Hey people! What do you think about digital transformation? 😊

1- Leaders don’t know whose bullshit to believe. The IT sector pretend it’s all to do with technology (usually the box to tricks they’re selling) and so publish frequently in the hope that you “transform your business by moving to the cloud”. Most mainstream IT advice will at best create operational efficiencies but not transform the organisation. Marketing agencies will tell you that it’s all about innovation. Design Thinking, Human Centred Design, Sprints, Lean, The Customer Experience Blah Blah Blah. Europes largest airline, Ryanair went from €0 to €5.8B turnover as a digital business having spent €16K on ‘innovation and web design’. There is more than one way to create competitive advantage; many digital agencies and marketing companies fail to approach digital transformation from a business model perspective. Management consultants will tell you little unless you’ve paid for it, but what they do say is that if you hire them they’ll fix all of your business problems (maybe) in the ‘digital economy’ and they alone have the best analytics, metrics, methods and people. All of these services are needed, none of them on their own is the solution to creating new competitive advantage and growth. So where to start? 2-Leaders Need to Upgrade Their Thinking. They can’t outsource “transformation”. It’s probably the single biggest challenge of their career. A digital transformation course is a good starting point for them and their leadership team. 3-Leaders Need To Start Using Digital Transformation Frameworks. Old frameworks were simply ‘how-to lists’, basic guides, a way to frame thinking. These new frameworks use AI and data to predict the chance of success of a strategy before implementing. They guide business models, spot market opportunity, measure competitors strengths and weaknesses empirically and much more. To not use a modern framework to create a modern strategy is like using a paper map when you’ve Google Maps on your phone. 4-An Understanding of Technology isn’t Necessary But What It Can Do Is. Those simply ‘doing digital’, building websites and engagement on social media and expecting to grow in the future are doomed. Those adopting new technologies when facing competitive forces will survive. Those that innovate leveraging technologies that maximise their existing market position will thrive. Forgive me, point 4 is a really a summary of points 1,2 and 3.