We keep hearing the words “Digital Transformation” for every digital tool added within an organization. It is a great buzzword that keeps technology vendors in the news and strikes thrilling excitement for companies wanting to become more digital.
The words Digital Transformation are, on the whole, overused for things that are not digital transformation at all. Think about the two words, transformation, and change.
Digital Transformation describes a metamorphosis
- The business is in reinvention with a whole new portfolio, market space, customer segment, or product
- Your operating structure changes with massive impacts on processes, people, and technology
- A butterfly transforms from a caterpillar – if you are still a caterpillar after adding digital technology, you have not transformed.
Change, on the other hand, is transactional.
- The business is applying finite, incremental initiatives that may or may not affect the whole organization
- You are replacing legacy software with new software to continue to do the same things with a new tool
- Change doesn’t change the appearance or form of anything, and it’s more like adding accessories to a great outfit.
Transformation and change involve helping people do different things, but one is intensively intricate, and there is no going back.
Before you use the buzz words, try not to wrap a lot of transformational speak around applying a technology tool that is merely enabling a company to improve what they are already doing.
