Digital Transformation through Innovation in Projects and Products

Technology Transformation and Innovation

The phrase “Digital Transformation” has become so ubiquitous in so many different contexts that the only commonality seems to be its use as a marketing concept to sell computer hardware, software and / or consulting services. It seems to have become an all-purpose generic “transformation” encompassing “agile transformation,” “cloud transformation,” “IoT transformation,” “big data transformation,” “as a service transformation,” “mobile application transformation,” “business intelligence transformation,” “process automation transformation,” “DevOps transformation,” etc.

The multitude of white papers, presentations, advertisements, webinars and blogs on the subject generally assert that through the proper mix of digital technologies and capabilities, companies can “transform” their business models, business processes, organisational structures, employee engagement, customer experience, etc. This literature also, unfortunately, generally fails to give much actionable direction on how to accomplish these desired goals. So how, then, can a company or organisation decide how and when to utilise the many available digital tools to significantly grow its business and / or improve internal customer satisfaction?

Fortunately, while many digital technologies are indeed new, technology-driven “transformations” are not, and provide useful “lessons learnt” that can be applied to the question of how to best exploit the newest digital technologies. Examples of such “transforming” technologies in the last 200 years include steam, electricity, telegraphy, telephony, internal combustion, radio, powered flight, photography, television, computers, and the internet; each of which “transformed” businesses and eventually society.

While each of these transformationa...