Part 1 - Digital transformation is hard - but you should still do it

‍Have you ever been part of an easy digital transformation? I don’t believe a journey that is truly transformative for an organization can be easy; challenges indicate transformation is actually taking place. However, there are steps and considerations that will help reduce and manage the challenges experienced. In the next two articles, I will capture the reasons digital transformation is often difficult, why you should do it anyway, and how it can be made easier. 

Before jumping into the difficulties of digital transformation and why you should still do it, I’d like to start out with two of my least favourite things about digital transformation.

First, the phrase “digital transformation” can be (and often is) misleading in the marketplace. Is buying the latest model of printer considered digital transformation? No. But it might be a step in an organization’s digital transformation journey. Is building new software considered digital transformation? No. But if strategically chosen and implemented, it can be a pillar on an organization’s path to digital transformation.

So then – what is digital transformation? Though it can and should look different for every organization, in general terms it can be defined as the strategic integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, resulting in changes to how a business operates and how value is delivered. 

The second thing about digital transformation I consider a “least favorite”, is that it is often sold as ‘easy’. Spoiler: it is not. I have seen marketing material that pitches a single product to both start and complete an organization’s digital transformation. The implementation of a single change or product cannot complete an organization’s transformation from beginning to end. Even if you complete a Google image search for “Digital Transformation Journey”, you will end up with many images that are very linear. Much like this (I wish it was this easy):

Why is it hard?

‍In reality, successful digital transformation is hard, even when executed perfectly. Why is it hard? I believe the primary reasons are as follows:

First, and most importantly, digital transformation depends on people – internal and external – who need to change the way they interact. And change can be scary. 

Second, every organization is different. Even if you focus on niche industries, they have different processes, cultures, strategies, leadership and levels of digital maturity. There isn’t one recipe that will work perfectly for each organization. 

Third, an organization’s digital transformation journey is made up of many smaller changes or innovations. If you have ever made a single innovative change, you know how challenging it can be. Having many innovative changes strategically tied together is far more difficult due to increases in technical complexity and the level of change management required.

Fourth, no digital transformation journey is completely made up of great ideas or changes. Some ideas will fail, even when they are perfectly aligned with an organization’s strategy. Failure is necessary for innovation and successful change.

Why should we do it?

‍There are many reasons for digital transformation, including improving customer experience, improving an organization’s scalability, improving collaboration, being able to make data-driven decisions, reducing time-to-market, increasing an organization’s profits and many more. 

Those all sound like desirable reasons, right? When I think about why digital transformation is important, I think about the following questions:  

How can we change our culture to limit mundane tasks and allow our people to focus on areas they love?
How can we improve customer/client engagement without adding overhead?
How can we grow our organization without constantly hiring?
How can we respond to disruptive organizations and technologies within our industry?

Another, and more pessimistic, way to approach answering the “Why should we do it?” question, is to think about how your organization will function without a strategy for digital transformation. Is your organization failing to keep up with competing organizations? If you don’t transform, how can you align with and surpass ever-changing customer expectations?

The past few paragraphs highlight considerations when thinking about your journey and why you should continue (or start) down the path of digital transformation for your organization. In the next article, we will dig into making the journey easier - touching on the always popular topics of culture, strategy, change management and setting yourself up to “fail forward” when something doesn’t go as planned.