What is Digital Transformation? For those who still ask…

Being a passionate Digital Catalyst for many years, and working with countless organizations, I am tired of the term digital transformation. I can’t hear it anymore. ‘Same with you? But somehow the present time urges us to cope with it. So what is digital transformation?

Digital transformation

Let’s try to exfoliate some of those pesky BUZZes.

It’s not about your INDUSTRY, it’s not about ARCHITECTURE, it’s not about DISRUPTION, it’s not about DIGITAL, it’s not about APIs, it’s not about the CLOUD, it’s not about HIP, and it’s not even about TRANSFORMATION,

It’s about CHANGE! That’s it!

Now I hear some say – “We love to change!” Is this the truth? Let’s dig into it. Kinds of change we’re referring to if we say, “We love change.“

• Poor to Rich
• Being Alone to being in Company
• Insignificant to Recognized
• Sad to Happy
• Having tooth-ache to the magic feeling of relief once the dentist did his excellent job

Ok – Now let’s turn the tide. What’s your opinion about these changes:

• From being satisfyingly employed to jobless?
• From having an important management-role within your organization to being one-of-many again(salary drop included)?
• From the comforting status-quo to the unknown?

Or let’s keep it even more straightforward.

• From being an adopter to a dier?

Who wants that kind of change? Type your hang-man answer here.  _ _ _ _ _ _

You’re right – The answer is N O B O D Y

What is digital transformation? It’s about change

Since we are talking about transformation or Digital Transformation – The only thing we should never forget is that we are humans – We are living beings – We hate change. It’s as simple as that!

Any transformational process means change. Digital Transformation means change. I’m not talking about cleaning things up a bit -or- making things a little bit better – this is not transformational!

REAL TRANSFORMATION SUCKS!

Transformation comes with PAIN, comes with LOSS, comes with DEPRIVATION, and FEAR. Change to the unknown threatens us – BY DNA!

It is worth mentioning that these accompanying symptoms are the top-triggers for change at the same time. That explains why the most significant transformations took place after disastrous circumstances in history.

So why should we open ourselves to change if we are not in danger? We still keep smiling if we say #AdaptOrDie because we have this childlike faith that things will somehow go well and we will be part of the first part of the equation.

Let’s try something weird… Let’s meet a clairvoyant and ask her to have a glance in the crystal ball. After a while of Abracadabra she will come up with this:

“YOUR ORGANIZATION WILL END IN THE SECOND PART OF THE EQUATION; YOUR ORGANIZATION WILL BELONG TO THE DYING FRACTION! ”

“It’s time to wake up – It’s time to grow up – or you’ll be out-of-business 

 – It’s 2019 for all of us!” ~ Brian Pagano

My advice

We all hate long-reads. So here is my advice to make the Lady lie.

GO ALL IN!

YOU BETTER RUN FOR DIGITAL

• It’s not a digital journey. It’s a #DigitalRace!

BEWARE OF POOL-SIDE ADVICE

• There are so many non-swimmers out there trying to teach you swimming

FIND A CATALYST

• It’s impossible to pull yourself by the bootstraps out of the mud

CREATE A VISION

• No vision – No strategy – No nothing!

CREATE A STRATEGY

• Step-by-step – Speed matters – Gradual process – Sustainability matters

EMBRACE RADICAL CHANGE

• If it doesn’t hurt in every bone you are most probably not even close to change

RISK YOUR ROLE

• Your current role is meaningless on the graveyard and irrelevant or transformed once you made it!

START WITH APIs

• APIs are #KEY

“Throw Whatever You Can Into The Fire Of Transformation.” ~ Steven Harrison

For those who still ask “What is Digital Transformation?” – Just wait a while. Have a look around you – and in case you are an organization – wake up and realize that you are not relevant anymore. Realize that you are out of business.