Technology cannot cause digital transformation

Technology does not change people, therefore, there is no digital transformation caused only by technology. Is Tony Stark transformed when he enters his suit? Is Batman a different man with all those new age gadgets? No, they learned how to use technology and turned that into their advantage. The big difference between these two guys is that the Iron Man would not exist without technology.

The same goes with your business.

Technology and technology — driven change has virtually nothing to do with igniting a transformation from good to great. Technology can accelerate a transformation, but technology cannot cause a transformation

Jim Collins — Good to Great

If you believe one click of a button is all it takes to be “puff” — digitally transformed, guess again. Your business problems are not solved by magic — all superhero movies will tell you the same story, there has to be a journey:

1. You are an ordinary person leading an ordinary company.
2. You are faced with a challenge that disrupts your ordinary day in a company.
3. You make excuses about why you cannot adopt to presented challenge and go on the adventure.
4. One of yours CEO friends or someone you admire gives you an advice about digitalization.
5. Usually under pressure you leave your ordinary processes and try on the adventure of digitalization.
6. You face minor challenges, makes allies, confront problems, and learn the benefits of this new digitalized world that you are testing.
7. You encounter setbacks and try something new.
8. You are faced with a peak of process crisis.
9. You survive, overcome the fear and get rewarded.
10. You return to ordinary processes but the problems are still not solved.
11. You are faced with the greater crisis and you use everything that you have learned on you digital adventure.
12. You are well and feel well, as you successfully improved the quality of your business processes and the lives of everyone in you ordinary company.

On that journey, while struggling, you’ll hear: “It requires a change of mindset”. But what does that mean: “change of mindset”. Like you will be digitally enlightened, have some kind of digital mediation and your mindset will change?

It’s experience — experience can change people’s minds — sometimes in unexpected ways.

After your journey you will learn what you, your team, company and technology (and a good partner) are capable of doing together.

Companies that are “transforming your business” should focus their services on their experience. To do that, everyone in the company should be aware that they are part of a journey, that they are designing an experience. There is no classical salesman, project manager, developer, they are all designers of that customer’s journey from day one — and it’s not enough “to be aware of that” but they must be given a chance to participate in that journey in their own way. Even the hardcore programmer with no people skills will give a valuable feedback if he understands the situation he is solving, not just some task.

That’s why, lean, agile groups or companies, where customer probably has a nickname, are in advantage. That kind of group can imagine, relate and understand the problem and then design the experience. After the initial “work”, they can track, monitor and adjust experience, live that problem with a customer until the chapter of their first journey is over..

These companies live by their rules, they live the processes they teach — they don’t pretend, they are honest and speak from their experience. I’m Iron Man because of the suit and you can see that I’m living the experience — so ask your partner about their experience, do they live their processes?

In the end, technology wont change you, experience using it might and that depends on how your partner will design your experience, your journey. So don’t search for a technology that will solve all your problems, search for the partner that will go on an adventurous journey with you.