Software Development as an Ultimate tool for Digital Transformation

Ask yourself if you would like to change your car, what feature upgrade you would like to have? Parking camera, autopilot, better navigation system, better integration with your phone, music on demand from Spotify, Deezer or YouTube?

I can bet that anything that you would like to improve comes from a Digital world. I took car as an example but you can do this exercise with any item that you have in your life. Wouldn’t be nice if your dishwasher can alert you on your phone that the program is finished? Or if you can setup the exact water temperature on you shower?

Look around you… What is for sure is that digital world is the one that we already live and we will expect more and more from it every day in the future.

What companies should do?

First, digital transformation is not the question of choice but the question of survival. Companies without digital transformation agenda will not be able to catch up in the future or even to survive.

Second, Digital transformation does not just mean adding digital component of product or even completely new product. It is a big shift in business model as well. Business model needs to be adapted or even reinvented. To do so traditional tools that count on certainty and predictability are not on the table but instead there is a need for tools that allow:

• Fast experiments
• Trial and errors
• Deep customer immersion
• Innovation

There are numerous tools and frameworks that should be applied in digital transformation like: Agile way of work, Design thinking, Lean startup, Business model canvas. All those tolls are designed to help you working with uncertainty which is reality of digital world.

Third, there is no silver bullet for what to do in digital transformation road-map but what is sure is that Software development is the ultimate tool that should be used. Without it, companies will not be able to find their place in digital world. Every business must create its software that will differentiate them from the others: bakeries, coffee shops, music shops, house construction companies, health services, schools, etc. Software will be the ultimate differentiation having in mind digital expectations from people. Therefore Software development should not be treated as a support for business or a pure cost of a company that needs to be optimized but instead as an opportunity, enabler and investment for the future.