How would you define Digital Transformation? We wanted to know what some of the digital leaders who joined us on this show refer to when talking about transforming in a digital way.
Does it mean using tech to enable change? Creating new business models? Changing our ways of working? Tune into this special episode to get inspired by the statements - and ask yourself: What does it mean to you?
How would you define Digital Transformation? We wanted to know what some of the digital leaders who joined us on this show refer to when talking about transforming in a digital way.
Does it mean using tech to enable change? Creating new business models? Changing our ways of working? Tune into this special episode to get inspired by the statements - and ask yourself: What does it mean to you?
Christine: (00:03)
Welcome to the Lost in Transformation podcast series dedicated to the complex world of Digital Transformation. We feature guests from large corporations, start-ups, consultancies and more, to shed light on the success factors around Innovation, Transformation, and adjacent topics.
We share first-hand insights and inspiration from experts for all the intrapreneurs, entrepreneurs and anyone curious about Digital Transformation.
Christine: (00:32)
How do you define Digital Transformation? We asked this question to a number of Digital Leaders and we’re inspired by the variety of statements that we received.
Predominant categories include the impact of digital transformation on the change in people’s mindset and culture, the way we work, and in the customer experiences we provide. On the other hand, aligning the definition on digital technologies to fundamentally change business processes highlights how we deliver services in a new digital manner, as well as how we use tech as an enabler to change our lives and create new business models and new opportunities.
It’s interesting to see how one’s background and experience can shape our perception of transformation throughout the journey. We’d like to invite you to think about what digital transformation actually means to you, and which definition resonates most with yourself.
But enough from us, take a listen!
Linda: (01:32)
“Digital Transformation for me differs quite strongly from the digitalization. The digitalization is about looking in your current workings, finding a process that has been supported quite intensively with the manual labor. Trying to find a way of mapping that process, understanding what it needs to deliver and what the KPIs are, and then ripping it all out and putting in a digitized version or an automatized version of that process.
So what you gain by it, you remove the manual intervention, you put something that is digitized, that is going to give you the benefits in terms of time, in terms of efficiency, and in terms of accuracy.
Whereby the digital transformation is a much wider definition for me, where you do take a crack at the business model that your company is currently having. And the digital transformation, like an ecosystem that touches all parts of your company, not only your processes that you can put again, technologies to improve, but it touches the way that your people work, the way that you define what success looks like, different KPIs that you are starting to track different return on investments.
So, and most of this in the digital transformation is driven very much by the experience that you want to keep on sustainably offering to your customers. And also trying to find the most optimized model, business model that can also get you through those sustainable years. So, there is a world of difference in between the two, and it's very important to know which one you are on."
Jerry: (03:02)
“So Digital Transformation is not just about leveraging technologies to solve a problem but it’s really about how do you leverage technology to bring benefits, you know, to your customer and really improve the business outcome."
Ee Ling: (03:20)
“Digital Transformation to us really means, you know, how an organization uses technology to fundamentally change businesses’ processes, and the culture in the organization itself. I think change can actually take the form of incremental improvements to the core business all the way to moonshot approaches that are transformational to the business, such as, you know, opening up new markets, new customers, new business models, and new revenue streams.
One additional element that I really like about digital transformation is actually changing a customer's experience. So, I am a huge believer of a human centered design. So, when I talk about, you know, innovation and transformation, I always gravitate towards the concept of creating change and solving problems for your customer or your customer's customer."
Henning: (04:03)
“Digital Transformation for me is transforming an existing business model and, by this, allowing to grasp opportunities that you haven’t been aware of or that you haven’t seen before. And this also encompasses the enabling of the employees or the enablement of employees, and building up capabilities of employees, because I think if you manage to bring together someone with a strong domain expertise in what he or she is doing, and upgrading that person with elements that I think are key with respect to digitalization such as a general demystification of digital buzzwords, a general understanding of digital business models, and but also building up capabilities when it comes to how do you approach digital product dev, how do you approach challenges, how to successfully use digital technologies, I think then you have a very very powerful mix.
So, combining this domain expertise of experts that you have from the company and help them to increase the capabilities when it comes to digitalization. I think this is where really magic can happen and where you can really tap into opportunities and revenue streams that you haven't even seen before."
Marie-Helene: (05:27)
“Well I think there is two answers to that. One is the more technical which is really the transformation from very human, analog work to then a digital world where everything is connected. Where you are working with data-centricity and a lot of automization. So that’s the I think pure technical definition of it. But for me, the digital transformation has much more to do with the mindset. And in that way, I think, it’s the ability to leave traditional ways how to work and to be open and allow new, creative ways of thinking how to exploit these new technologies. And these new technological capabilities. And I think this is first the more exciting part, but secondly also the much harder part. And I guess digital transformation is sometimes, you know, very lengthy process, hard process, and for many also a big challenge, more from the mindset point of view than from the pure technical point of view."
Scott: (06:41)
“So we define transformation as a fundamental change in form or substance. So it is the equivalent of the liquid becoming a gas, or a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. And a digital transformation means that you go from not to. It’s as simple as that. So digital transformation means you have changed your organization in form or substance by truly infusing digital through every aspect of the organization."
Sam: (07:04)
“So I think digital transformation is any element of continued evolution or improvement of an existing business that is enabled by digital technologies. And so then it’s one part of a company’s evolutionary toolkit, alongside things like process, talent engagement, culture, etc. etc.”
Yi Ming: (07:27)
“To me it’s the process of an organization, a startup, an individual or small businesses looking at how they can use technology, new frontier technology, to make their businesses more efficient.”
Florian: (07:41)
“So, digital transformation for me - I actually like to use the term, or prefer to use the term business transformation, because in essence, this is what’s happening. It’s a transformation in your business, it’s a transformation in the way you offer your products and services to your end-consumers and it’s a change in how you actually generate these products and services. And this can be very different from organization to organization but I think the important part for me is: what does it mean? I use digital methodologies, tools, technologies to transform the way I do business. Either internally or for my end-consumers or both at the same time.”
Pete: (08:20)
“So, I don’t have one. I have a point of view that says I think technology is an incredibly important enabler, amplifier, and an accelerant for all of our futures. So the challenge for businesses is to think through: what is it that they really want to do, make, create? And then think through how technology enables that, not the other way around. That’s it. Right? So, the challenge with digital transformation is, it’s not about digital. It’s about what digital enables you to do. Which is not an uncommon thing you hear around the world, but I think still, businesses fall into the trap time and time again.”
Olaf: (09:02)
“Well, I mean, from my perspective, I mean, transformation I think is ongoing all the time. So, things change. And, in this case, I think what we currently see is this enormous update of how digital can change our lives, right? So, everyone has this in their everyday lives. And, the terms that I would, or in terms of our digital transformation at Munich Re at least, the thing is that you have to try to cope with those new opportunities and the inevitably coming changes in the different industries and markets, and how people live, basically. I mean, a lot of the stuff really is granted in how people live their daily lives. And i think as a company we have to be able to anticipate what the products are that are needed in our industry, because of, when those things change and how these things develop. So, I think, that’s my, that would be my take on digital transformation. I think it’s very hands-on. I think it gets way too much buzzwords right now, and everybody - I mean, you can interpret a thousand things into this but my feeling is that you have to, as a company, see what are the changes to your markets and your products, and actively try to improve on all the different concrete things that you need to compete in the future markets. And I think most difficult part, as always, is to have a little bit a look into the future and see what things you should invest in, and what things maybe will just go away and you should let go of.”
Thomas Jakob: (10:27)
“In the context of Bosch actually, we would define Digital Transformation as making that transition from the traditional physical world into the world of services, right. And that is what is the most important impact for us when we talk about digital. Not the technology, but the change in moving from the physical to the services world. So, it’s not directly digital in a way, it’s more about the business model ultimately.”
Wei: (10:57)
“I think, to be successful in a digital age, I believe that companies need to undertake two types of digital transformation. The first type of digital transformation: companies must really digitize their internal processes and operations, such as conducting meetings virtually, how do they run their finance operations, like invoicing more efficiently, how do they manage their CRM more efficiently.
So, that really is our core internal digital transformation. Digital transformation two, the second part of digital transformation: I think companies also need to think about how digital can become a new business opportunity. Can they deliver their products and services to customers in a new digital manner, create new business models, new revenue streams? Basically, similar to corporate venture building. How do they build new businesses using digital as a new asset.”
Christine: (11:45)
Thank you for listening to this episode of “Lost in Transformation”. If you enjoy our podcast, please subscribe to our channel and leave us a review on iTunes. Join us next time for another episode of our podcast.