Digital Transformation

Digital transformations are different from regular business transformations, in both small and big ways. For one thing, business transformations usually end once a new behavior has been achieved. Digital transformations, on the other hand, are long-term efforts to rewire how an organization continuously improves and changes (and that means really long term; most executives will be on this journey for the rest of their careers). That’s because technology is not only becoming further integrated in business but also constantly evolving. For example, given the growing importance of AI in generating business insights and enabling decision-making logic, any digital transformation should also be an AI transformation.

Digital transformations have a much improved probability for success when teams focus on changing entire domains (for example, a customer journey, process, or functional area) rather than only on use cases (a single step within the domain, such as answering a customer-service call). A focus on domains is conducive to effective change because it encompasses all related activities to deliver a complete solution. So instead of focusing on just one step of a process—such as creating the process for a customer to open a bank account through an app—the domain would also include all the other activities (account setup, verification, workflow automation, etcetera) required to open the account. Reckoning with all those other activities is what allows a solution to deliver its value. A domain should be large enough to be valuable and noticeable to the company but small enough to be transformed without relying too much on other parts of the business. Managing the interconnectivity of use cases and solutions within a domain is one of the keys to transformation success.