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‘Digital’ – what does it really mean for business? Liesbeth Botha
We realise that every business must have a ‘digital strategy’, or rather a business strategy in a digital world.
e term ‘digital’ is everywhere – in corporate corridors, entrepreneurial ecosystems, the start-up world, business publications, and social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter Articles about ‘digital transformation’ and discussions about ‘digital disruption’ abound
Surveys and interviews with CEOs, such as in the PwC annual CEO report, show that the majority of them see digital technology, and associated disruption, as one of the most signi cant trends that is and will be impacting on their business now and in future
But what is ‘digital transformation’ really? How do we de ne the term in the context of the business world, and what is it about ‘digital technology’ that impacts on business? In this article, I try to provide some answers to these questions I also touch on the ‘Internet of ings’ (IoT), and how it relates to business Digital transformation is a hot topic in professional services rms, so I try to explain how digital technology currently impacts our industry in particular I go on to describe a framework for digital transformation in a business, share some thoughts on the role of leadership in digital transformation and, nally, make a few comments regarding behaviours that accelerate the journey
One of the ve megatrends
Technological breakthroughs, climate change, accelerated urbanisation, shi s in global economic power, and demographic change are the ve megatrends in our world in these early decades of the
21st century Of these, technological breakthroughs, including development and innovation in digital technology, can be considered to be overall the most positive Apart from some social trends that could be considered negative, one rarely reads about any negative impact of technological breakthroughs
Of course, technological breakthroughs go much wider than digital – developments in biotechnology and renewable energy are equally prominent and also impact our lives on a daily basis For the purposes of this article, I will focus on digital technology, and how developments and innovations in this domain are relevant
How ‘digital’ has changed our lives
‘Digital’ refers to the ecosystems and trends that in the past two decades have developed around digital technology, which, in its most basic essence, comprises the digital computer and digital communication Up to about a decade ago, we referred to this world as ICT (information and communication technology) e focus then was very much on the technology rather than on the ecosystems and trends, but the latter two components now form an integral part of what we refer to as ‘digital’
In the digital paradigm, the most important technological constructs are the mobile smartphone (from our perspective, arguably one of the most impactful technological innovations of all times) and the cloud, which gives access, through the Internet, to distributed computing and storage platforms e smartphone, together with the Internet and the cloud,
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