Will Digital Transformation repay our Digital Debt?

If you believe, as I do, that effective Digital Transformation is an evolutionary process then it makes sense to draw parallels from evolutionary science… it is iterative, improving variations that will increase an organisations ability to compete, develop and thrive.

Are we in debt?

The corporate world has built up a digital debt… massive outsourcing for decades to sustain outdated systems, cost-cutting measures stifling innovation and, despite their protests, being late adopters of technology — too often advocating “me-too” rather than “follow-me”.

This has left us with legacy systems that are difficult to integrate, data that is heavily siloed and hard to harvest, shortage of talent and expertise, contracts that constrain us and a risk-adverse culture that is not ready to embrace meaningful change.

But … we’re already doing Digital Transformation

Apparently 80% of corporates have heard the jungle-drums of digital transformation and have a programme underway. They might all be called Digital Transformation but that is where the similarity stops and the buzzwords start. For some it is technical: a new customer app; moving to the cloud; data science; AI/ML. For others, more cultural: enhanced customer experience; organisational agility; process efficiency.

The aims and the prospective benefits are huge and transformational but the complexities of the journey ahead should not be underestimated. For a start, the more corporate energy one invests in protecting the core business the harder it becomes to innovate, replace legacy systems and embrace the digital world.

It is crucial to strike a balance and recognise that a digital evolution is all about growth… innovating, investing and iterating to expand and embrace new opportunities starts a chain reaction. We generate digital value — allowing new visions, processes and systems to improve the ways we interact with customers, staff and suppliers — the digital debt reduces and we evolve as transforming organisations.

Young organisations are the Generation Z of business, they are digital natives, mobile-rich, entrepreneurial. They have limited need to transform, that is the forward horizon faced by the organisations of the previous generations who can no longer rest on the laurels of their established customer base and cumbersome interactions. Organisations caught slumbering will find that the digital debt they have accumulated will eventually be their downfall and they will be overtaken by the Gen Z’ers.

The formula for transformation will require organisations to have the courage to adopt rapid experimentation, remove business and data siloes and embrace agility. They will need to invest in capable, experienced digital transformers, best-of-breed tooling and innovation to enable lines of business and technology to work together to grow their way out of trouble.

Survival of the fittest

So, to take a leaf out of Darwin’s notebook, accept that while digital evolution is inevitable it is subject to “survival of the fittest” dynamics and that to succeed organisations need to be prepared to embrace incremental, rapid, change across the landscape to grow and compete.