The world is awash in talk of Digital Transformation- and for good reason. Digitization has brought about fundamental change in all industries, enhancing and/or disrupting existing processes with a speed and scale unseen in previous eras. Organizations of all sizes are tasked with bringing to bear the power of transformation and digitization on their existing businesses while simultaneously leveraging these ideas to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. Some call this process revolutionary, others evolutionary, but either way, change is afoot.
With the importance placed on Digital Transformation, it is necessary to understand the term and its associated processes more clearly. Far too often, trends in technology and business appear to be monolithic and linear; in reality, we know that one-size doesn’t fit all! So too with Digital Transformation. Each journey is different.
As such, every organization needs to have a reckoning before they embark on the journey. “What business goals am I truly trying to achieve?” “What sort of organization do we want to be?” “What role does data play in our transformation?” “Are we a people-first organization?” These are some of the questions that need to be answered.
Put simply, Digital Transformation must be specific to the organization and not a generic concept, hastily adopted.
Once we stipulate this, we understand something even deeper- that the process to rebuild organizations with digital tools requires a great deal of internal cultural decision making followed by a deep dialogue with an organization’s customers and partners. Digital Transformation takes the whole village.
Here, we realize how important Marketing is to the process. We also realize how important integrating Content and Design into the process truly is. Digital Transformation is about organizational direction, culture, people, processes, and application of technology. It requires holistic thinking and a deep level of “convincing” to truly enact. In my experience, Digital Transformation is ultimately about narrativity, about “story-telling.” Getting the “Elephant to Dance” is only possible with a great narrative.
And how best to conceive of, build, and tell these stories? To optimize this process, all organizations need partners. Creating an internal narrative is one thing, creating a universal one, another altogether. Therefore, great narratives require the agency of people, many people, who confer, hone, innovate, and improve.
There’s the rub. Digital Transformation certainly emphasizes the use of technology but as a tool. Technocratic views of the process are limited. Without people and stories, Digital Transformation isn’t possible. Without the creativity and agency of people, Digital Transformation is a sterile concept, best isolated to textbooks and theories.
To truly understand the essence of this grand process, let’s have a conversation! www.Nayamode.com