Information Week has an article on how Digital Transformation is Advancing. The article notes the always ongoing effort to digitize everything. Info Week stresses “digitzing the core” which is to say, make every process and system digital. I like the statistics they put up from a study of 1,000 senior IT and business leaders.
At the present time, respondent organizations use digital technologies for core IT management (79%), customer relationship management (62%) and business process management (60%). Moving forward, they plan to use digital technologies for knowledge management (33%), operational intelligence (31%) and product development (28%). Already, 67% leverage big data analytics. More than half of that group have already made deep learning investments.
But It’s Still Unfocused
While the statistics above paint a great picture, we all know it’s not complete. I think the very next part of the article highlights that. The article treats the examples as “highlights” of digital transformation and in a sense they are but look at the specific examples:
In the healthcare sector, 98% of respondents said big data and analytics will enable them to track patient behavior, learn risk patterns and predict the onset of unfavorable health conditions. A great majority (93%) said big data and analytics will enable them to do things that they could not do previously without hiring hundreds of new employees. Already, healthcare respondents are seeing a 14% increase in global annual revenue as a result of using big data and analytics.
Meanwhile, the automotive sector is digitizing the supply chain and automating more business processes. However, given the fast pace of technological change, 62% find themselves lacking the talent they require
I’m not going to argue against the value both healthcare and automotive industries see in digital transformation. I will state that just digitizing something or making better use of data is not digital transformation. It’s one of many steps in the process. You can take those steps without actually having a digital transformation initiative. I see that happening in many companies. They make some extra investment and call it digital transformation without taking a holistic view and without focusing on the customer experience that should necessarily result from a true digital transformation.
Bottom Line
I agree that companies continue to progress with digital transformation. The examples in the Information Week article show that. Just remember that digital transformation is about more than IT investment. It’s more than focusing on “people, processes, and things”. It’s about bringing your digital channels into the fold and creating a great customer experience as you work through your digital channels.
