looking for our assistance with Digital Transformation, our first step is to look at the pain points in the current process and relate them back to the people – this might be colleagues, customers or suppliers. We then look at how their daily lives might be improved by removal of pain points or introduction of new efficiencies. Finally, we consider the Microsoft ecosystem and how it relates to these areas. The conversation can turn to the technology, but only after the place of the human has been acknowledged.
In conclusion, digital transformation is business transformation , there is no difference in the breadth of scope that they need to consider. Names may change, but it is still imperative to consider all the elements of people, process, data and technology in order to deliver successful and sustainable change.