Experiences in Digital Transformation
This website was originally meant to share my experiences in driving digital transformation in a Fortune 20 company, over a career that has spanned about 3 decades and 3 continents, travelling across 60 countries and living in 6. But if there is one thing I learned along the way it was that “the more I learn, the less I know about before” (yes, UB40 in the unusual role of philosophers:-)). It made much more sense to use this site for a conversation on our respective adventures in Digital Strategy. So please feel free to comment and contribute.
If ever there was a time for organization leaders to get a crash course in digital transformation, it is now!
With large enterprises like GE having openly declared their intent to reinvent themselves as a data company, the tide to “go digital” has shifted. Most companies invite digital consultants and made trips to Silicon Valley to jump start their journey. Silicon Valley tourism is at an all time high. Bay Area tourism dollars touched $33 billion in 2015, with the valley contributing an ever growing share. CEO’s and Board members get it. The future is digital. The question is how to transition to a Digital Takeoff point quickly and safely.
There is a structured approach to get your enterprise to its Digital Takeoff point
A digital strategy does not need to be complicated. It is essentially just a business strategy involving a relatively newer set of technologies, processes and cultures. Which means that is a structured way to create and execute it. Structurally, I believe there is similarity between getting your enterprise to Digital Takeoff and having an aircraft take off on the runway. This analogy is actually deeper than it may appear on the surface. Humor me for a few moments while I elaborate.
Each airplane take off has a series of decision speeds called V1, Vr and V2. The important one for our analogy is V1.
V1 is the “decision speed” by which the pilot must commit to taking off, or else abort so that there is enough runway left to stop safely. The V1 speed is not a standard number. It needs to be calculated each time. It varies according to the aircraft weight, runway length, altitude, temperature, engine de-rating, etc.
Each enterprise digital strategy has a Digital Takeoff point – a V1 decision point if you will. Like the aircraft analogy there is a way to approach the task to cater to intrinsic factors (current state of internal technologies, processes and culture) and extrinsic factors (possibilities with consumers, customers, competition, suppliers, macroeconomic factors and technologies).
I hope to keep developing on this idea in upcoming blogs. I would love to hear your opinion and learn about your experiences. You can also reach me at saldanhat@hotmail.com
And in case you’re curious, the Vr or “rotate” decision speed for an aircraft is when the nose should be raised and the airplane rotated into the climb attitude. V2 is the highest if the three. It is the speed at which the airplane can still climb even in the event of an engine failure.