Choose your digital transformation starting point

Where do you start on your path to Digital Transformation

There are many successful Digital Transformation stories out there. According to Gartner, about 66% of leaders want to transform, but only about 11% are actually achieving a healthy dose of digital business. In your quest to Digitally Transform, questions such as “Have we unlocked new digital ways of making money?” or “Can we quantifiably differentiate the way to deliver value to our customers?”. If you answered “No” to either, then your Digital Transformation journey continues.
As with anything new, it is always difficult to get things off the ground, to take that first step. This most certainly applies to Digital Transformation as organisations get stuck on their starting points. According to Gartner, 57% of organisations have yet to find a starting point on their Digital Transformation journey.
Here are 4 points that CIOs can leverage on their journey to Digital Transformation.

1. Connected

As they say, knowledge is power and as with any form of transformation, lessons learned or data accumulated is always key. How do you know where you’re going if you don't know where you have come from? Connected is not a transformation per se but an exercise in laying the foundations for optimisation and data gathering initiatives.
As you connect all the assets that make up your business, therein lies the value to transform. From creating better efficiencies around delivery times and device utilisation or implementing technologies like IOT (Internet of things) to reduce costs. Once connected, organisations will be able to leverage the connections and data to open up new revenue streams from mining data or just exposing the data across the value chain for better correlations and efficiency.

2. Autonomous

As we move into a world where machines become ‘smarter’ with the likes of ML and AI, there exists many opportunities. From automating mundane human processes to complex AI scenarios, such as the use of drones for the security industry for facial recognition or perimeter and zone defence systems, the use cases are plentiful.
Just as the machines make human efficiency better it is important to also note the converse. A machine is only as good as what it has been taught to do. With the rise of AI and machine learning, organisations can leverage these forms of autonomous technologies to gain competitive advantages, unlock new revenue streams or just cut costs with better efficiencies.

3. Empowered

Organisations who empower their clients create exponential growth in terms of value-add. As an example, in the medical field, Apple’s new series 4 watch has the ability to conduct an ECG (Electrocardiogram). This gives the user the pre-emptive ability to be aware of health-related heart conditions before it’s too late. This not only saves lives but also medical costs.
Apple has empowered their consumers through the use of technology, giving them relevant information, thereby empowering them to be proactive instead of reactive.

4. Programmable

For organisations that choose to go the programmable route as a starting point, it is important to note that business and operating model changes become a focus. The objective is to allow other parties to leverage your assets in order to deliver value to your organisation.
This is generally done by means of API’s (application programming interfaces) that give 3rd parties the ability to unlock value from what you have exposed to them. Examples of this are banks which expose services through API’s like charging for each call for digital identity verifications or bank account verifications. This unlocks new revenue streams and new business models to work with.
There is no simple formula to Digital Transformation. There is only the starting point.

Which one will be yours?