Start a revolution: the Digital Business Transformation

Are you that clever person in your organization with a great idea for a new product or service using the latest technology? That could start a revolution! If you initiate your project that brings the enterprise’s digital business to the next level this could ultimately lead to an enterprisewide commitment to digital business innovation at scale.

What is digital business?

Digital business is not just simply using digital technology to conduct business. That would just come down to e-business or digital marketing. Gartner defines digital business as the creation of new business designs by blurring the digital and physical worlds. That may sound a bit vague, but let me give you two examples:

-   Suppose a shipment of parts to a technician in the field is delayed due to a traffic jam or technical error. The shipping van or container detects the delay and communicates with the field service application and the technician, and makes recommendations on what the technician should do; wait for the parts, go to another work order, etc.


-   A truck, vehicle or machine equipped with telematics technology gathers data to predict what type of service or maintenance job should be performed. The recommendations are communicated with the ERP or service management system and the service planner to enable the planning of work orders that prevent break-downs.

Why is a digital business transformation interesting?

There is no doubt digital business brings value to organizations. The first driver to invest in digital business is higher revenues. The examples above show how you can move your business forward and increase revenues by deploying digital business. But there are more reasons why a digital business transformation is interesting. It will allow you to differentiate your products and services from the competition. And you can stay ahead of competition by being the first to detect breakthrough technologies and adopt these in your business.

Is my organization ready for digital business?

That depends on multiple aspects. Gartner defines six areas enterprises need to master in order to move from e-business or digital marketing to digital business at scale. This includes propagating a business/technology vision across the organization and combining the Internet of Things, Operational Technology and IT.

If you want to know more: Gartner’s five-stage development model shows all the stages your enterprise must cycle through in order to succeed in digital business. It also provides advice on what you can do to start the digital business transformation and more detail on what your enterprise needs to master in order to move to digital business at scale.

Philip van Kemenade is marketer at Dysel and is in contact with software end users every day.