CIO OPINION
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CIO OPINION
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IT IS CRITICAL
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UNDERSTAND THAT THEIR
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GOING TO DICTATE HOW
THEY MUST ENGAGE AND
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George Kalebaila, Research Director at International Data Corporation
Digital Transformation: Is it
real or just science fiction?
While digital
transformation has
emerged as a top priority
for most organisations,
there are concerns that
it is being oversimplified.
George Kalebaila,
Research Director at
International Data
Corporation (IDC), says
many organisations
haven’t seen how
their businesses might
be impacted.
M
any companies are purely paying
lip service to the real impact
of embarking on a true digital
transformation journey, both positive
and negative. If you consider what is
happening in developed countries, digital
transformation is a reality. Companies
that fail to recognise this and start putting
the building blocks in place to prepare
themselves run the risk of diminishing their
own value and being disintermediated from
the value chain.
One of the biggest impacts of the digital
economy is that it removes traditional
barriers to entry, meaning organisations
must change the way they view their
competitive environment. Because of the
changes caused by digital transformation,
they can no longer rely on just looking at the
five pillars of competitive analysis.
In the digital economy, you may find that
your competitors come from organisations
that have never even registered on your
competitive radar before, yet they can
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INTELLIGENTCIO
completely disintermediate you because they
have capabilities that are relevant for playing
in the digital environment. As such, you will
find that friends become foes and vice versa.
In the telco environment, for example,
Orange has made quite a few key
management appointments that signal it is
preparing for digital transformation. These
executives will focus on cybersecurity and
innovation, which is not something telcos
are traditionally known for. Diversification
becomes the keyword here. It is important
to understand that if customers, partners or
other players in your value chain have moved
from the way you traditionally did business,
you must also move with them. And this
might require new capabilities and new ways
of providing a given service.
How do you assess your competitors
if you don’t know who they are going
to be in the future?
Companies must understand what the
digital journey entails for them, how it
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