Incremental Digital Transformation

In a recent Harvard Business Review article titled, “Discovery-Driven Digital Transformation,” the authors provide excellent insight into the challenges and opportunities established firms face trying to become digitally relevant. Important takeaways include:

• Don’t approach digital transformation as a big bang initiative. It’s far better to approach digital change incrementally.
• Established firms have an advantage in digital transformation as they have an intimate knowledge of existing customers and customer experiences. Firms also possess intimate knowledge of their processes as well as the strengths and weaknesses of their offerings.
• Think like born-digital companies and expand your thinking to non-traditional competitor offerings and markets.
• Focus on the business outcomes for each of your incremental digital improvements. Over time, the knowledge learned (successes and failures) through incremental digital transformation will be invaluable.

By starting small, the authors provide hope for companies unprepared for digital transformation. The approach presented also provides an opportune way to embrace digital transformation without huge budgets and the associated risks.