FOCUS

20

Thinking strategically in the digital revolution The tools needed to reshape strategy for the digital world can be learned. Ryan McManus explains how

According to a 2018 poll by McKinsey, only 16% of executives believe that their digital transformation efforts have delivered sustained performance improvements – yet digital transformation is arguably the most urgent and important topic in business today. With the widespread availability of consultants, books and articles on the topic, and the unprecedented ease of acquiring technology and data, how is it possible that firms are getting such lacklustre results? At the root of the problem is the disconnect between how leaders understand strategy and the new rules of the digital revolution. Most Dialogue Q1 2020

leaders haven’t been taught how to think about a world that is very different from the one which gave birth to popular strategic concepts. They are left applying outdated strategy models and thinking to the new world, trying to squeeze the competitive realities of the digital revolution into analogue and linear strategic planning concepts. Perhaps the most fundamental change is that digital has brought technology out of the back office, where it was focused on executing strategy, and into the boardroom as arguably the most important driver of strategy. This is a huge shift. It means leaders have to be clear on one point: transformation strategy and technology