2016 Digital Transformation Summit
On Monday I attended the 2016 Digital Transformation Summit at Sky City in Auckland. I'd like to share some of the key messages that resonated with me and some of the random thoughts that wandered across my brain.
Some key messages
- For digital transformation, the lead needs to come from the top and the ownership shared across the whole organisation. It shouldn't be a silo within IT or Marketing.
- "Fit to Fight". Ambition is to be applauded, but firstly you need a team in place with the skills and personalities to make change happen.
- It isn't a one-time, massive budget, project. It is a continuous, co-ordinated, agile sequence of milestones.
- Be smart about where you transform. There are no prizes for being the "most digital". Target the areas where you need a digital advantage to defeat your competition.
- Mobile First & User Experience is key. And the more consumer focused your company is, the more "mobile first-ish" it needs to be.
- Build in your measurements. If you can't measure it, then how do you know it is working?
Random thoughts
- Plenty of speakers were telling us how it is right now, plenty were telling us about the technology available today, mobile usage, internet of things etc. Nobody seemed prepared to tell us what will be the big thing in 5/10 years time. Now that would be useful to know.
- Know where you want to go but be prepared to take small, regular steps to get there - the 5 year multi-miilion dollar, mega-project approach will not be reactive enough.
- Know how your customers and prospective customers use digital now - and more importantly how they will be using it in the future.
Thanks Trilby. Kirsty also gave a great example of a UK clothing store where the assistants carry tablets and will order you an item online if out of stock in store - and vice versa when shopping online if it is in store but not available online.