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Why Digital Transformations Fail: The Surprising Disciplines of How to Take Off and Stay Ahead
Former Procter & Gamble Vice President for IT and Shared Services, Tony Saldanha gives you the keys to a successful digital a proven five-stage model and a disciplined process for executing it.
Digital transformation is more important than ever now that we're in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where the lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds are becoming ever more blurred. But fully 70 percent of digital transformations fail.
Why? Tony Saldanha, a globally awarded industry thought-leader who led operations around the world and major digital changes at Procter & Gamble, discovered it's not due to innovation or technological problems. Rather, the devil is in the a lack of clear goals and a disciplined process for achieving them. In this book, Saldanha lays out a five-stage process for moving from digitally automating processes here and there to making digital technology the very backbone of your company. For each of these five stages, Saldanha describes two associated disciplines vital to the success of that stage and a checklist of questions to keep you on track.
You want to disrupt before you are disrupted--be the next Netflix, not the next Blockbuster. Using dozens of case studies and his own considerable experience, Saldanha shows how digital transformation can be made routinely successful, and instead of representing an existential threat, it will become the opportunity of a lifetime.
Digital transformation is more important than ever now that we're in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where the lines between the physical, digital, and biological worlds are becoming ever more blurred. But fully 70 percent of digital transformations fail.
Why? Tony Saldanha, a globally awarded industry thought-leader who led operations around the world and major digital changes at Procter & Gamble, discovered it's not due to innovation or technological problems. Rather, the devil is in the a lack of clear goals and a disciplined process for achieving them. In this book, Saldanha lays out a five-stage process for moving from digitally automating processes here and there to making digital technology the very backbone of your company. For each of these five stages, Saldanha describes two associated disciplines vital to the success of that stage and a checklist of questions to keep you on track.
You want to disrupt before you are disrupted--be the next Netflix, not the next Blockbuster. Using dozens of case studies and his own considerable experience, Saldanha shows how digital transformation can be made routinely successful, and instead of representing an existential threat, it will become the opportunity of a lifetime.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published July 23, 2019
202 people are currently reading
459 people want to read
About the author
Tony Saldanha
10 books9 followersTony Saldanha is a sought-after thought leader, speaker and Fortune 25 executive in the Global Business Services (GBS) and Information Technology area. Tony has over three decades of international business expertise in the US, Europe, and Asia. He was named on Computerworld's Premier 100 IT Professionals list in 2013.
During a 27-year career at Procter & Gamble, Tony ran IT and GBS in every region of the world, helping create a multi-billion dollar best-in-class operation. Tony has a proven track record of GBS design and operations, CIO positions, acquisitions and divestitures, outsourcing, disruptive innovation, and experiences in creating new business models.
Tony currently provides advice to boards and CEOs in Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation, specially on internal business operations. His other activities include angel investing, advising non-profits and venture capitalists and start-up companies and starting up technology companies of his own.
Tony is a firm believer in the power of technology to do good in corporate, governmental and personal settings, and that it is up to each of us to live up to this potential.
During a 27-year career at Procter & Gamble, Tony ran IT and GBS in every region of the world, helping create a multi-billion dollar best-in-class operation. Tony has a proven track record of GBS design and operations, CIO positions, acquisitions and divestitures, outsourcing, disruptive innovation, and experiences in creating new business models.
Tony currently provides advice to boards and CEOs in Fortune 500 companies on digital transformation, specially on internal business operations. His other activities include angel investing, advising non-profits and venture capitalists and start-up companies and starting up technology companies of his own.
Tony is a firm believer in the power of technology to do good in corporate, governmental and personal settings, and that it is up to each of us to live up to this potential.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
January 31, 2020
The author’s answer to the title question is “Because you didn’t plan well enough”. And he lists and goes through some of the steps to plan for transformation coming at it from a top-down strategic perspective. I liked that there were not too many steps called out. I also liked that the author included some reasonably interesting examples of companies that have competed (or failed to complete) steps in a transformation process. Many of the examples revolved around the author’s experiences in a large company with a “shared services” to manage. I didn’t find much new here – these are the same kinds of recommendations I recall from re-engineering books from decades back, adding an essence of Tom Peters. Also, I listened on audio, and found this book was built around some lists. Lists are difficult to follow on audio, and this book was no exception – the author included lists within lists so at times it was hard to determine where in the “stack” of advice the discussion was focused. This also felt very “big company” focused. Most examples and even the advice was aimed at large IT shops. Overall, a good (and not too long) reminder of what “digital transformation” means, with interesting examples – many from the author’s tenure at P&G.
August 24, 2019
Yes you’ll be surprised
Yes it’s surprising what the real reasons are as uncovered by the author though as you think about it more and receive more and more examples and information it all makes sense
Yes it’s surprising what the real reasons are as uncovered by the author though as you think about it more and receive more and more examples and information it all makes sense
April 20, 2021
Former Procter & Gamble Vice President for IT and Shared Services, Tony Saldanha articulates strategies for leading a successful digital transformation and he also demonstrates how to improve the odds of digital transformation by lowering the costs and risk of change. Saldanha proposes using a five-stage model for digital transformation and a disciplined process for executing it.
The reason why digital transformations fail is that they take more discipline than one might expect. It takes a surprising amount of discipline and a positive outlook of the possibilities for digital transformations to succeed.
The book is about understanding why digital transformations fail as a means to a more important end, which is how to thrive in an industrial revolution. 70 percent of digital transformations fail, to get the 30 percent right requires discipline. The reason why digital transformations fail is that they take more discipline than one might expect. It takes a surprising amount of discipline and a positive outlook of the possibilities for digital transformations to succeed.
Favourite takeaways – Why Digital Transformations Fail
Models: Singapore Digitization, Washington Post, Netflix,
Failed Projects: Obamacare, Denver Airport Baggage System, The McDonald’s “Innovate” Program”
The Industrial Revolutions
First Industrial Revolution: The evolution of society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from mostly agrarian to industrial and urban, which was mostly driven by mechanical innovations such as the steam engine.
Second Industrial Revolution: The explosive growth of industries from the late 1800s to the First World War. This was driven by mass-production techniques, electric power, and the internal combustion engine.
Third Industrial Revolution: The widespread change beginning in the 1980s with PCs and the internet, due to new electronic technologies.
Fourth Industrial Revolution: The melding of the physical, digital, and biological worlds today. The major driver is the availability of massive computing capacity at negligible and further plummeting costs. Thus, what used to be physical (e.g., retail stores) can be digital (e.g., online shopping), or what used to be purely biological (e.g., traditional medicine) can be biotech (e.g., personalized genetic medication).
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has digital technology transforming and fusing together the physical, biological, chemical, and information worlds. It’s a force for massive new opportunity in every area valued by society—everything from convenience (e.g., online shopping) and improved health (e.g., biotech) to personal security (e.g., digital homes), food security (e.g., agrotech), and so on.
As with the prior three industrial revolutions, individuals and societies will be affected significantly, and companies will either transform or die.
Disruption vs Transformation
Digital disruption: The effect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the corporate and public sector landscapes. Increasingly pervasive and inexpensive digital technology is causing widespread industrial, economic, and social change. This explosive change has occurred only in the past decade or two.
Digital transformation: The migration of enterprises and societies from the Third to the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. For companies, this means having digital technology become the backbone of new products and services, new ways of operation, and new business models.
There are two ways in which digital transformations fail. The lack of discipline causes them to first, fail to take off, and second, to maintain momentum, and they end up crashing.
The Five-Stage Digital Transformation Model
The five stage Digital Transformation 5.0 model provides a disciplined road map to succeed in transformation.
Stage 1 is the Foundation. This is where enterprises are actively automating internal processes.
Stage 2 is called Siloed. You might see individual functions or businesses start to use disruptive technologies to create new business models.
Stage 3 is Partially Synchronized transformation. The CEO has recognized the disruptive power of digital technologies and defined a digital future state.
Stage 4, or Fully Synchronized, marks the point where an enterprise-wide digital platform or new business model has fully taken root for the first time.
Stage 5, or Living DNA, is the step where the transformation becomes perpetual.
“An organization can “do” digital as part of a one-time transformation, but to achieve ongoing market leadership it needs to “become” digital.”
Stage 1 is the Foundation. – automation(digitalization)
This is where enterprises are actively automating internal processes, such as selling, manufacturing, or finance, using SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, or similar platforms. This is more automation (also called digitalization) than transformation, but it provides the digitalized foundation necessary for future transformation. Automating processes using digital platforms is necessary to convert manual effort into data.
Automation (or digitalization) of processes. It delivers enterprise value by using technology to do work more efficiently and builds the foundation for further transformation.
Causes of Failure
Teams lose sight of the intended business value being targeted, or they execute poorly.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Committed ownership of the strategy at the highest levels.
“Speed of execution matters in digital transformation not just because digital transformation is an urgent issue but because speed generates enthusiasm, momentum, and the right mindset.“
Stage 2: Siloed
Where you might see individual functions or businesses start to use disruptive technologies to create new business models. So for instance, the manufacturing function may have made progress on using the Internet of Things to drive major changes in the way they manufacture or manage logistics, or the finance manager may have heard about blockchain and transformed the way they do intercompany accounting across countries.
Alternatively, a business unit within the enterprise may have used technology to create a completely new business model, such as selling direct to consumers as opposed to via retailers. The point is that these efforts are siloed, and there is no overall company strategy driving transformation.
Siloed transformations are a microcosm of what will hopefully become higher stages of digital transformation.
Causes of Failure
Common mistakes include under-powering change leaders and making incorrect choices in what to transform.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Disruption empowerment of the change leaders.
Digital leverage points identification.
Partially Synchronized – Partially Synchronized transformation
The enterprise leader, owner, or CEO has recognized the disruptive power of digital technologies and defined a digital future state. At Stage 3, the organization has started rowing in the same direction. However, the enterprise has not completed transforming to a digital backbone or new business models, nor has the agile, innovative culture become sustainable.
Causes of Failure
An ineffective change management strategy or insufficient amount of transformation projects to adequately transform the core organization.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Change management model for effectively transforming the core organization.
Strategy sufficiency in terms of the portfolio of initiatives needed to drive a complete transformation.
“Partial completion of an enterprise-wide strategy for digital transformation. The term “partially” in the title is reflective of part business-outcome delivery, not part synchronization of efforts.”
Stage 4, Fully Synchronized
It marks the point where an enterprise-wide digital platform or new business model has fully taken root. However, it is a one-time transformation. It is still just one technology (or business model) change away from being disrupted. The only way to survive continuous disruption threats is to make digital capabilities and an agile innovative culture an ongoing integral part of the enterprise.
“The point where an enterprise-wide digital platform or new business model has fully taken root. However, it is a one-time transformation. It is still just one technology (or business model) change away from being disrupted”
Causes of Failure
Inability to complete the one-time digital transformation due to either organization structure issues or digital literacy issues.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Digital reorganization to reboot technical capabilities both in the IT function and the rest of the enterprise.
Staying current on the rapidly evolving technology landscape, both for completion of the onetime transformation and its successful ongoing operation.
Stage 5, Living DNA
It is the step where the transformation becomes perpetual. You maintain ongoing industry trend leadership because you are disciplined in constantly innovating and setting industry trends. You’re not just a market leader; you’re a disciplined innovator.
“The stage of perpetual transformation. Constant reinvention and a highly agile culture become second nature to the organization. The enterprise becomes a disciplined market leader.”
Causes of Failure
A loss of the edge that previously delivered a Stage 4 transformation, either due to an insufficiently agile culture or a lack of discipline to constantly sense and respond to new business disruption risks.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Agile culture to support constant evolution of the business and organization.
Sensing risk to the enterprise routinely and reacting to them in a disciplined manner.
Why Are the Warning Signals Ignored?”\
As mentioned earlier, leaders have a sense of their organization’s digital disruption peril already. The bigger question is how much they are reacting to it, and if not enough, then why
The answer to this tends to be sociological—fear, inertia, and misjudgment.
Fear about cannibalizing existing products and about the cost of change. Inertia caused by complacency that the current strategy has historically worked. And finally, misjudgment on the potential impact of digital disruption and an optimistic view of the organization’s ability to withstand the new competition.
The reason why digital transformations fail is that they take more discipline than one might expect. It takes a surprising amount of discipline and a positive outlook of the possibilities for digital transformations to succeed.
The book is about understanding why digital transformations fail as a means to a more important end, which is how to thrive in an industrial revolution. 70 percent of digital transformations fail, to get the 30 percent right requires discipline. The reason why digital transformations fail is that they take more discipline than one might expect. It takes a surprising amount of discipline and a positive outlook of the possibilities for digital transformations to succeed.
Favourite takeaways – Why Digital Transformations Fail
Models: Singapore Digitization, Washington Post, Netflix,
Failed Projects: Obamacare, Denver Airport Baggage System, The McDonald’s “Innovate” Program”
The Industrial Revolutions
First Industrial Revolution: The evolution of society in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries from mostly agrarian to industrial and urban, which was mostly driven by mechanical innovations such as the steam engine.
Second Industrial Revolution: The explosive growth of industries from the late 1800s to the First World War. This was driven by mass-production techniques, electric power, and the internal combustion engine.
Third Industrial Revolution: The widespread change beginning in the 1980s with PCs and the internet, due to new electronic technologies.
Fourth Industrial Revolution: The melding of the physical, digital, and biological worlds today. The major driver is the availability of massive computing capacity at negligible and further plummeting costs. Thus, what used to be physical (e.g., retail stores) can be digital (e.g., online shopping), or what used to be purely biological (e.g., traditional medicine) can be biotech (e.g., personalized genetic medication).
The Fourth Industrial Revolution
The Fourth Industrial Revolution has digital technology transforming and fusing together the physical, biological, chemical, and information worlds. It’s a force for massive new opportunity in every area valued by society—everything from convenience (e.g., online shopping) and improved health (e.g., biotech) to personal security (e.g., digital homes), food security (e.g., agrotech), and so on.
As with the prior three industrial revolutions, individuals and societies will be affected significantly, and companies will either transform or die.
Disruption vs Transformation
Digital disruption: The effect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the corporate and public sector landscapes. Increasingly pervasive and inexpensive digital technology is causing widespread industrial, economic, and social change. This explosive change has occurred only in the past decade or two.
Digital transformation: The migration of enterprises and societies from the Third to the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. For companies, this means having digital technology become the backbone of new products and services, new ways of operation, and new business models.
There are two ways in which digital transformations fail. The lack of discipline causes them to first, fail to take off, and second, to maintain momentum, and they end up crashing.
The Five-Stage Digital Transformation Model
The five stage Digital Transformation 5.0 model provides a disciplined road map to succeed in transformation.
Stage 1 is the Foundation. This is where enterprises are actively automating internal processes.
Stage 2 is called Siloed. You might see individual functions or businesses start to use disruptive technologies to create new business models.
Stage 3 is Partially Synchronized transformation. The CEO has recognized the disruptive power of digital technologies and defined a digital future state.
Stage 4, or Fully Synchronized, marks the point where an enterprise-wide digital platform or new business model has fully taken root for the first time.
Stage 5, or Living DNA, is the step where the transformation becomes perpetual.
“An organization can “do” digital as part of a one-time transformation, but to achieve ongoing market leadership it needs to “become” digital.”
Stage 1 is the Foundation. – automation(digitalization)
This is where enterprises are actively automating internal processes, such as selling, manufacturing, or finance, using SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, or similar platforms. This is more automation (also called digitalization) than transformation, but it provides the digitalized foundation necessary for future transformation. Automating processes using digital platforms is necessary to convert manual effort into data.
Automation (or digitalization) of processes. It delivers enterprise value by using technology to do work more efficiently and builds the foundation for further transformation.
Causes of Failure
Teams lose sight of the intended business value being targeted, or they execute poorly.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Committed ownership of the strategy at the highest levels.
“Speed of execution matters in digital transformation not just because digital transformation is an urgent issue but because speed generates enthusiasm, momentum, and the right mindset.“
Stage 2: Siloed
Where you might see individual functions or businesses start to use disruptive technologies to create new business models. So for instance, the manufacturing function may have made progress on using the Internet of Things to drive major changes in the way they manufacture or manage logistics, or the finance manager may have heard about blockchain and transformed the way they do intercompany accounting across countries.
Alternatively, a business unit within the enterprise may have used technology to create a completely new business model, such as selling direct to consumers as opposed to via retailers. The point is that these efforts are siloed, and there is no overall company strategy driving transformation.
Siloed transformations are a microcosm of what will hopefully become higher stages of digital transformation.
Causes of Failure
Common mistakes include under-powering change leaders and making incorrect choices in what to transform.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Disruption empowerment of the change leaders.
Digital leverage points identification.
Partially Synchronized – Partially Synchronized transformation
The enterprise leader, owner, or CEO has recognized the disruptive power of digital technologies and defined a digital future state. At Stage 3, the organization has started rowing in the same direction. However, the enterprise has not completed transforming to a digital backbone or new business models, nor has the agile, innovative culture become sustainable.
Causes of Failure
An ineffective change management strategy or insufficient amount of transformation projects to adequately transform the core organization.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Change management model for effectively transforming the core organization.
Strategy sufficiency in terms of the portfolio of initiatives needed to drive a complete transformation.
“Partial completion of an enterprise-wide strategy for digital transformation. The term “partially” in the title is reflective of part business-outcome delivery, not part synchronization of efforts.”
Stage 4, Fully Synchronized
It marks the point where an enterprise-wide digital platform or new business model has fully taken root. However, it is a one-time transformation. It is still just one technology (or business model) change away from being disrupted. The only way to survive continuous disruption threats is to make digital capabilities and an agile innovative culture an ongoing integral part of the enterprise.
“The point where an enterprise-wide digital platform or new business model has fully taken root. However, it is a one-time transformation. It is still just one technology (or business model) change away from being disrupted”
Causes of Failure
Inability to complete the one-time digital transformation due to either organization structure issues or digital literacy issues.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Digital reorganization to reboot technical capabilities both in the IT function and the rest of the enterprise.
Staying current on the rapidly evolving technology landscape, both for completion of the onetime transformation and its successful ongoing operation.
Stage 5, Living DNA
It is the step where the transformation becomes perpetual. You maintain ongoing industry trend leadership because you are disciplined in constantly innovating and setting industry trends. You’re not just a market leader; you’re a disciplined innovator.
“The stage of perpetual transformation. Constant reinvention and a highly agile culture become second nature to the organization. The enterprise becomes a disciplined market leader.”
Causes of Failure
A loss of the edge that previously delivered a Stage 4 transformation, either due to an insufficiently agile culture or a lack of discipline to constantly sense and respond to new business disruption risks.
Disciplines to Address Risks
Agile culture to support constant evolution of the business and organization.
Sensing risk to the enterprise routinely and reacting to them in a disciplined manner.
Why Are the Warning Signals Ignored?”\
As mentioned earlier, leaders have a sense of their organization’s digital disruption peril already. The bigger question is how much they are reacting to it, and if not enough, then why
The answer to this tends to be sociological—fear, inertia, and misjudgment.
Fear about cannibalizing existing products and about the cost of change. Inertia caused by complacency that the current strategy has historically worked. And finally, misjudgment on the potential impact of digital disruption and an optimistic view of the organization’s ability to withstand the new competition.
February 14, 2020
The author has incredible experience as C-level, and based on his track record he believes that a disciplined process is a key for digital transformation.
The book presents a five-stage model for organizations that are planning to pass through digital transformation.
The five stages begin with automation (other authors call this as digitization). After that, the next one is siloed disruptions in particular functions. The third one is coordinated programs for strategic transformations across the organization. The fourth is completed and synchronized digital platforms/products/services. Finally, the last one is the sustainable culture of digital reinvention as the backbone of the business model (living DNA).
A useful handbook for practitioners.
The book presents a five-stage model for organizations that are planning to pass through digital transformation.
The five stages begin with automation (other authors call this as digitization). After that, the next one is siloed disruptions in particular functions. The third one is coordinated programs for strategic transformations across the organization. The fourth is completed and synchronized digital platforms/products/services. Finally, the last one is the sustainable culture of digital reinvention as the backbone of the business model (living DNA).
A useful handbook for practitioners.
September 4, 2020
Some golden ideas, bit also a bunch of basics about large-scale digital transformation programs. The key idea is that digital transformation requires a disciplined approach to execution.
Included a five-stage model for digital transformation and key disciplines for each step to avoid typical risks. Alltogether, the beef of the book were the disciplines. From the mist basic stages to the more advanced, they are:
- Committed ownership at the highest level
- Iterative approach
- Empowerment of change leaders
- Identifying digital leverage points
- Change management model for the core
- Sufficient project portfolio
- Digital reorganision
- Staying current
- Agile culture
- Sensing risks and reacting to them routinely
Included a five-stage model for digital transformation and key disciplines for each step to avoid typical risks. Alltogether, the beef of the book were the disciplines. From the mist basic stages to the more advanced, they are:
- Committed ownership at the highest level
- Iterative approach
- Empowerment of change leaders
- Identifying digital leverage points
- Change management model for the core
- Sufficient project portfolio
- Digital reorganision
- Staying current
- Agile culture
- Sensing risks and reacting to them routinely
September 26, 2022
Quite dry and repetitive but it has introduced good practical best practices and structure.
November 18, 2019
Po skończeniu pierwszego rozdziału miałem ochotę odłożyć ją na półkę z napisem „przemiał”. Duży błąd. Nie jest to wielka literatura - ale autor faktycznie wie o czym pisze - w odróżnieniu od wielu innych brał udział w transformacji firmy globalnej a jego uwagi w wielu przypadkach brzmią jak świetny punkt wyjścia dla tych którzy sami przez ten proces przechodzą lub będą przechodzić. Osobiście spodobał mi się termin „cultural firewall”. Wszyscy którzy przez młyny dużych korporacji wiedzą o czy mówię. Pozostałych zachęcam do lektury ... i determinacji w przebrnięciu przez pierwsze 50 stron ... później już z górki :)
February 2, 2020
The book is easy-to-read and is built on the experience of someone who has led multiple cycles of transformation at P&G... and sharing his experience, he says emphatically that most digital transformations fail not due to innovation or technology problems, but execution... he believes that a disciplined process is the key, and builds a five stage model... that starts with the initial take off but also covers the steps to stay ahead...
The five stages begin with automation (foundation), to small disruptions in individual functions (siloed), to coordinated programs within an overall view of the future (partially synchronised), to deployment across the enterprise (fully synchronised), and finally the perpetual state of constant vigilance and evolution (living DNA). No new insights here - this is how most organisations plan their transformations.
But, the next section gets into operating the framework where the author suggests that the key to building reliable operations is to eliminate risks and build operational discipline... and for this he brings the checklist methodology from the airlines industry and defines a set of questions for different stages of the transformation to keep the process on track... further he identifies the top two causes of failure in moving from one stage to the next and applies the principles of the Swiss Cheese framework (where risk of a threat becoming a reality is mitigated by the differing layers and types of defenses which are "layered" behind each other, thus lapses and weaknesses in one defense do not allow a risk to materialize, since other defenses also exist, to prevent single point of failure)...
However, the key message is that not every initiative succeeds... and the recommendation is to create a portfolio of many small iterative projects which allows many small-bet projects to fail in the pursuit of a few big ones - he shares his experience of the 10-5-4-1 strategy, where for every ten experiments, typically five could be killed, four may turn out to be 2X or 4X type of ideas, but the remaining one would be 10X... he also advises a 70-20-10 mix that includes ideas to improve daily operations, those that enable continuous evolution and game changing disruptive ideas... he highlights the challenge in supporting low-cost, high-speed iterations and suggests assigning time constraints and insulating early innovations from standard corporate processes... he talks of edge organisations for disruptive ideas...
Digital transformation is broad and can include new digital business models (eg from physical retail to online), or technology driven new products (eg driverless cars) or simply digital operations. The many case studies provide the relevant context and make the reading easier... these cover many different verticals, times, and even approaches...
- Google’s 70-20-10 model to fuel constant growth in current business as well as discover new businesses;
- Adobe that incentivises employees to think differently to enable perpetual transformation;
- Zappos whose customer focus allows it to stay ahead;
- SpaceX which continues to break paradigms thru purpose driven agility;
- Netflix that rides on it’s market agility, and its risk taking ability to challenge its own successful models; that leverages its technical superiority, and strength of culture that encourages employs to deliver their best, to take risk to innovate;
- Singapore, which has shown with committed leadership, that big changes are possible and countries can differentiate on information technology;
- Washington Post that combined clear vision, commitment from management and empowered change leaders with effective use of technology to transform digital and customer centric operations;
- Bank of America that used creative thinking to encourage saving and came up with a unique keep the change program...
Quite a few failed initiatives are also covered, which bring out roadblocks that challenge the best of efforts...
- the carriage companies who were innovative in their current business but failed to transform to a new model;
- media companies like the New York Times who put in the effort but without their heart being in it;
- US attempt to introduce metric system - not once but twice - that reminds the importance of clear purpose and empowerment;
- Denver airport’s futuristic baggage system or US healthcare portal delivery that ran into issues - that remind us that iterative execution and early customer feedback is critical...
The stories highlight that innovation within current business models is often very different from new models, and that is why it is missed... that many times you may manage to move into the new world but fail to win it... and building capabilities to stay ahead is equally important to sustain the transformation... that committed ownership, focusing on right leverage points and iterative execution is the key... that exponential organisations are in the best position to thrive in the digital era - organisations that are flexible, adaptable, agile and have few barriers... organisation that are customer focussed and leverage data and information and tap larger ecosystems... organisations that are built on shared purpose... organisations that encourage a culture that empowers its employees, allows for ownership and encourages risk taking... translate pain points into big ideas...
An easy-to-read book... the stories keep it light... many of the stories are well known... and even though there are not many ground breaking ideas or insights, the stories keep the subject real and leave you with a few thoughts to reflect upon...
The five stages begin with automation (foundation), to small disruptions in individual functions (siloed), to coordinated programs within an overall view of the future (partially synchronised), to deployment across the enterprise (fully synchronised), and finally the perpetual state of constant vigilance and evolution (living DNA). No new insights here - this is how most organisations plan their transformations.
But, the next section gets into operating the framework where the author suggests that the key to building reliable operations is to eliminate risks and build operational discipline... and for this he brings the checklist methodology from the airlines industry and defines a set of questions for different stages of the transformation to keep the process on track... further he identifies the top two causes of failure in moving from one stage to the next and applies the principles of the Swiss Cheese framework (where risk of a threat becoming a reality is mitigated by the differing layers and types of defenses which are "layered" behind each other, thus lapses and weaknesses in one defense do not allow a risk to materialize, since other defenses also exist, to prevent single point of failure)...
However, the key message is that not every initiative succeeds... and the recommendation is to create a portfolio of many small iterative projects which allows many small-bet projects to fail in the pursuit of a few big ones - he shares his experience of the 10-5-4-1 strategy, where for every ten experiments, typically five could be killed, four may turn out to be 2X or 4X type of ideas, but the remaining one would be 10X... he also advises a 70-20-10 mix that includes ideas to improve daily operations, those that enable continuous evolution and game changing disruptive ideas... he highlights the challenge in supporting low-cost, high-speed iterations and suggests assigning time constraints and insulating early innovations from standard corporate processes... he talks of edge organisations for disruptive ideas...
Digital transformation is broad and can include new digital business models (eg from physical retail to online), or technology driven new products (eg driverless cars) or simply digital operations. The many case studies provide the relevant context and make the reading easier... these cover many different verticals, times, and even approaches...
- Google’s 70-20-10 model to fuel constant growth in current business as well as discover new businesses;
- Adobe that incentivises employees to think differently to enable perpetual transformation;
- Zappos whose customer focus allows it to stay ahead;
- SpaceX which continues to break paradigms thru purpose driven agility;
- Netflix that rides on it’s market agility, and its risk taking ability to challenge its own successful models; that leverages its technical superiority, and strength of culture that encourages employs to deliver their best, to take risk to innovate;
- Singapore, which has shown with committed leadership, that big changes are possible and countries can differentiate on information technology;
- Washington Post that combined clear vision, commitment from management and empowered change leaders with effective use of technology to transform digital and customer centric operations;
- Bank of America that used creative thinking to encourage saving and came up with a unique keep the change program...
Quite a few failed initiatives are also covered, which bring out roadblocks that challenge the best of efforts...
- the carriage companies who were innovative in their current business but failed to transform to a new model;
- media companies like the New York Times who put in the effort but without their heart being in it;
- US attempt to introduce metric system - not once but twice - that reminds the importance of clear purpose and empowerment;
- Denver airport’s futuristic baggage system or US healthcare portal delivery that ran into issues - that remind us that iterative execution and early customer feedback is critical...
The stories highlight that innovation within current business models is often very different from new models, and that is why it is missed... that many times you may manage to move into the new world but fail to win it... and building capabilities to stay ahead is equally important to sustain the transformation... that committed ownership, focusing on right leverage points and iterative execution is the key... that exponential organisations are in the best position to thrive in the digital era - organisations that are flexible, adaptable, agile and have few barriers... organisation that are customer focussed and leverage data and information and tap larger ecosystems... organisations that are built on shared purpose... organisations that encourage a culture that empowers its employees, allows for ownership and encourages risk taking... translate pain points into big ideas...
An easy-to-read book... the stories keep it light... many of the stories are well known... and even though there are not many ground breaking ideas or insights, the stories keep the subject real and leave you with a few thoughts to reflect upon...
May 16, 2023
Vivemos um período de mudanças. A pandemia reposicionou formas, pensamentos e comportamentos. Isso coincidiu com um momento importante da digitalização, que é outra mudança relevante. Com os smartphones, o consumidor se digitalizou mais rapidamente do que as companhias. Surgiram empresas nativas digitais, que já se formaram com esse DNA, o que possibilita o início de negócios com menos recursos. As empresas normais, por sua vez, passaram a ter uma dificuldade bem maior. Fazer uma transformação digital é muito difícil. Como se não bastasse, o mundo passou a ter uma situação econômica de redução de negócios e juros altos. Houve transformações geopolíticas com a guerra da Ucrânia, por exemplo. O ambiente ainda mudou politicamente, com radicalismo e líderes mais fortes.
Desafios futuros no uso da tecnologia
Junto com as novas tecnologias, redes sociais e aplicativos de mensagens, veio a existir um novo tipo de comunicação que passa a pertencer aos indivíduos. Hoje um indivíduo se comunica com vários outros de forma fácil. Nesse contexto, os algoritmos passaram a ser utilizados por empresas de segmentação de mercado e pesquisas relacionadas a que produto vender. Só que alguém, de repente, percebeu que esses algoritmos poderiam ser utilizados em eleições e em situações como o Brexit, no Reino Unido. Notou-se que a forma mais contundente de conquistar pessoas era através do ódio e do medo.
Polarização política: como ela age no jogo
Como o ambiente está polarizado, é difícil agradar a todo mundo. Você pode causar uma crise. Isso é uma tragédia num ambiente digital democrático. A democracia é livre manifestação que aceita o contraditório. Uma democracia na qual você expõe uma ideia e volta um confronto é muito complicada.
Desafios futuros no uso da tecnologia
Junto com as novas tecnologias, redes sociais e aplicativos de mensagens, veio a existir um novo tipo de comunicação que passa a pertencer aos indivíduos. Hoje um indivíduo se comunica com vários outros de forma fácil. Nesse contexto, os algoritmos passaram a ser utilizados por empresas de segmentação de mercado e pesquisas relacionadas a que produto vender. Só que alguém, de repente, percebeu que esses algoritmos poderiam ser utilizados em eleições e em situações como o Brexit, no Reino Unido. Notou-se que a forma mais contundente de conquistar pessoas era através do ódio e do medo.
Polarização política: como ela age no jogo
Como o ambiente está polarizado, é difícil agradar a todo mundo. Você pode causar uma crise. Isso é uma tragédia num ambiente digital democrático. A democracia é livre manifestação que aceita o contraditório. Uma democracia na qual você expõe uma ideia e volta um confronto é muito complicada.
September 11, 2020
Author Tony Saldanha comes with huge experience of successful digital transformation at P&G and it is worth reading the book for lessons learnt and how to go about the execution.
He defines 5 stages - Foundation, Siloed execution within departments, Partially synchronised across departments for specific outcomes, Fully Synchronised across the Organisation, and lastly Living DNA is how to stay ahead of the disruption. For each of the stages he gives a checklist which can be used to ensure successful execution.
For me personally, I did not find materially new things in the book. However, I picked up few good points from the book: (1) CEOs need to drive with personal skin in the game, not just appoint Chief Digital Officers (2) organisations should assess Industry/ Customer/ Biz Model risks to stay ahead of disruption (3) 10-5-4-1 strategy: out of 10, 5 can fail, 4 can be 2x or 4x improvement, but 1 to be 10x exponential project
It is a quick read and has some good examples from many industries too.
He defines 5 stages - Foundation, Siloed execution within departments, Partially synchronised across departments for specific outcomes, Fully Synchronised across the Organisation, and lastly Living DNA is how to stay ahead of the disruption. For each of the stages he gives a checklist which can be used to ensure successful execution.
For me personally, I did not find materially new things in the book. However, I picked up few good points from the book: (1) CEOs need to drive with personal skin in the game, not just appoint Chief Digital Officers (2) organisations should assess Industry/ Customer/ Biz Model risks to stay ahead of disruption (3) 10-5-4-1 strategy: out of 10, 5 can fail, 4 can be 2x or 4x improvement, but 1 to be 10x exponential project
It is a quick read and has some good examples from many industries too.
December 17, 2022
the book was clearly written from practical experience of implementing digital transformation projects over 20+ years.
Key to innovation is discipline, the author gives spot on analogy between digital transformation and plane checklist before take off.
select suitable good mix of high risk & low risk portfolio of projects (build new business model, new innovation product or operations improvement)
test the water by quick win with small scale implementation before heavily investing
have the courage to kill it quick if it doesn't generate desire results
involve project sponsors in the project to bring down the obstacle of the change & air cover for the innovation, let them put the skin in the game
antidote for the immune system of company is middle manager, therefore different rewards system need to set up for them to contribute for the project
continuous educate / reeducate the workforce with update use-case technology
work closely with venture capital for the innovative applicable use-case
don't outsource what you don't know yet
Key to innovation is discipline, the author gives spot on analogy between digital transformation and plane checklist before take off.
select suitable good mix of high risk & low risk portfolio of projects (build new business model, new innovation product or operations improvement)
test the water by quick win with small scale implementation before heavily investing
have the courage to kill it quick if it doesn't generate desire results
involve project sponsors in the project to bring down the obstacle of the change & air cover for the innovation, let them put the skin in the game
antidote for the immune system of company is middle manager, therefore different rewards system need to set up for them to contribute for the project
continuous educate / reeducate the workforce with update use-case technology
work closely with venture capital for the innovative applicable use-case
don't outsource what you don't know yet
March 30, 2021
The context of the book was promising - disrupting an already gold standard global business services organisation at P&G, and no doubt that the work done was revolutionary but the book itself is very badly written. The writing is throughout superficial, repetitive, redundant, tautological and often logically inconsistent. There are unnecessary recaps and chapter summaries. The book can actually be written in the form of an article with 5 themes instead of 10 which could be read in 15 minutes . Would want to blame the proofreader as much as the author for this bore of a book.
Writing aside, there are some nuggets to be noted in terms of how an organisation should be structured for digital disruption, a portfolio approach to deploying high impact products and leveraging the ecosystem at large in the ideation and implementation process. There’s also a useful barometer for benchmarking the digital maturity of a company
Writing aside, there are some nuggets to be noted in terms of how an organisation should be structured for digital disruption, a portfolio approach to deploying high impact products and leveraging the ecosystem at large in the ideation and implementation process. There’s also a useful barometer for benchmarking the digital maturity of a company
January 18, 2025
Dlaczego nie udaje się przeprowadzić transformacji cyfrowej z sukcesem - to główny temat książki. Jest wiele powodów, jednak te najważniejsze to po prostu czynnik ludzki. Można to jeszcze podzielić na dwie strony. Czynnik ludzki może zawodzić na poziomie kierownictwa organizacji, która chce wdrożyć transformacje cyfrową - tutaj brak zrozumienia trendów, własnych zasobów ludzkich lub też brak wizji są częstymi przyczynami. Po stornie odbiorców najczęściej czynnikiem ludzkim jest opór na zmiany. To bardoz złożony temat. Czasem nawet prozaiczna rzecz jak niedopowiednia infrastruktura lub też brak inwestycji w cyberbezpieczeństwo mogą być przyczynami. To dość skomplikowany temat. Nie zawsze drogie i skomplikowane rozwiązania są potrzebne i ważne. Bardzo ciekawa pozyca dla kogoś kto interesuje się tematem, chociaż wydaje mi się, że z czasem będzie nieaktualna i podejście do tematu będzie wymagało bardziej aktualnej analizy i książki lub artykułu.
July 19, 2019
Tony has a talent for making complex insights simple and focusing on the biggest things that matter instead of getting lost in details. This approach, combined with interesting real life examples and case studies both from his own experience and from the industry, makes this book a fun and educational read on digital transformation. Not to miss both for executives and teams driving digital transformation.
June 7, 2020
Me parece el gran libro del clickbait. Por que fracasa la transformación digital? Porque no sigues mi método para la transformación digital. Y dedico todo el libro a hablar de mi método. Un método de 5 pasos que repite los ejemplos de tantos otros, los mensajes de tantos otros, que resulta muy decepcionante
Alguien que seguro podría contar mil ejemplos de cómo lo gestionó el. Pero....
Nada recomendable. Hay libros de autores menos “reconocidos” que aportan muchísimo más
Alguien que seguro podría contar mil ejemplos de cómo lo gestionó el. Pero....
Nada recomendable. Hay libros de autores menos “reconocidos” que aportan muchísimo más
December 19, 2021
A good summary of what's happening around
I liked this book as a very good coverage of how the world is getting digitized at a rapid pace. This book covers a lot of technical areas and how businesses can take advantage of it. Definitely a great book for people with no or very low IT background. The functional part I sadly found too theoretical and monotonous. I didn't have much aha moments and sounded most of it very much like yeah ok.
I liked this book as a very good coverage of how the world is getting digitized at a rapid pace. This book covers a lot of technical areas and how businesses can take advantage of it. Definitely a great book for people with no or very low IT background. The functional part I sadly found too theoretical and monotonous. I didn't have much aha moments and sounded most of it very much like yeah ok.
January 23, 2023
A good guide on how to get through your digital transformation journey. Though the title of the book is a bait to pick up this book, it doesn’t disappoint much. Tony speaks largely about his experience in making a transformation successful and less about what can make it fail. It’s easier to argue that doing opposite of what makes it a failure could take it to success, it’s not totally true. It’s a good read none the less.
May 17, 2020
Great combination of research, fresh ideas, good organization and accessible writing style. Technology books can be boring and not generally attractive to the general public. I really enjoyed all the "real" examples from the past, present and future combined with excellent quotes and practical guides to help you get started. CIO must read...
October 4, 2020
If you want digital transformation mansplained, this is the book for you. Although the cover promises this book to be practical, it only occasionally goes deeper than high level management common sense explained in digital jargon. It's a shame, because I really believe that Saldana actually has a lot of practical advice to share.
February 10, 2021
The book talks about standard industry best practices like Agile. Plus endorse cool well know companies with an awesome culture like Netflix and Zappos. The book endorses the 5 stages of digital transformation and states that 70% of digital transformations fail because of the lack of discipline. The book gives examples as discipline in the aviation industry, bug of the millennium, and more.
May 13, 2021
I generally liked this book as a practical guide to successful digital transformation. There were relevant examples from multiple industries and the checklists provided were helpful. The format and content was highly repetitive and that became tiresome after a while. I would recommend this to read, but it's probably more useful as a handbook/reference.
August 18, 2021
Helpful structure
A helpful structure and central model to this book. It will help those charged with leading Digital Transformation to focus on the people/culture and organisational readiness aspects that are too often neglected. Really helpful questions and checklists for taking a more disciplined approach.
A helpful structure and central model to this book. It will help those charged with leading Digital Transformation to focus on the people/culture and organisational readiness aspects that are too often neglected. Really helpful questions and checklists for taking a more disciplined approach.
December 9, 2021
Tony has walked the talk. This makes his book very credible. The structure of the book is bit confusing as the 5-step model for transformation includes principles rather than actual tasks. This wasn't clear in the book initially. I thought it was a 5-step transformation plan.
Other than this, the book is solid. I would recommend this to any digital consultant/CTO/Digital leader.
Other than this, the book is solid. I would recommend this to any digital consultant/CTO/Digital leader.
February 15, 2022
While there are some useful thoughts and frameworks, most of the book stays at the highest levels detailing vague steps you should take without every really delving into how you lead a digital transformation. The book is lacking in detail and oversimplifies the journey companies undertake to transform. Many of the stories the author tells also only tangentially relate to digital transformation.
March 24, 2024
The book summarizes the key principles for DT such as committed leadership, air cover, conditions for change etc. Some interesting case studies are included (mostly in the US context). The recommendations and discussions are practical overall, but lacks some depth. A good book for practitioners wanting to start understanding DT.
August 15, 2019
A former P&G VP on how to drive digital transformation in large organizations. I read this book as a startup founder who works with large companies. Found the first half of this useful, the second half less so. Would recommend on the whole.
January 30, 2020
The book was OK describing new tech and digitalisation. Didn't get anything new out of it. Probably pretty good if you haven't read too much about the topic.
April 15, 2020
a west point graduate raves about the value of checklists
April 28, 2020
Insightful and experienced writing on high-level strategies with concrete suggested actions.
October 7, 2020
It’s a great manual like script for practitioners. Very valuable during implementation or as instructional on what to avoid. As a story a bit dry. Examples of different businesses are excellent.
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