The Human Side of Digital Business Transformation

Chapter 2A Brief History of Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is a topic that has gained focus in the business world over the last two decades. Since 2010s SMAC technologies (social, mobile, analytics, and cloud) have accelerated digital operations of businesses globally, as well as helping organizations to achieve maximum reach and closeness to consumers at minimal overhead costs. The explosion of structured and unstructured data created through global adoption and use of online channels, mobile devices, sensors and wearable technologies, connected devices, and social media, has created new business opportunities built on the basis of customer-generated data. While each of the SMAC technologies brings value and impact to businesses individually, the convergence of these technologies has created a disruptive force that has transformed the global business landscape.

As the influence of digital has increased, organizations have initiated digital transformation initiatives in an effort to leverage technology solutions to generate business returns and satisfy evolving consumer demands. With the exception of several digital leaders, most organizations across industries initiated digital transformation efforts that focused on implementing technology solutions within limited functional or market-facing areas of the business. Before 2020, digital business transformation existed for organizations as “nice to have” or “on the radar of” strategic initiatives. Although most ...