In an insightful video interview, Solis is interviewed by TechRepublic’s Karen Roby about some of the changes currently shaping digital transformation, such as operational models and modernizing infrastructure.
Solis begins by talking about the research he brings to his annual The State of Digital Transformation report. He says: “What that research has shown is sort of this eventual but certainly sluggish migration from the digital transformation of, so for example, cloud, customer support, what have you, to a more enterprise-wide, cross-functional digital transformation, which is essentially saying, business optimization, business modernization, or change management.”

He then talks about the underlying forces and opportunity behind digital transformation. He sees it as “an opportunity for the entire organization to not just modernize how it works on the inside or the back office, but also how it functions, how it feels, how it resonates with the front office, the market, the customer, the employee. The digital in this is really about innovation. Some of the things that I’m not seeing are that prioritization and that sense of urgency around digital transformation to essentially make businesses more relevant or modern and more promising and ultimately profitable in a modern economy.”

Solis later mentions important tips he would pass on to a CEO about things they need to be doing to move forward. He says, “I think a lot of times leadership gets in its own way because it’s bringing to that question that you just asked a whole bunch of legacy, a whole bunch of cognitive biases and essentially a whole bunch of experiences that are kind of working against us right now. What that end-in-mind looks like—and this is where I see digital transformation completely thrive—is let’s not just talk about cloud or mobile or conversational interfaces or AI or chatbots. Let’s look at how the customer’s changing, what their expectations are, what their behaviors are, what they look at as sort of the ideal standard for engagement experiences, customer experiences, and reverse-engineer that. We’re giving all of those investments a sense of purpose.”

Solis adds that in a few years, the discussion of digital transformation will center around new operational models within the organization. He says, “We need to work differently, right? So the infamous silos that we’ve talked about an enterprise for forever have to break down, and the only way they’re going to break down is if we can force-create new models.”

Read the entire article here: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/digital-transformation-why-companies-need-a-sense-of-urgency/