The digital transformation process can be consideraded as innovation?

From a few weeks ago until now, I´ve been thinking about the innovation concept and their relations between Design Thinking, and one idea crossed my mind: to do a form asking what are the words people usually connects to the concept of innovation? I posted the form link in Brazilian Design groups on Facebook.

The word more voted was “disruption”, it means a breaking off something, a change of concept.The second more voted was the phrase: “something never thought”, it means a perception of a landmark, a turning point, a fact that can be undestood in “before and after”.

I think this reflection is extremally usefull when we thought in therms of digital transformation in the last years, because when we go further and analyze the innovation design processs, it is attached to the concept of project.

A Design project normally is divided in three parts: the desirable aspect, it means some sort of value that is transformed in necessity to a group, the utility aspect, in business therms, something that makes it feasible and a product/service that can be selled, and for last the technical aspect, how the companie will produce the object/service. This combination must be capable to create a market consumer in a way that it can be profitable and sustanable.

“Therefore, the innovation test is not be considered a novelty, in its scientifical content, or creative, but in their market success.”
Peter Drucker in Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Practice and Principles

Important to make a note in the fact of how we are used to think about technology, we current relate technology as a product of automated mechanisms, but technology is any form of system that make possible and feasible any product or service.

“(…) they all are examples of ‘new technoly, veryone is aplication of knowledge to human work, what is, in last instance, a technology definition’. In this phrase Drucker defend entrepreneurship as tecnology, with this definition.”

Comparing with nowadays, Design Thinking can be considered a type of technology. Technology is the third word most votad at the form wich is associated to innovation.

Following this train of thought, I risk to afirm innovation is a design thinking product, and it can be achieved using or not of automated mechanisms, it can considered a now type of technology because it is associated to the proposal of new process, forms of thought and methodologies connected of what is a form of thought related to designers and the creative mind process.

In this perspective, digital transformation is not about information technology, actually, most of the companies that are discussing this subject are technologie companies, so, what is digital transformation inside this companies that already producing technology?

I did this reflection to answer this question based on my professional experience inside this companies, I worked most of the time in areas responsibles for product development, digital transformation and I observed they all passed throught a transformation of the transfomation mindset of their work force, their employee. What people who work there see as a change in the corporation, a transition.

This fact is what I call digital transformation, to include the work force and prepare it to a strategical mindset, I listed some commom inniciatives that my thought are based:

- The importance of market share;

- A strong branding strategy, online and offline;

- The construction of solid and assertive process;

- The communication between areas, employees, stakeholders and partners.

There are many other aspects, but as you could note, in this cases the technology is aplyed with the purpose of solve problems, and the digital transformation is a continuous process, speacially because every day emerging new products, services and forms of thought.

Consequently, I afirm digital transformation in the current days are inniciatives that includes collaborative economy, verticalization of teams structures, more lean process, development of partnerships, and many other aspects that envolves a change in terms of business.

© 2017- 2018 Anne Freitas All Rights Reserved