In this survey by Progress 59% of US and UK companies believe it is too late for them to achieve "digital transformation". One reason could be that they need to have planned strategic cultural and structural transformation first. Digitising processes and customer experience is a means of achieving this and not the end goal.
Customers buy products and services, not digits.
Employees, suppliers, partners and stakeholders need the right technology platforms to underpin transformation.
And the optimal analytics and BI to make and execute better decisions. But don't think that machine learning and algorithms are a panacea!
As an antidote to "datacrats", of which I am one, I strongly urge you to look up Anthony Tasgal @TaswellHill. Author of "The Storytelling Book". I listened to him last week at a CMO Big Data Marketing event and he challenged us all not to rely on algorithms and "arithmocracy".
"Numbers numb us"
"Messaging is demeaning"
"Slaves to algorithms"
"TBU"- true but useless
"Big Data Analytics" must deliver meaning
Anthony makes the point, well known by the way, that unconsciously we throw away and ignore most information because it has no meaning to us.
"...We are conscious of only 5% of our cognitive activity. Most of our decisions, actions, emotions and behaviour depends on the 95% of brain activity that goes beyond our conscious awareness" (Szegedy-Maszak, 2005)
The big data analytics solutions should give the meaning for you to tell stories that surprise, grab the attention of the unconscious brain so as to avoid customer "Attention Spam" i.e. junking your messages because they have no meaning
If you know the stories that will surprise and motivate customers you have the basis for the right organisational and digital transformation. Luckily there are agile business and analytics platforms that may just give you time to avoid being one of the 59%
86 per cent of respondents "We have two years to make inroads, before feeling the consequences, both in financial and competitive terms. For 55 per cent, that comes down to a year, and 59 per cent fear they may already be too late. In the UK, CEO’s are mostly advocating digital transformation (52 per cent), compared to 36 per cent CMOs. For almost three quarters (70 per cent), relying on the IT team is the biggest barrier to having a quality customer experience. “Digital technologies are radically transforming business as we know it today and the driving force of change is based on the customer experience. Yet, many organisations continue to resist change. There needs to be a rapid awakening and acceptance that organisations must digitally transform to survive—and do it now,” said Mark Troester, Vice President, Digital Solutions, Progress."
http://www.itproportal.com/2016/05/16/businesses-in-denial-over-digital-transformation/