Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers. It’s also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo and be brave.

Data is becoming the core corporate asset that will determine the success of your business. Digital transformation is on the agenda everywhere. You can only exploit your data assets and do a successful digital transformation if you are able to govern your data. Because digital transformation will look different for every company, it can be hard to pinpoint a definition that applies to all. 

Although digital transformation will vary widely based on organization’s specific challenges and demands, there are a few constants and common themes among existing case studies and published frameworks that all business and technology leaders should consider as they embark on digital transformation.

Digital transformation is more than digitization. Digitization was the process – using digital tools to automate and improve the existing way of working without really altering it fundamentally. Transformation is a more caterpillar to butterfly process, moving gracefully from one way of working to an entirely new one, replacing corporate body parts and ways of functioning completely in some cases to capture far more value than was possible using low-scale, low-leverage legacy business.

How do you put digital transformation into practice? It’s a big leap from digital transformation theory to actually doing digital transformation. Digital transformation requires more than technology. Change takes place at all levels during a digital transformation, especially when it comes to talent and capabilities. Most organizations’ top teams change during the transformation—most commonly when new leaders familiar with digital technologies join the management team.

Organizations can lay the groundwork for a successful digital transformation by first solidifying commitment from the organization’s senior leaders. It has everything to do with who manages and executes the change program. 

Adaptivity is critical to transformational efforts; creating an adaptive organization starts with talent that can quickly reskill or upskill, shifting focus as the needs of the organization dictate.

Technological tools like Data Harmony can help in the transformation process. It is a fully customizable suite of software products designed to maximize precise, efficient information management and retrieval. Our suite includes tools for taxonomy and thesaurus construction, machine aided indexing, database management, information retrieval and explainable artificial intelligence.

Melody K. Smith

Data Harmony is an award-winning semantic suite that leverages explainable AI.

Sponsored by Access Innovations, the intelligence and the technology behind world-class explainable AI solutions.