Digital Responder #3: Scaling Digital Transformation: AI, Automation & Future Technologies

I'm a bit late on this article as I wasn't sure where I wanted to go next. I've decided to quickly finish off my thoughts about organisational digital culture, before getting into the weeds of exciting digital tools to support/enhance oil spill response and wider incidient management. VR, AI, robotic sniffer dogs, automous cleanup drones, satellite data and our under utalisation of it's capability... All that good stuff to come.

But first....

Last time, I explored the "getting started" principles of digital transformation (see article here) how to avoid the dreaded "shiny object syndrome" and ensure technology actually solves problems rather than creating new ones. Now, I want to shift focus to scaling digital transformation through AI, automation, and next-generation technologies. Brace yourself—this requires patience, investment, and a steely resolve to navigate skepticism. A LOT of skepticism.

1. The Pace of Digital Transformation: Fast vs. Slow

Digital transformation moves at two speeds: warp speed (for software-driven efficiencies) and a glacial crawl (for deep, structural tech shifts). Recognising which lane you’re in is crucial—but here’s the real kicker: the pace of change will never be this slow again. I think I need to say that again so you really hear it....

the pace of change will never be this slow again!

If you think things are moving fast now, buckle up, because the acceleration is only increasing. Organisations must not only adapt to today's speed but also prepare for an ever-faster digital future.

• Quick Wins: Need to impress the board next quarter? Roll out a slick new shiney digital prototype and enjoy a round of applause... but be careful or it'll never move from being a shiney idea. We've all got them, I know we do. A "win" is traction on a business model that works, not a shiney prototype. The difference between a hobby and an innovative new capabilty is a business model that continually and sustainably delivers value not just a guy looking silly in a VR headset. Remember you aspiring intrapraneurs "Revenue is like breathing. You don’t live to breathe, but you need to breathe to live." (Quote from Ash Murya)

• Strategic Investments: Want to fundamentally change how your organisation operates? AI, robotics, and 5G are exciting but demand time, talent, and a stomach for delayed gratification.

Balancing short-term efficiency gains with long-term moonshots is the difference between a digital strategy that works and one that fizzles out like yesterday’s startup hype.

2. Operating in a Cloud: Where Old Plans Go to Die

In the domain of delivering technology transformation, the time for rigid business cases and fully baked plans upfront should have gone extinct alongside the dinosaurs. In today’s world, digital transformation requires speed, agility, and the ability to experiment and iterate in real-time. As Eddie Obeng MBA, PhD, FAPM, PPL, Qubot puts it, we are all operating in a world where the rules are changing faster than we can write them down. His 'After Midnight' graph brilliantly illustrates this chaos—where traditional planning breaks down, and success comes from experimentation and rapid iteration rather than trying to predict the unpredictable.

• Embrace Uncertainty: Leaders need to learn to be comfortable, not feeling comfortable - because rigid, long-term plans often fail before they even get started. Fail fast, fail forward.
• Shift from Planning to Experimentation: Instead of waiting for a perfectly polished strategy, organisations must iterate, learn, and pivot quickly based on real-world feedback. Delivering value to customers today means moving faster and adapting on the fly.

Organisations that cling to outdated planning cycles risk being outpaced by those that embrace the dynamic nature of today’s digital world.

3. Outsource vs. Insource: Never Outsource Learning

Outsourcing digital transformation entirely is like hiring a personal trainer to work out for you - sounds great, but you won’t see the results.

• Outsourcing Execution: Vendors can get things moving fast, especially if you need a quick infusion of expertise.
• Insourcing Knowledge: If your team doesn’t develop digital skills internally, you’ll end up calling an overpriced consultant every time your system sneezes—and you'll miss too many opportunities as you'll have no one advocating for how technology can impact your business goals.

A hybrid approach—using external experts as a booster while growing in-house capability—ensures that your organisation remains self-sufficient rather than permanently tethered to outside help.

4. Building for AI, Robotics & Next-Gen Technologies

Scaling digital transformation isn’t just about implementing new technologies—it’s about building a sustainable framework that allows organisations to continuously adapt and innovate.

• Investment in Infrastructure & Talent: AI-driven decision support, autonomous skimmers, and real-time data streaming through 5G sound sexy, but they require more than just a budget. You need skilled people who understand how to use them.
• Change Management: Nobody likes change - except the people selling it. Clear communication, training, and a phased approach help prevent mass panic in the workforce.
• From Experimentation to Execution: Having the best technology won’t matter if it’s stuck in endless pilots. Moving from small-scale experiments to real-world implementation requires executive buy-in, clear success metrics, and a willingness to iterate based on results.
• Future-Proofing Through Agility: The best digital transformations are never “done.” Organisations that continually invest in learning, evolving, and updating their strategies will stay ahead, while others become outdated and struggle to keep up.

Want the future? Be prepared to invest in the people who will take you there and create a culture that embraces ongoing transformation.Everyone wants AI and automation—until they realise the price tag comes with a requirement for actual humans to make it work. And not just those whose direct tasks are impacted—everyone in the organisation will need to change, adapt, and evolve to fully harness the potential of these technologies. Legal teams will freak out about risk, IT will panic over security, and operations will demand it yesterday. Meanwhile, if you take too long, they’ll just implement their own black-box solution under the radar. Executives will expect seamless integration, sales will want instant client-facing impact, and, at the end of the day, we’re all doomed—unless organisations embrace a culture of adaptability and proactive engagement with technology.

5. The Single Source of Truth Fallacy: Integration, Not Consolidation

And lastly because it's a big bug bear of mine and I wanted to get it in somewhere. A mythical "Single Source of Truth" (SSOT) often sounds like the Holy Grail of data management—until you realise it’s more like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

• Reality Check: One system to rule them all? Sounds great until you realise it’s too rigid, expensive, and prone to becoming an enterprise-wide bottleneck.
• Better Approach: API-driven ecosystems let different platforms talk to each other without forcing everything into one bloated monster of a system.

Forget trying to jam everything into one platform; instead, focus on making systems play nicely together. I bet everyone reading will have their own Golaith system to contend with somewhere.

Final Thoughts

AI, automation, and next-generation technologies promise a future of efficiency, but only if approached with realism. Scaling digital transformation requires a balance of quick wins and long-term bets, a focus on integration over consolidation, and a commitment to growing internal capability. The days of slow, rigid business cases are over. Treat digital transformation as an evolving practice, not a single project, and your organisation will thrive—while others struggle to reboot their legacy systems yet again.

See Also:

Digital Responder #1 - Rethinking the Tiered Preparedness & Response Wheel: Digital as the New Disruptor

Digital Responder #2 - Five Principles to Unlock Digital Potential in Oil Spill Response

The views expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily represent the formal viewpoint of the organisation I work for.

I'm not going to lie, A.I. helps me craft these articles, but in the same way an Editor helps an Author. I take great delight in working through it and making sure it presents what I think, and not just changing all the "z" in words to "s" to make them British.