| |December 20179CIOReviewDigital Should be Integral to the Or-ganization's StrategyDigital is not any different from the industrial and technological revolutions preceding it, only that the rate of change is exponentially greater. The changes, opportunities and challenges that come with the digital revolution should be closely integrated and be central to your enterprise strategy. Thus, it turns out to be a classic exercise in competitive strategic analysis. Start with understanding the im-pact digital has on each sphere of an organization ­ how the organiza-tion operates, serves its customers, conducts product research and de-velopment, performs sales and mar-keting, services supply chains and distribution channels. Based on this understanding, as the organizational leader, you can then start to decide what are the opportunities and/or threats ­ does digital help you create new markets, define new categories, expand the customer base or a tool to lower cus-tomer acquisition and servicing costs or creating efficiencies in the value chain. Layer this with a competi-tive scan of your industry, including players from adjacent industries and analyze if `digital-native' organiza-tions pose a threat to incumbent business models and lower/obliterate existing entry barriers. Very often, these insights are available with your frontline employees who are closest to customers and are able to identify value gaps and opportunities waiting to be exploited. An additional out-side in view from customers and the start up community often helps in identifying opportunities that can be completely disruptive. This strategic decision is really about where and how to engage across the digital leverage contin-uum ­ are you going to leverage digital to create new markets and business models or use digital to cre-ate efficiencies within the organiza-tion's operations. The goal here is to identify the most value adding sweet spots for your organization and in-dustry along this continuum and to rapidly follow that up by devising the execution to get going.Digital Transformation Rests on Adapting the Organization CultureA successful execution of your digi-tal transformation strategy stands on bedrock of a `digital' culture. Successful management con-structs of the past are not well suited for successful digital transforma-tions. Elements like siloed and spe-cialized departments executing a top-down strategy with incentives geared towards success do not work well in an arena where success requires multi-functional and cross-collab-orative teams, rapid experimenta-tion, failing fast, co-opetition and continuous learning . Understanding these cultural ele-ments and weighing them in balance against an incumbent culture, with the self reflection on the readiness of the organization's current leadership to drive the necessary culture should become the cornerstone of organi-zational, resourcing and execution decisions that make or break the digital transformation. For example, if your current workforce does not lend itself to such a change, a greenfield ap-proach with established bridges to the mothership is a starting point but with a gradual plan of pull-ing the two together, where results (higher revenues, lower costs) from the digital unit start to become em-bedded. Alternatively, if the culture is already one that lends itself to a digital way of being, nurturing these green shoots via a strategic govern-ance, prioritization and enablement is more likely the way forward.The business outcomes that are treasured like wining custom-ers, achieving lean operations, KPI driven decisions, focus on ROI are still the same while the tools and paths to achieve these are drastically different in a digitally transformed organization. Going beyond tech-nology to core culture, it's a trans-formation that leads to digital being embedded in the DNA of your organization. As a leader, your challenge is to create this cultural transformation without tearing apart the current fabric which makes your incum-bent business so successful. Leaders should identify and groom future digital leaders who can be effective bridges between the two realms and can play the role of the transplant surgeon who crafts their scalpel in an artful way to replace vital organs without damaging the whole. In conclusion, digital transfor-mation is not different in terms of earlier transformational eras ­ it is and will always be about setting the right strategy and creating the cul-ture to execute. It's about the people, not the technology. A successful execution of the digital strategy for realizing a transformation needs to be founded on bedrock of a `digital' culture
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