The process of digital transformation is more than just integrating new technologies. A cultural change is highly important as well.
Join the DZone community and get the full member experience. Editor’s note: This interview with Amancio Bouza was recorded for Coding Over Cocktails — a podcast by TORO Cloud. Digital transformation allows organizations to adjust to new technologies and take advantage of their benefits in order to build business value. However, the road to digital transformation requires not only a technological change but a cultural one as well. Requiring a change in technologies, processes, and manpower, the road to transformation could get overwhelmingly complex along the way. This is why attempts at digital transformation for many organizations could be prone to failure. And according to Amancio Bouza, API thought leader and author of ‘The Blockers and Catalysts of Digital Transformation’, it’s more than the technology. The journey towards digital transformation is not achieved overnight. ‘It’s not about just setting up the new technologies that are out there to leverage these benefits, but it’s really about the transformation of the identity of the organization,’ he shares during an episode of Coding Over Cocktails. Couchbase surveyed 450 C-suite executives in the US, UK, France, and Germany in 2019 on how their organizations are doing on their journey towards digital transformation. A majority of them report hitting failures, major delays, and some lowered expectations on their digital transformation projects, making up 81% of the respondents. Forty-two (42%) said they were falling behind schedules or were at risk of being so with their most important digital transformation projects. On the other hand,73% say they would talk about the huge potential their projects could have had but fell short of being something truly innovative once deployed. This percentage, however, was a safe drop from 2018’s 80% and 2017’s 90%, meaning more and more business organizations are starting to find their way around their digital transformation projects. All 73% of the respondents also agreed that digital innovation made drastic improvements to their end-user experience — a rise from 64% in 2018 and 52% in 2017. Specific benefits that came about because of digital transformation were also named in the survey, with efficiency in working being the top benefit pointed out by 58% of the respondents. Improved customer experience and better work productivity were each recognized by 50%. Although potential failures lurk around the corner when working on digital transformation projects, enterprises are still taking the risk. Digital transformation is a challenge that IT leaders are willing to take on not only because of the tech benefits but also because of the impact it will have on their organizations as the new generation of workers in the digital age come in. In the survey,40% say that one of the factors that get in the way of digital transformation is the complexity of technologies. Thirty-two (32%) responded with the lack of resources while 30% pointed to the lack of skills. Thirty (30%) say that their reliance on legacy technology also keeps them from pursuing digital transformation. Other challenges mentioned by the respondents include the lack of budget and the notion that the risk of failure was high. However, there are also risks if an enterprise decides not to pursue their digital transformation projects. Among the respondents, a whopping 87% said they felt at risk if they fail to innovate digitally. Forty-six percent (46%) raised their concerns about staying relevant in the market if they were not able to move forward with their projects.
