Your Company Doesn't Need a Digital Strategy – MIT Sloan Management Review
The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
It seems that the whole business world is talking about digital transformation these days. Just look at the search trends for the term:
Source: Google Trends
But while more people are talking more about digital transformation, it’s pretty clear that most are missing the point.
As sexy as it is to speculate about new technologies such as AI, robots, and the internet of things (IoT), the focus on technology can steer the conversation in a dangerous direction. Because when it comes to digital transformation, digital is not the answer. Transformation is.
Technology doesn’t provide value to a business. It never has (except for technology in products). Instead, technology’s value comes from doing business differently because technology makes it possible. E-commerce is not about the internet — it’s about selling differently. Analytics is not about databases and machine language algorithms — it’s about understanding customers better, or optimizing maintenance processes, or helping doctors diagnose cancer more accurately. IoT is not about RFID tags — it’s about radically synchronizing operations or changing business models.
In the digital world, a strategic focus on digital sends the wrong message. Creating a “digital strategy” can focus the organization in ways that don’t capture the true value of digital transformation. You don’t need a digital strategy. You need a better strategy, enabled by digital.
This idea of focusing on transformation instead of technology extends to industries ranging from food to mining. Here are some industry-specific examples of what I mean:
VR by itself is an interesting digital tool. VR as part of a broader work transformation strategy is much more powerful.
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In industries ranging from hospitality to chainsaw manufacturing, great leaders are transforming their businesses through technology. They focus on strategic transformation, not technology adoption, and they get more powerful results. They keep four things in mind to avoid common pitfalls that often come from taking a technology focus:
As an engineer turned manager turned management researcher, I love technology. I’ve spent my life making, using, and studying some of the greatest innovations of the past few decades, and I have studied digital transformation for the past six years, starting before it was even a thing. I would never tell a company to avoid new technologies, and I would never tell managers to ignore fast-emerging digital innovations. But I will continue to warn managers when I see a digital transformation conversation going in the wrong direction.
Technology helps you do business differently, but the right strategy is not technology-focused. It incorporates the right technologies for the right jobs. It uses high tech where those capabilities are important and low tech where a simple solution can do the job. And when technology is done right, it can help a company launch wave after wave of business innovation — innovation that becomes possible as new technologies become real.
An adapted version of this article appears in the Spring 2018 print edition.
George Westerman is a principal research scientist with the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and coauthor of the award-winning book Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation, published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2014. He tweets @gwesterman.
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This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
The spring 2024 issue’s special report looks at how to take advantage of market opportunities in the digital space, and provides advice on building culture and friendships at work; maximizing the benefits of LLMs, corporate venture capital initiatives, and innovation contests; and scaling automation and digital health platform.
It seems that the whole business world is talking about digital transformation these days. Just look at the search trends for the term:
Source: Google Trends
But while more people are talking more about digital transformation, it’s pretty clear that most are missing the point.
As sexy as it is to speculate about new technologies such as AI, robots, and the internet of things (IoT), the focus on technology can steer the conversation in a dangerous direction. Because when it comes to digital transformation, digital is not the answer. Transformation is.
Technology doesn’t provide value to a business. It never has (except for technology in products). Instead, technology’s value comes from doing business differently because technology makes it possible. E-commerce is not about the internet — it’s about selling differently. Analytics is not about databases and machine language algorithms — it’s about understanding customers better, or optimizing maintenance processes, or helping doctors diagnose cancer more accurately. IoT is not about RFID tags — it’s about radically synchronizing operations or changing business models.
In the digital world, a strategic focus on digital sends the wrong message. Creating a “digital strategy” can focus the organization in ways that don’t capture the true value of digital transformation. You don’t need a digital strategy. You need a better strategy, enabled by digital.
This idea of focusing on transformation instead of technology extends to industries ranging from food to mining. Here are some industry-specific examples of what I mean:
VR by itself is an interesting digital tool. VR as part of a broader work transformation strategy is much more powerful.
Get Updates on Transformative Leadership
Evidence-based resources that can help you lead your team more effectively, delivered to your inbox monthly.
Please enter a valid email address
Thank you for signing up
Privacy Policy
In industries ranging from hospitality to chainsaw manufacturing, great leaders are transforming their businesses through technology. They focus on strategic transformation, not technology adoption, and they get more powerful results. They keep four things in mind to avoid common pitfalls that often come from taking a technology focus:
As an engineer turned manager turned management researcher, I love technology. I’ve spent my life making, using, and studying some of the greatest innovations of the past few decades, and I have studied digital transformation for the past six years, starting before it was even a thing. I would never tell a company to avoid new technologies, and I would never tell managers to ignore fast-emerging digital innovations. But I will continue to warn managers when I see a digital transformation conversation going in the wrong direction.
Technology helps you do business differently, but the right strategy is not technology-focused. It incorporates the right technologies for the right jobs. It uses high tech where those capabilities are important and low tech where a simple solution can do the job. And when technology is done right, it can help a company launch wave after wave of business innovation — innovation that becomes possible as new technologies become real.
An adapted version of this article appears in the Spring 2018 print edition.
George Westerman is a principal research scientist with the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy and coauthor of the award-winning book Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation, published by Harvard Business Review Press in 2014. He tweets @gwesterman.
You must sign in to post a comment.
First time here? Sign up for a free account: Comment on articles and get access to many more articles.
Get free, timely updates from MIT SMR with new ideas, research, frameworks, and more.
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This article was autogenerated from a news feed from CDO TIMES selected high quality news and research sources. There was no editorial review conducted beyond that by CDO TIMES staff. Need help with any of the topics in our articles? Schedule your free CDO TIMES Tech Navigator call today to stay ahead of the curve and gain insider advantages to propel your business!
