A common definition of digital transformation tells you that it is all about the disruptors who are threatening traditional markets, and the intelligent systems that are revolutionising not only the customer journey, but the entire proposition of many organisations.

In reality, most organisations are undergoing some form of digital transformation, although some don’t recognise it as such. Whatever the scenario, it’s not a big surprise that technology is now the number one priority for many CEOs.

What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation is about reimagining how you bring together people, data and processes to create value for customers and maintain a competitive advantage. Digital business must get to the very core of the organisation, and no longer exist in isolated pockets.

So how do we get business transformation underway? Firstly, define the visio.? What will the “new” organisation look like? Where’s the best place to start? These are the key questions.

To answer the last question – start with the customer. Many organisations are busy reinventing the customer journey, finding new ways to connect and engage and offering a highly personalised customer experience.

The transformation needs to get to the very core of the organisation. So don’t forget to think about employee empowerment as part of the change. Empowered employees is key in helping to drive optimised processes and operations, which will contribute to transformed products and services.

Microsoft’s Four Pillars for Effective Transformation

When thinking about how to make your digital transformation effective a helpful too is Microsoft’s four pillars. Microsoft’s pillars helps support an effective digital transformation roadmap:

Engage your customers – Reimagine the customer experience for a digital world and deliver more value through insights and relevant offers by engaging customers in natural, highly-personal and innovative ways throughout the customer journey. This increased relevance will drive loyalty and profitability.

Empower your employees – Empower a high-quality and committed digital workforce to work and collaborate as a team anywhere, on any device with modern productivity tools that provide seamless access to your data. This helps you innovate faster, meet compliance requirements and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Optimise your operations – Gain insight into risk and operational models with advanced analytics solutions and act on real-time intelligence to optimise risk management and meet regulatory requirements.

Transform your products – Drive agility with open and connected systems and highly-automated digital processes to support new product development and optimise distribution channel strategies. Do all of this while meeting the security, privacy and transparency expectations of customers, regulators and shareholders.

The Age of Disruption

In the age of disruption, disruptors, particularly the cloud-only new entrants, are able to deploy new technologies in a much more agile manner. Leaders of the more traditional, established (and probably complex) organisations have to respond to the challenge whilst maintaining normal service and operations. It isn’t practical to throw everything up in the air and start again – the answer instead is “rapid incrementalism”,  where you apply your learning to adapt and improve over time using your understanding of what the future looks like based on the four pillars outlined above.

Technologies, such as machine learning and big data, combined with the resources of cloud computing, are a great organisational leveller. These tools enable the traditionalists to become agile in their own right and respond to the threat of the disruptors on equal terms. Intelligent data offers insight, and insight offers the ability to identify and respond quickly to developing opportunities, making your busines more responsive and more able to succeed.