Linking value to digital transformation

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Linking value to digital transformation

Of the many recurring themes on the Business of Tech, long-time followers can likely name these two off the top of their heads: my general dislike of the buzzword ‘digital transformation,’ and my general skepticism of the hype behind the many technologies that accompany it – blockchain, 3D printing, sensors, IOT, virtual and augmented realities, etc.

Well, I’ll admit that when it comes to AI, even I have had to loosen up my long-held beliefs about trendy new technology. I still believe that AI’s impact will unfold far less dramatically than others are predicting, but I owe it to the community to investigate its relationship to the concept of digital transformation.

To unfurl the connection between AI and the long-term impacts of our digital evolution, I welcomed Kamales Lardi onto a bonus episode of The Business of Tech. She’s taken her expertise in digital transformation quite far – she was listed as one of the Top 10 Global Influencers & Thought Leaders in Digital Transformation by Thinkers360, one of the Top 50 Women in Tech Influencers 2021 The Awards Magazine, and included in International 40 Over 40 – The World’s Most Inspiring Women by CapGemini Invent and Female One Zero.

I’ll kick things off with one of her signature sayings: technology is not a silver bullet solution – a clear value proposition should drive any transformation effort.

AI v Everything Else

Lardi’s been knee-deep in digital transformation long before AI took over the narrative, so I began our convo by asking how AI compares to other high-promise pieces of technology that came before it (blockchain, 3D printing, VR – you get the gist).

Her explanation is simple: AI is more accessible to the everyman. With the other buzzy technologies, most organizations needed someone with technical skills to implement them, identify use cases, and understand the tech behind them.

The key difference with generative AI is that it’s readily available to the masses in a globally connected world. Anyone can use it right this second and get business impact straight away. And because it’s accessed through the internet (without requiring even a download), everyone’s native digital skill sets enable them to pick it up immediately.

Lardi drew a parallel to the iPhone here, and not because of its world-altering potential: part of what made the iPhone so impactful was its intuitive design. Even older generations who struggled to master the computer could pick one up and learn to use it.

The underlying implication here, Lardi pointed out, was that the responsibility of AIs usage has been shifted to the individual. Because no one’s gatekeeping its access, we’re in a bit of a Wild West situation.

I shared my personal take with Lardi that I see 3D printing and Blockchain (for example) as solutions looking for a problem, overall lacking a clear-cut application. She did disagree with me here, sharing that she’s implemented these tools in a variety of industries, but circled back to the value component – with AI, it’s way easier to glean value straight away.

Linking Value to Digital Transformation

As a certified leader in the space, I had to ask Lardi how she links the measurement of value to efforts around digital transformation. In such a loosely defined space, I was curious to know how she keeps her work grounded.

Turns out, her first step is to avoid coming at things from the technology side. In her words:

“Technology allows us to create exponential growth, and scale, and hyper-personalized customer interactions, and so on. But the real value comes from the transformation element, transforming your organization for that digital future, taking people on a journey in order to best utilize the technologies.”

When she first starts to work with a new company, she asks questions like:

What is your business objective?
Where do you see yourself as an organization in the next three to five years and how can we utilize technologies to deliver on that?
What is available in the market?
Where do you see your customers going, and what kind of use cases can we create from this business objective?
What kind of technologies in the market today are potentially developing in the market that could deliver on this?

When objectives are defined, she then moves into:

Are you trying to engage with your customers?
Are you creating experience designs that are going to be engaging and lock in your customers for the future?
Are you trying to create products and services that are digitized, or are you trying to reorganize or transform your organization, the people, upskilling people in your organization, optimizing and automating processes?
Or, are you looking at new business models, new ways to generate revenue with new tech?

Throughout her work, Lardi measures not based on technology, but on the business goals derived from this line of questioning. Depending on the organization, they can look at numbers like hours saved, how many people were removed from a process, and how many activities are getting done.

For example, she’s currently working with a client to automate a lot of human-based, manual processes. To measure results, she’s asking the team – can you do something quicker? Can you do something in a more effective way? How much of the human error are we removing?

She’s also looking into content creation and how AI can accelerate the rate at which videos are made for social media. This one is quite easy to measure, simply based on how much content they can make, how quickly it’s completed, and how much it costs.

Trends to Keep an Eye On

Perhaps most importantly, Lardi shared four things that business owners and strategists in general need to keep an eye on. In case you haven’t heard it enough already, AI and resulting technologies are about to shake things up.

As this unfolds, Lardi recommends watching out for:

Technology: We’ve unpacked that one sufficiently, but Lardi adds that it’s important to tune out the fear-based narrative surrounding emerging tech. Instead, focus on the purpose of your business as your North Star.
Consumer behavior: as people adopt technology, the way they interact with brands is changing. They want better service, hyperpersonal experiences, and instant gratification.
The competitive landscape: Lardi believes that the traditional boundaries of business and industry are disappearing. With companies no longer sticking to their own service lane, everyone’s competing on a much larger global landscape.
The low touch economy: even three years post-March 2020, people still prefer receiving products and services without physically going to and engaging with companies. The environment shift can be a challenge, but it’s also an opportunity.

If you’re reading this newsletter, you’ve at least got the first one down.

To hear more digital transformation insight from Lardi, grab her books and keynote lectures at www.kamaleslardi.com.

That’s it for this one – as usual, send any lingering thoughts my way at [email protected], and I’ll be back in your inboxes next week with more.

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