Digital transformation is a way of operating with agility

“Modern IT architectures let developers use digital assets more modularly”

“Modularly”? Really?
“Monolithic architecture styles”, “technical minutiae” and “interoperability”…

*Yawn!*

How many articles and blogs have you read about digital transformation that fail to inspire readers simply because they get far too technical? Sadly, a lot of the good stuff gets lost so here’s a summary from Forbe’s Digital Transformation Isn’t A Project, It’s A Way Of Operating, but without the digital jargon.

Digital transformation isn’t about any single piece of technology, it’s not a race to see who can disrupt their market first, it’s not about developing a new mobile or cloud-based application and nor is it about switching all your IT infrastructure to the cloud if on-premise servers are just as effective.

What we’re really helping leaders and organisations realise is that digital transformation is about gearing your organisation towards a future state of digital agility that allows you to execute any and all of the above quickly and effectively, and at will, without disrupting your own operations.

Digital Agility

Digital referring to the advancements of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Blockchain for example. While agility refers to our ability as people to evolve faster than industry 4.0.

Industry 4.0

The next revolution, we have been through three of these before steam, electricity and digital. They are fundamental changes in technology, socioeconomy and culture.

The fourth industrial revolution is more than just a technology change (are you sensing a theme here) it is about how we use this technology and how integrated it is with our everyday lives, the way we live, work and play. It is the merging of humans and machines. It is AI, Internet of Things, Genome printing and so much more. It’s where the borders between digital and human start to blur.

So while Forbes has perfectly defined digital transformation as ”an ongoing state of agility and responsiveness”, sometimes we fail to apply it to our people and instead, we get caught up in the technical side of digital.

So whether you’ve decided to take a process or service to the cloud or continue to use an on-premise server, for example, it’s far more important that if and when you decide it’s advantageous to do so, that you do so in an efficient and effective way and in a way that nurtures or furthermore, inspires your people to embrace the change.

APIs

Agility is the ability to move quickly and easily but nowhere does it prescribe that you must do all the moving, in fact, most of the immersive customer experiences are not designed by one company alone. Instead, many companies are coming together with the use of APIs to provide a specialised customer experience.

Customer experiences are being designed for a whole range of APIs, the Google Maps API is leveraged by most online store locators, the Pitney Bowes API is leveraged by many online shipping quotes/estimates and AccuWeather API provides weather data subscriptions to many service providers.

So while the word transformation in digital transformation may imply a final destination that organisations should achieve as quickly and easily as possible, the reality is it’s a state of perpetual agility which allows an organisation to continuously evolve with its customer’s and employee’s needs. But give your people the peace of mind that they don’t have to do it alone, leverage the talents of third party organisations, their people and their technology to further empower your own people in embracing the change.