Why digital transformation isn’t about digital.

Digital this, digital that. Every day something is being disrupted with the prefix of digital. The 4th Industrial Revolution is the world we now live in. 

What does this all mean for business, big or small?

First – what do we mean by digital, it has become a broad brush stroke to term to catch all. 

Involving or relating to the use of computer technology seems like the best fit here – I doubt that most CEOs will be thinking that their business will be reduced to a series of zeros and ones, or maybe the do. I also find it ironic that it is derived from the latin for finger which is what I am using to type this – who knows, maybe we will be faced with a Vocal Transformation as voice starts to take hold – I could well be dictating my next blog – Lawyers have using dictating software for decades; they are ahead of the times without even knowing it.

Next, lets consider how the term “digital transformation” has taken hold of us by looking at search trends on Google :

100 is peak popularity. So it would seem this the top of mind for the world based on search terms.

Let us now consider the word transformation 

A marked change in for, nature or appearance.

Therefore, we are looking at technology in all that it encompasses and a marked change in something. I think we would all agree, this is typically what we mean when we say the phrase “our company” or "industry" is going through a digital transformation – technology will be part of this, a process or processes will be part of this and finally people. And this for me is where we get lost in the rhetoric and hype of all of this – the people.

Digital Transformation cannot succeed unless you bring your people along with you. It doesn’t matter which business function you sit in. Boards and business functions have to understand the Why and then the How. And then be able to articulate it coherently to the business - even sell the idea in.

Technology is merely the enabler of what we do.

If we consider Sales & Marketing, (although it applies to all functions) this is about building the digital tools augmented by social into their day to day behaviour. This is not about creating social media influencers a la Kylie Jenner, but how to use social as the channel to drive better inbound sales opportunities, and digital as the enabler, to prove ROI on marketing spend, most likely through CRM.

You have to build everything around the Why & How, focus on the output data that is created and Why this is critical for a 21st Century Digital Sales & Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations etc department - even a business overall. In order to get here though, one has to understand what is the output we are trying to generate in the first place. And Why.

Staying with Sales & Marketing these are some of the Whys to consider :

Why this is critical for the modern marketer, seller.

Why this is where your target audience now resides.

Why this is how your target audience expect to be communicated to.

Why social has to embedded into the culture of your organisation.

Why you and your board need to lead from the front in all of this.

Why Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, WeChat etc are digital sales tools, digital marketing tools and digital recruitment tools that enable you & your business to leverage social.

Then, you have to answer with "And here is How".

This parody of Space Odyssey 2001 ( which is, as you know, has a violent start to the dawn of man) from Zoolander sums it up in an amusing way

Amusing, however, you would be surprised how many people, and I hasten to add, through no fault of their own, this is their understanding of social & digital.

If I roll back the years to when I was in my first sales job, almost 20 years ago, I was making 100 cold calls a day in recruitment. What outcome was I trying to achieve – getting that first sales meeting to pitch for work to hire sales professionals for organisations in the TMT sector. Fast forward today – what am I still trying to do – get that first meeting with you to pitch what value I will bring you and your business around how social and digital will transform how you generate business. So, nothing has changed in terms of my desired output. Get that first sales meeting. What has changed is this; I have fundamentally transformed my thought process and behaviour around how lead generation has changed in the 21st Century. I understand Why it has changed and How to build it into my sales & marketing processes.

If I look back through my career, there have been times where I have grown frustrated with management or people I have managed – inwardly thinking to myself, why do you not get this, it is not hard!

Then I read this report by Microsoft – Creating a Culture of Digital Transformation and they cite Carol Dweck and her thinking around Mindsets in an organisation :

I understood more about myself and my colleagues. I am very much of a Growth mindset vs (some) of my former colleagues or management whom I grew frustrated with were of a Fixed mindset. I had failed to understand and respect the psychology of why people think certain ways. Had I understood this, I would have changed my approach. This is Change Management. Hindsight is a fine thing.

This for me is the nub of Digital Transformation – technology is merely the enabler, nothing more nothing less. It has to start with the Why are we doing this? Do we need to do this? What outputs are we trying to achieve? Why are we trying to achieve that? Is that still the right question to be asking? Is this Management Information still relevant to this? If as management, you cannot answer some of these questions and a myriad of others, especially the Why we are doing this – how on earth do you think you will bring your business along this journey with you.

Why are we doing his boss? We just are. Not going to fly. 

Also, do not fall into the trap of getting wooed by something shiny and new in terms of technology or “AI” and then expect the business to change its behaviour – this typical of why CRM historically has, unfairly in my view, had such bad internal PR- it has been input led, rather than output led. Yes, there will be internal PR at a broad level of we are getting a new CRM system because it will make your day to day role easier and give us more data. Typically it is foisted upon a business, without consideration to the users and where their mindset may be. This goes for any technology implementation. Will it make my role easier? How? No one has consulted me. Why do you want more data on what I am doing – is it so you can beat me into submission with the metaphorical bone a la Space Odyssey 2001 or even death – eg I leave.

For me, this is all about Change Management, which is not easy. Having spent 5 years in Recruitment, people are unique, they are not automatons who just do what you tell them to do. Not everyone is going to buy into the new vision – even if you can articulate the Why coherently backed up with empirical data. This can lead to hard decisions about whether you keep these people or they may even leave of their own volition – maybe no bad thing. You have to have the right mindset and culture to effect any meaningful type of change. However, with a coherent message around the Why, this will be all for naught.

If we compare search terms on Google for Digital Transformation and Change Management, we can see a glaring problem :

Change Management search term on Google since 2004 – to date

Digital Transformation search term on Google since 2004 – to date

with 100 being peak popularity vs 0 being not.

It is time to take a step back from all the hype and consider who is being impacted the most - your people. And Why. Without your people, you will not have a business to digitally transform.