What Is Digital Transformation?
One of the reasons I left a nice job with a good salary, job security, great benefits, and a ton of financial opportunity was the allure of truly making a difference, on my own terms. When my good friend and former client at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Danielle Krakora, approached me to launch a company that specializes in one of the things that I’m truly passionate about, digital transformation, I knew I had to take the chance (even though my twin 17 year old daughters were about to start applying for college).
Our company, Ibility, accelerates innovation using creative programming such as competitive prototyping, or what we call “Throwdowns.” I saw firsthand at VA how competitive prototyping are absolute game changers when performed correctly. They offer excellent opportunities for our clients to crowdsource innovative and creative ideas to solve complex problems. Once we’ve nailed down some potential solutions, multiple teams with diverse skills and expertise are assembled from around the world to work together to rapidly prototype and create proof of concepts. Our Throwdowns can accomplish three things: 1) create products (such as face shields, sanitation stations, ventilation systems), 2) improve processes (such as customer service, claims, appeals, asset management), and 3) execute digital transformation (such as ?!?!?).
In today’s world, the concept of digital transformation is red hot! But what is it exactly? If I were to ask ten digital transformation experts how they define digital transformation, I’m sure I would get ten different answers. So since this is my first blog post as the President of Ibility, Danielle and I thought it would be a good idea to explain our own notion of digital transformation.
I think many people think of digital transformation and technology as one in the same. I think of digital transformation as a mindset that gets molded into a plan based on my client’s desired measurable and quantifiable outcomes. Outcomes such as:
Delivering better services to their customers
Improving customer satisfaction
Increasing brand awareness
Reducing the amount of time and cost to do a particular process
Improving employee retention and engagement
Identifying new products and services
Technology, in many cases, is the enabler to help organizations achieve their desired outcomes but digital transformation is the mind set. How can one perform digital transformation if:
They cannot understand in layman terms how the technology works?
They do not take into account the culture of the organization?
The decision makers are not adequately taking into account the sacrifices the end users will be making?
The end users do not know why the transformation is even happening?
There is no comprehensive plan to empower and engage the end users, who are the true drivers of successful digital transformation?
So Blockchain, Quantum Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, Internet of Things, Data Mining, Virtual/Augmented Reality, Cloud Computing, etc is NOT digital transformation but are simply tools. Digital Transformation is the mindset to effectively use those tools.