10 Digital Transformation Quotes that will Change the Way you View it
Digital leaders have been talking about the importance of digital transformation for years—here are some of their best quotes and what they illustrate.
We at Innovexa Solutions have talked at length, time and time again about the importance of digital transformation. Whether you’re an association or a business, the need for digitization grows greater by the day. This week we decided we’d take a back seat and let some of the greatest minds in technology, business, and digital innovation take the lead.
Here are 10 quotes you need to read if you’re to truly understand digital transformation and its value.
“At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years… if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.”
— John Chambers, Cisco System
Key Takeaway: Perhaps the most critical thing to keep in mind of. Companies of all kinds simply won’t be able to carry on without the help of technology. Technology that is only accessible through digitization.
“When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.”
— George Westerman, MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy
Key Takeaway: This quotes highlights that digital transformation isn’t just a switch you turn on with the right amount of investment. There are ways to do it correctly and ways to do it incorrectly. If you invest in digital infrastructure but don’t know how to best utilize the many tools it offers, then you haven’t transformed, you’ve just built a facade.
“One of the factors that I believe is the biggest obstacle to transformation is the fear of cannibalization.”
— Ganesh Ayyar, Mphasis
Key Takeaway: This quote points out the fear in going digital. A successful transformation is a massive undertaking that changes culture, business practices and strategy, and even the nature of the work being done. This is why it’s crucial that before transforming, leaders galvanize their workforce so that they all have the mindset to withstand it.
“The last ten years of IT have been about changing the way people work. The next ten years of IT will be about transforming your business.”
— Aaron Levie, BOX
Key Takeaway: Here Aaron underscores the disconnect between workforces and the tools that they have at their disposal. Many workers are highly capable of using digital tools to the betterment of their work but don’t have access to them due to a lack of digitization.
“90% of CEOs believe the digital economy will impact their industry, but less than 15% are executing on a digital strategy.”
— MIT Sloan and Capgemini
Key Takeaway: This is an especially interesting quote. It displays the worrying tendency for leaders (and perhaps humans in general) to understand something and yet not fully internalize what that something means. Too many leaders see the unstoppable wave that is digital transformation coming but choose not to act on that fact.
“You can’t delegate digital transformation for your company… You and your executives have to own it! Executives need to engage, embrace and adopt new ways of working with the latest and emerging technologies.”
— Barry Ross, Ross & Ross International
Key Takeaway: This quote illustrates that digital transformation has to come from the top down to work well. Company leaders have to take charge. They cannot afford to take a hands-off approach. Not only will that lead to there being a disconnect in the digitization efforts, but they’ll also be making themselves less valuable to their company.
“We went from being the Flintstones to the Jetsons in 9 months.”
— Dan Schulman, PayPal
Key Takeaway: This pithy line from Dan paints a perfect metaphor for the speed of digital innovation. The need for digital transformation has swept over companies the world over in just a matter of years.
“The next 5 years will be more disruptive than the last 15. This is NOT business as usual. A lot of technology that came in three years ago doesn’t work anymore.”
— Saul Berman, IBM
Key Takeaway: Another statement on the exponential speed of technological innovation. Going digital simply means keeping your company afloat so that it has the infrastructure to continue growing technologically. It is a baseline.
“The biggest part of our digital transformation is changing the way we think.”
— Simeon Preston, Bupa
Key Takeaway: Another consequential factor that goes into digital transformation—mindset. Digital transformation is not just getting access to the technology of tomorrow, it’s about having a forward-thinking mindset and company culture. Digitization is almost entirely ineffectual without the right outlook driving it.
“There is no alternative to digital transformation. Visionary companies will carve out new strategic options for themselves — those that don’t adapt, will fail.”
— Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Key Takeaway: And we come back around, full circle. Jeff Bezos himself unequivocally states that there is no other option to digital transformation for companies. It’s either digitize or welcome failure.
