CHAPTER 1Digital Transformation andthe Case for Change

The advance on technology is based on making it fit in so that you don't really even notice it, so it's part of everyday life.

—Bill Gates, Cofounder at Microsoft

It was a gorgeous sunny day in March 2020. Jack sounded a bit worried in the morning call I had with him. He had a planned series of client workshops to run through requirements for a transformation program that is aiming to automate and centralize sales engagement globally across 15 countries. The overarching outcome of these workshop sessions was to define and design a program that will result in increasing sales, eliminating dependencies on individually maintained Excel and manual notes.

The mode of delivery for these workshops engaging all key client stakeholders from different countries had to be changed suddenly from face-to-face to virtual session. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, 2020 has driven transformation rapidly up the Board and Executive priority list. Many organizations had started this digital journey but global and national lockdowns and corporate offices moving to a work-from-home mandate have forced businesses to rethink enterprise and customer processes, optimization, and efficiency.

Even a few weeks back, such an important workshop day would normally involve morning travel by taxi and train, arriving at the venue ensuring the logistics were in place before the workshop starts.

Anyway, the meeting started with Jack sharing the objective of ...

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