8CIOReview | | SEPTEMBER 2022IN MY OPINIONA HOLISTIC VIEW OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONBy Khalid Walid Akawi,Global WAM Director Technology Risk and Controls,ManulifeIntroductionA recent study conducted by Deloitte found that 70 per cent of transformation efforts fail and that organizations take around three years to develop a competitive edge in the digital market even when they get it right. Digital Transformation has gained huge traction in recent years, but it can be quite confusing. An organization's Digital Transformation involves reconsidering its business models and revenue streams in response to changing customer expectations through people, technology, and processes. In addition, the term is commonly used to describe the process of automating the process of delivering services and the move away from human interaction to an automated or self-service procedure. A focus on moving from slower and manual processes to those that are quicker, more convenient, automated and digitized, provide the user with a feeling of empowerment.Why is it vital for organizations to adapt to Digital Transformation?Every organization strives to be the best at what it does in order to achieve success. It requires new strategies like Digital Transformation and practices to remain competitive in this new business and economic environment. Additionally, Digital Transformation strategies have many other benefits to differentiate organizations from their competitors. It has been observed that business and technology leaders in several small, medium and large organizations have found that implementing Digital Transformation programs has two types of benefits. Firstly, the importance of a positive impact on customers' experience and the products offered by an organization. This can be illustrated by how Digital Transformation enhances the collection of data and, resource management, provides data-driven insights into customer service, improves the customer experience, and increases profits by enhancing the customer's satisfaction with the products or services provided. Secondly, Digital Transformation will provide huge benefits to the organization's internal operations by promoting a digital culture, optimizing operations costs, increasing agility, improving operational transparency, and enhancing the productivity of the internal business processes.How COVID-19 Accelerated Digital Transformation?Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, mentioned this during one of his keynotes ­ "We've seen two years' worth of Digital Transformation in two months." While Amit Zavery, VP and Head of Platform, Google Cloud said "Think of Digital Transformation less as a technology project to be finished than as a state of perpetual agility, always ready to evolve for whatever customers want next, and you'll be pointed down the right path." As a result of the COVID-19 crisis, organizations in all industries and regions have had to change the way they operate for years to come. McKinsey recently conducted a survey of executives concerning the digitization of their organizations' customer-supplier chain interactions, and the digitalization of their internal operations, which found that their organizations have accelerated this process by three to four years. Their portfolios have increased by seven years in terms of the share of digitally enabled products they offer. Almost all respondents say their organizations have quickly responded to new demands by creating at least temporary solutions, and they have done this more quickly than they expected Khalid Walid
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