Our whirl­wind rela­tion­ship with tech­nol­o­gy has tak­en a life of its own in recent years. In less than a decade, gaz­ing into a glow­ing screen full of infor­ma­tion has become a nat­ur­al part of life. But don’t be fooled. Every device we use, every piece of data we view, and every con­nec­tion we engage is no longer just tools for get­ting stuff done.

“We don’t use tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions to solve tech­nol­o­gy prob­lems. We use tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions to solve busi­ness prob­lems,” Daniel New­man, prin­ci­pal ana­lyst and found­ing part­ner of Futu­rum Research + Analy­sis, shared dur­ing the Amer­i­c­as’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) Web­cast ​“Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion and Inno­va­tion at Scale Across Indus­tries.” ​“By adapt­ing and inno­vat­ing quick­ly with emerg­ing tech­nolo­gies, the speed in which you are con­stant­ly look­ing to use tech­nol­o­gy and grow­ing your cul­ture to take advan­tage of them will inevitably help com­pa­nies become dis­rup­tive by nature.”

But all too often, com­pa­nies fail to find the right dig­i­tal strat­e­gy that will pro­pel them into the stratos­phere of indus­try lead­ers such as Ama­zon, Net­Flix, Airbnb, Lyft, and Face­book. So what’s going on? Is it pos­si­ble that they are mak­ing dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion more dif­fi­cult than it real­ly is?

Lost in trans­la­tion: Deci­pher­ing the true mean­ing of dig­i­tal transformation

As the rate of change accel­er­ates, lead­er­ship needs to pay atten­tion to how dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion relates to the over­all busi­ness strat­e­gy. Under­stand­ing how the inter­de­pen­dence of peo­ple, process, and tech­nol­o­gy breathes new life into the mar­ket­place can set the busi­ness on a path towards out­per­form­ing and dom­i­nat­ing com­peti­tors while adding val­ue to every customer’s experience.

But all too often, as New­man not­ed, exec­u­tives are often caught up in the ever-evolv­ing flur­ry of favored buzz­words, ideas, and ter­mi­nol­o­gy. ​“Every sin­gle busi­ness is chal­lenged by tech­nol­o­gy jar­gon, espe­cial­ly dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion, dig­i­tal dis­rup­tion, and inno­va­tion. It is impor­tant that there is a base­line under­stand­ing that these terms are all dis­tinct and not interchangeable.”

By know­ing how these terms inter­con­nect, com­pa­nies can set a firm foun­da­tion for suc­cess for years to come:

· Dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion: The right blend of tech­nol­o­gy (“dig­i­tal”) and peo­ple (“trans­for­ma­tion”) is vital – and you can­not have one with­out the oth­er. The right mind­set, skills, strat­e­gy, and cul­ture is need­ed to imple­ment and use tech­nol­o­gy in a way that will dri­ve the busi­ness forward.

· Dig­i­tal dis­rup­tion: This term is not just about Net­flix upset­ting Block­buster or Ama­zon tak­ing over dig­i­tal and brick-and-mor­tar com­merce. Dig­i­tal dis­rup­tion is actu­al­ly more than that. Instead, it’s about tech­nol­o­gy shift­ing the behav­iors and expe­ri­ences of exist­ing and poten­tial consumers.

· Inno­va­tion: Although this is not a new term, this is prob­a­bly one of the most chal­leng­ing con­cepts to achieve con­sis­tent­ly and pro­duc­tive­ly. In essence, inno­va­tion is about intro­duc­ing new ideas, prod­ucts, and ser­vices that will help keep the busi­ness going and strong.

The thin red line: Con­nect­ing data, peo­ple, tech­nol­o­gy, and partnership

Com­pa­nies that are suc­cess­ful­ly inno­vat­ing and over­tak­ing their com­peti­tors are the ones that under­stand how to address four fun­da­men­tal elements:

· Opti­mized tal­ent: Make the best use of every employ­ee to fos­ter a cul­ture that embraces change and innovation.

· Data man­age­ment: Col­lect, ana­lyze, and share the right data for more pre­cise decision-making.

· Tech­nol­o­gy align­ment: Choose tech­nolo­gies that com­ple­ment cor­po­rate objec­tives and culture.

· The right part­ner­ships: Estab­lish part­ner rela­tion­ships that can take the busi­ness strat­e­gy to the next level.

By uni­fy­ing these com­po­nents, com­pa­nies can deliv­er the tools they need to make bet­ter deci­sions and offer prod­ucts and ser­vices that res­onate and evolve with cus­tomers. Such a foun­da­tion is crit­i­cal because, as New­man sug­gest­ed, ​“there is sim­ply too much data flow­ing through busi­ness­es right now – we don’t just need ana­lyt­ics; we need ana­lyt­ics and insights now.”

Tech­nol­o­gy that helps users cut through a mas­sive vol­ume of data so they can get the right infor­ma­tion and pair it with their expe­ri­ences is invalu­able in today’s econ­o­my. ​“For exam­ple, machine learn­ing helps peo­ple make bet­ter deci­sions faster by lever­ag­ing quan­ti­ta­tive­ly sup­port­ed fore­cast­ing met­rics, facial recog­ni­tion, and pat­tern detec­tion,” New­man con­tin­ued. ​“Mean­while, blockchain helps improve how we val­i­date infor­ma­tion, ver­i­fy trans­ac­tions, and estab­lish a sys­tem of checks and bal­ances to make sure data [from which deci­sions are made] is accu­rate from the per­spec­tive of the busi­ness and consumer.”

The gap between: Bridg­ing togeth­er cul­ture and innovation

Dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion of any kind is nev­er easy; how­ev­er, it doesn’t make sense to make it hard­er by mov­ing for­ward with­out the right mind­set, cul­ture, data, tech­nol­o­gy, and part­ner­ships. Before inno­va­tion can hap­pen at a com­pet­i­tive speed, the peo­ple pow­er­ing the busi­ness at every lev­el and in every orga­ni­za­tion need to buy into change and embrace inno­va­tion with ease.

As New­man not­ed in his dis­cus­sion, it is imper­a­tive to build a strong cul­ture around change and inno­va­tion. There are just too many hur­dles to over­come in the process – and a weak cul­ture will only mag­ni­fy them.

Con­tem­plat­ing peo­ple, cul­ture, and a chang­ing mind­set when start­ing any dig­i­tal ini­tia­tive sets the foun­da­tion a busi­ness needs to trans­form. But more impor­tant­ly, it opens up a plat­form for imag­in­ing the pos­si­bil­i­ties and expe­ri­ences the com­pa­ny wants to cre­ate [even with­out con­sid­er­ing the lim­i­ta­tions of finances and pol­i­tics involved] can be powerful.

Learn how com­pa­nies such as Tar­get, Ally Bank, and Trek are pro­mot­ing a cul­ture of inno­va­tion to sim­pli­fy and accel­er­ate their dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion. Watch the replay of the Amer­i­c­as’ SAP Users’ Group (ASUG) Web­cast ​“Dig­i­tal Trans­for­ma­tion and Inno­va­tion at Scale Across Indus­tries,” fea­tur­ing Daniel New­man, prin­ci­pal ana­lyst and found­ing part­ner of Futu­rum Research + Analysis.

Image cred­it: Dou­ble Helix Bridge in Sin­ga­pore | Bam­ne­sia | Dream​stime​.com