Decisively Digital

Chapter 1Introduction to Digital Strategy

The digital age is here to stay. Unfortunately, many organizations do not take advantage of its possibilities. Every industry is facing transformational change right now. And for many organizations, how they defined success yesterday is not how they are defining it today. For example, while growth may have been the only goal in the past, other metrics, such as a sustainability score, have become essential nowadays.

Having endless possibilities (and new competitive challenges), organizations are asking themselves how their businesses must evolve to survive and thrive. The answer to this question is digital strategy!

A digital strategy will lead the way for your organization to become part of the digital age, also known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution. “The changes are so profound that, from the perspective of human history, there has never been a time of greater promise or potential peril,” says Professor Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum. “My concern, however, is that decision-makers are too often caught in traditional, linear (and nondisruptive) thinking or too absorbed by immediate concerns to think strategically about the forces of disruption and innovation shaping our future.”¹

Organizations that have already embarked on their transformation journey are seeing the advantages. Disney, for example, produced hand-drawn movies in the past, relying on a very costly distribution system. Today ...