Intro to Digital Transformation

February 8, 2022 - 3 minutes read

I have spent the past 20 years developing software and consulting on software development, constantly looking for the next big thing so I could keep what I’m doing fresh and engaging. I have always been technical, graduating with a BS in Electrical Engineering, but I’ve never really felt like a true techie. My focus has typically been on the business value that technology could provide rather than technology for it’s own sake.

I think it was this combination of business and technical that made the promise of Business Process Management (BPM) resonate so well with me. BPM is a discipline that, to be done well, blends a need for technical prowess with a focus on business value. BPM is capable of creating powerful transformations in businesses that do it well.

One problem with BPM is that so few businesses actually do it well. Without going into too much detail, since this is not the topic of this blog, many companies use BPM as a tool for enterprise application integration or rapid application development and stop short of reaping the real benefits of a true process-focused culture. Multiple blog posts could be written to cover the gap between the promise of BPM and the reality of most BPM implementations, but again that would digress from the topic of digital transformation.

Another problem with BPM, even if it is done well, is that it is only part of the complete picture of an organization. It can be a large part, but will never represent the whole technology footprint.of a business. When we think about a holistic view of a business, in addition to its processes we must consider areas like Customer Experience and Organizational Models as well.

Taking this holistic view of the organization from the standpoint of how technology can fundamentally transform the way business is done is what digital transformation is all about. It combines the focus on process that BPM brings to the table with a heavy dose of Customer Experience and then combines it with data and analytics along with the infrastructure to support it all.

Digital transformation by definition includes all of the latest technologies, including mobile, social, Internet of Things, big data, analytics, and BPM/process automation. It also includes the infrastructure necessary to support these technologies, including DevOps and Software-, Platform-, and Infrastructure-as-a-Service.

Most companies are still on the immature side of the digital spectrum, or in the way they use digital technologies to their advantage. As upcoming installments of this blog delve deeper into Digital Transformation and the technologies that comprise it, we will get into the meat of how Digital Transformation can help your organization answer the digital imperative brought on by a world in which everything is connected.

Published on July 17, 2016