Orchestrating Transformation - Preview

Orchestrating Transformation

Second, we’ve found that few leaders grasp the connected nature of change. Executives need to think about organizational change in a

radically different light. Much like dig- ital disruption, companies across the board feel the challenge of connect- edness, but don’t know how to cope with it, harness it, or turn it to their ad- vantage. When addressing the question of “how?”, one quickly encounters an inherent level-of-analysis problem: on one end, being so high level that prescriptions are meaningless; on the other, too complex and granular to be of general utility in a range of settings. In the former, we’ve come to believe firmly there is no cookie-cutter ap- proach that spells out “how you do digital transformation.” In the latter, too much granularity—or said another way, the lack of a holistic approach—is the root cause that gives rise to such high rates of failure. This holistic approach must recognize that digital is a means to help transform a business, rath- er than an end in itself (see sidebar, “Definition of Digital Business Trans- formation”). In this book, we use the concept of or- chestration to contend with the con- nected nature of change. We find in-

Definition of Digital Business Transformation

We define digital business transformation as “organiza- tional change through the use of digital technologies and business models to improve performance.” First, the objective of digital business transformation is to improve business performance. Sec- ond, digital business transfor- mation is based on a digital foundation. Organizations are continually transforming, but to qualify as a digital business transformation, one or more digital technologies must exert a significant influence. Third, digital business transforma- tion requires organizational change—change that includes processes, people, and strat- egy. In sum, digital business transformation involves much more than technology.

spiration and practical applications of how to orchestrate in a range of fields. By embracing the networked nature of organizations, and the challenge of changing what is highly connected, we reframe what the execution of a digital business transformation program means (con- tinuous and holistic) and increase the chances that it will ultimately succeed.

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