Digital Transformation: 2 Small Steps we all can Learn from that Seem to Make all the Difference

As the year comes to an end, I find myself reflecting back on the year that is about to expire,? and begin to think about what is on the horizon. Though each year is different, the theme of my tenure at Google has largely been focused on one general area - digital transformation.? Digital transformation is a word that when I first heard it, I had no real connection with or reaction to it. Today it is one of the main objectives for many fortune 500 companies and I’ve gotten to speak with leaders all over the world on the topic. I now feel it is the enabler for many of the things that can make this world a better place for all its inhabitants. These ventures are often super complex, requiring unraveling a consortia of antiquated systems, procedures, and processes on how decisions are made and business gets done all in aim to do something better or completely new. To lead this charge one must be comfortable with ambiguity and challenging the status quo.???

Over the past 3+ years I have had the chance to work with many executives across sales, delivery, product, partnerships and ecosystems, and industry solutions on this topic. There are many different problems to solve which vary in complexity, so the steps vary from company to company. What I find most interesting among all these different digital transformation journeys is that there are two themes all these leaders are trying to solve for. How do I get the business to understand the why, and how do I get the company's people to get behind it? Those who seem to do this the best have all strikingly similar stories.?

Perhaps we should start with considering what is Digital Transformation, and what do I mean by the phrase. Like many other technical innovations I find the word digital transformation is a bit of a blanket statement reminiscent of terms like “big data” and their frequent over generalized use in years past. Though some admittedly cringe when they say Digital Transformation, there doesn’t seem to be a better name to describe it. So for now, we’ll use it. As it’s been told to me, at a very high level, digital transformation is when you have a complete end to end company transformation that is enabled by technology where moving data, and applications to the cloud is often the catalyst of new found capabilities. The genesis of this endeavor can be led by desired bottom line efficiencies (reduction of operational costs) or by external factors such as gaining a competitive edge or rapidly adjusting to a work from home model due to a pandemic.

It is important to note here that moving on prem work loads into a data center in the sky is not enough by itself to be what I would classify as Digital Transformation. It needs to affect the company at a cultural level. Think how the day in the life of an engineer is changed, what top line revenue streams can be realized, how does this affect the customer, or the customer’s customer? It could have previously taken a global company weeks or sometimes months to react to a regulatory change in a given country and now can do it overnight.? The results of digital transformation may never be felt by the everyday consumer; however, there are some great consumer examples that can make an experience go from average to exceptional just in how something is delivered to you. Imagine you just bought a new mattress, along with new sheets, pillows, comforter, and the bed arrives first. How would you feel if you had this great new bed delivered, but none of the accoutrement that would allow you to enjoy it? A benefit of digital transformation is that companies now have the visibility into these different supply chains, group the deliveries together and? give the customer a better overall experience. Soon things like clinical trials for life saving drugs will have dramatically shorter cycle times because we can automate a lot of the early stage steps by running AI models. There are seemingly endless use cases, though it is important to note drafting the end state is often the easy part.??

I have had the privilege to meet with amazing technology architects, CIOs, CTOs, COOs, CDOs and CEOs from the industry side, and those who are heavily involved across consulting and technology integrators alike. I have learned so much from these conversations, even have described my time with these amazing humans as mini mentor sessions.

What does it take to be at the forefront? of digital transformation, and what can we all learn from it in our professional lives?

There are two key themes that come to mind:

1. You have to lead with business value, not technology. You must do it in a way that makes sense to all in terms of benefit to the business,? and you have to lead as an enabler in order to change defectors to champions, and truly deliver adoption. As you think through this, I encourage everyone to think through your talk track of business value. I have had many conversations where executives have made this shift, and suddenly that budget ask in planning went from ‘let’s look next year’, to garnering large budgets often allowing IT to become a center of business strategy rather than a cost center.?
2. You have to lead as an inclusive enabler who knows which groups are uncomfortable with this change and may work to derail this work, and make them champions of this work. You can deliver a perfect technical transformation, but if no one uses it, it’s not really helpful is it? Thus the most critical component of a successful digital transformation is adoption by the users. Almost daily I hear in some form that technology, while complex to solve, is not the most complex aspect of digital transformation, it’s the people. I love asking questions around getting a person or group comfortable with change and how to get things back on track when and if things start to go off the rails. In all these situations, authoritative power cannot be used. Instead influential leadership is the key to being able to solve the complexity. If you are looking for tricks here, think about how you would get buy-in for an initiative. I have learned that most give ownership to those involved. In doing so you make someone who may not have been supportive a part of the mission by giving them ownership that helps the overall initiative. Their ownership is key to seeing the results, and ultimately becoming a champion, which also helps when things go wrong. For some, giving ownership to others,? can be a true exercise of balancing one’s ego. However, it is clear those who have been part of some of the biggest digital transformations on the planet realize the more purpose you can give those around you the more support you will have and the faster you can achieve what is at hand.?

As this post comes to a close and the focus shifts to what is ahead I leave you all with this. Influential leadership combined with comfort in working outside of the limelight should be emphasized as you build a company culture, hire, and review someone’s performance, especially for those who lead or are looking to lead teams. Leadership should be how you can help those around you come together to solve problems. Always keep in mind what is in it for the user while keeping your talk track focused on business value. There is so much that will be made possible with Digital Transformation, a truly exciting time in our history. Though we may not all be part of this journey there is wisdom we can all leverage from it.