What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation will look different for every company, it can be hard to pinpoint a definition that applies to all.
However, we define digital transformation as the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business resulting in fundamental changes to how businesses operate and how they deliver value to customers. Beyond that, it’s a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment often, and get comfortable with failure. This sometimes means walking away from long-standing business processes that companies were built upon in favors of relatively new practices that are still being defined.

Why does digital transformation matter?
There are a number of reasons that a business may undergo Digital transformation, but by far, the most likely reason is that they have to. It’s a survival issue for many.
Howard King, in a contributed article for The Guardian, puts it this way: “Businesses don’t transform by choice because it is expensive and risky. Businesses go through a transformation when they have failed to evolve.”
John Marcante, CIO of Vanguard, points this out, as well: “Just look at the S&P 500. In 1958, U.S. corporations remained on that index for an average of 61 years, according to the American Enterprise Foundation. By 2011, it was 18 years. Today, companies are being replaced on the S&P approximately every two weeks. Technology has driven this shift, and companies that want to succeed must understand how to merge technology with strategy.”
Enterprise leaders have largely gotten the message. The IDC research “FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation 2018 Predictions” reported, “By the end of 2019, digital transformation (DX) spending will reach $1.7 trillion worldwide, a 42 per cent increase from 2017.”
However, it won’t be easy. IDC’s predictions for CIOs in 2018 echo that, stating: “Through 2019, dragged down by conflicting digital transformation imperatives, ineffective technology innovation, cloud infrastructure transition, and underfunded end-of-life core systems, 75 per cent of CIOs and their enterprises will fail to meet all their digital objectives.”
CIOs worried about their company’s – and their own – survival should focus on securing company-wide support and collaboration to get digital transformation right from the start. They may only get one shot.
But even if business leaders don’t believe they have to transform, there are many reasons why they should consider it anyway.
1. Their competitors are doing it. According to a Forrester Research report, executives predict that nearly half of their revenue will be driven by digital by the year 2020.
2. It will make them more profitable. In a recent Gartner survey, “56 per cent said that their digital improvements have already improved profits.”
3. It will make them more efficient. Research shows, “Nine out of 10 IT decision-makers claim legacy systems are preventing them from harnessing the digital technologies they need to grow and become more efficient.”
4. Their customers will thank them. Whether external customers or internal employees, people have already largely adopted digital practices in all facets of their lives, from shopping online via their mobile devices to adjusting their home thermostat remotely. They are waiting for businesses to catch up.

What does a digital transformation framework look like?
Although digital transformation will vary widely based on organizations’ specific challenges and demands, there are a few constants and common themes among existing case studies and published frameworks that all business and technology leaders should consider as they embark on digital transformation.
For instance, these digital transformation elements are often cited:
· Customer experience
· Operational Agility
· Culture and leadership
· Workforce enablement
· Digital technology integration
While each guide has its own recommendations and varying steps or considerations, CIOs should look for those important shared themes when developing their own digital transformation strategy.

What role does culture play in digital transformation?
In recent years there has been a fundamental shift happening in the role of IT. CEOs increasingly want their CIOs to help generate revenue for their organizations. Almost two thirds(64 per cent) of the respondents to the 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey of more than 4,600 CIOs say their CEO wants the IT organization to focus on how to make money rather than save money.
No longer are companies building software or running IT for cost savings and operations, but rather IT has become the primary driver of business innovation. Embracing this shift requires everyone in the company to rethink the role and impact of IT in their day-to-day experience.
Bryson Koehler, CTO, IBM Watson & IBM Cloud – GM & Distinguished Engineer at IBM, says, “There is a very different mindset at work when you take IT out of an operating mode of, ‘Let’s run a bunch of packaged solutions that we’ve bought and stood up’ to ‘Let’s build and create new capabilities that didn’t exist before.’ If you look at the vast majority of startups, they’re not starting with giant, shrink-wrapped software packages as the base of their company. If you’re trying to create innovation inside of a large enterprise then you shouldn’t start with that either. You’re not here to run the mainframe anymore. You’re not here to run the servers. You’re not here to run the data centre, or the network, or operations. That is table stakes. That’s what you can outsource.”
Although IT will play an important role in driving digital transformation strategy, the work of implementing and adapting to the massive changes that go along with digital transformation falls on everyone. For this reason, digital transformation is a people issue.
“Finding ways to help people across this digital divide and the culture shock that rapid change brings is going to be just as important as the technology we use to get there,” Marc Carrel-Billiard, global tech R&D Lead on digital transformation at Accenture, is quoted as saying in an article for TechCrunch.
Dr David Bray, former CIO of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission, perfectly captures how this cultural shift sets the stage for transformation. “Throughout human history, the things that we could do with tools changed what we could do as humans, and as a result, changed what we could do as cultures,” Bray says. “Our species is ‘smart’ because we know how to use tools collaboratively together. At the end of the day, when we talk about technology change – whether it’s the Internet of Everything, big data, or machine learning – it’s really about people and organizational cultures, first and foremost. Then, it’s about how those people get stuff done together – and that’s really what it comes down to when you talk about transforming organizational cultures.”

What drives digital transformation?
An important element of digital transformation is, of course, technology. But often, it’s more about shedding outdated processes and legacy technology than it is about adopting new tech. The Federal IT Dashboard shows that in the fiscal year 2017, over 70 per cent of IT spend government-wide went toward operating and maintaining legacy systems.
In the healthcare industry, despite widespread use of smartphones and other mobile devices among healthcare providers, “close to 80 per cent (79.8 per cent) of clinicians continue to use hospital-provided pagers and 49 per cent of those clinicians report they receive patient care-related messages most commonly by pager.”
Examples like these span all industries and the prevalence of legacy technology hinders CIOs’ ability to successfully embark on a digital transformation strategy. Research from Forrester suggests, on average, CIOs spend an average of 72 per cent of their budgets on existing IT concerns, while only 28 per cent goes to new projects and innovation.
If businesses want to evolve with the rapid pace of digital change today, they must work to increase efficiency with technology wherever possible. For many, that means adopting agile principles across the business. Automation technologies also help many IT organizations gain speed and reduce technical debt.
Former FCC CIO Bray recently conducted a major overhaul of the agency’s 207 legacy systems, including two 11-year-old servers that weighed one ton each. The effort reduced ongoing maintenance costs from more than 85 per cent of the agency’s budget to less than 50 per cent. Now, moving forward, agility is a No.1 priority for Bray.
“Things today aren’t changing linearly; they’re changing exponentially. It’s not good enough that you were fast last year. If you’re not faster this year, you’re going to fall increasingly behind. Agility trumps everything else,” Bray says. “Personally, I don’t commit to any organizational effort that takes longer than six months because the world will change in that period of time dramatically. You need to have stopgaps along the way so that you can reevaluate and pivot if you need to, along with that six-month effort. One should have a long-term plan that exceeds six months, yet commit to deliverables in six months or less along the way.”

How can I get started on digital transformation?
If all of this makes you feel woefully behind, fear not. One of the biggest misconceptions CIOs have about digital transformation is that all of their competitors are much further ahead of the game than they are. That’s because “there’s much admiration of (and popular press around) the fastest transformers, but a little critique of how hard transformation is or how long it may take for a typical Global 2,000 company,” says Tim Yeaton, CMO of Red Hat.

As businesses formulate their own digital transformation strategy, there is much to be learned from CIOs and IT leaders who have already begun their journeys. Below is a collection of stories and digital transformation case studies you can explore further.

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