This is a talk on my view on digital transformation, given at the Product Tank meet-up on Wednesday 15 May 2019

1. What is Digital? What is
Transformation?
David Edmundson-Bird
Principal Lecturer in Digital Marketing & Enterprise
Associate Director for Digital Innovation
Manchester Metropolitan University

2. What is Digital? What is Transformation?
• What is Digital Transformation?
• Friction points and the mental challenge
• Mindset around disruption – what’s a University doing about this?

3. This is not the Digital
Transformation you’re looking
for
What I really want to say

5. What is ‘Digital’
Transformation?

6. Transformation
• Digital Transformation ascends just commercial concerns
• There are notions of digital transformation in The Arts, Science
and Public Service
• But Digital Business Transformation gives us a focused
understanding
• It’s often make things easier if we think about Digital
Transformation as a journey rather than a destination

7. This is not the Digital Transformation you’re looking for
• These are contemporary definitions
• Forrester define Digital Business Transformation as exploiting
“digital technologies to both create new sources of value for
customers and increase operational agility in service of
customers”
• The Global Center for Digital Business Transformation define
Digital Business Transformation as a journey where businesses
“adopt digital technologies and business model to improve
performance”
• I’ve got problems with both of these widely used definitions

8. Problems
• Problem No. 1
• Exploiting Digital Technologies (and no mention of anything
else)
• Problem No. 2
• Adopt and not adapt

9. Digital is not (just) about Technology
• It’s not about programming, apps, IT – and too many think it is
• Digital is:
• Culture;
• Practices;
• Processes;
• Technology
that have emerged since massive widespread participation in
the (age of the) Internet

10. Adapt not Adopt
• Adopting technology focuses on the technology
• The organisation never changes
• Adapting to Digital means
• Changing the culture of the organization to adapt to cultures of the Digital Age
• Changing the practices of the organization to adapt to practices of the Digital Age
• Changing the processes of the organization to adapt to processes of the Digital age
• And finally maybe then changing the technology in the organisation
• What does Adopt not Adapt cause?

11. Adopt not Adapt = 2 speed digital business
• Your organizational culture and configuration often move much
slower than process and technology when it comes to digital
readiness
• Your digital maturity doesn’t occur without that change to
organizational culture and configuration
• You must not give a low priority to cultural change and education –
you need to make them take a central role

12. You need the right conditions for Transformation
The capability of humans to operate with ease in the culture of Digital
The capability of humans to carry out processes and practices in Digital

13. How can I avoid the Digital
Transformation I’m not looking
for?

14. You need Digital (not Technology) Evangelists at the Top
• Digital transformation has to be enacted at ‘Chief’ level
• It only works as a whole organization activity
• It needs a high level of collaboration and leadership from chiefs
• It can’t be done by one person
• The radical thing to do
• Your Chief Digital Transformation Officer should not be your most senior tech person
• Supported by
• Digital Culture Evangelists
• Digital Process Evangelists
• Digital Practice Evangelist

15. You need Clarity of the End Goal
• Make Digital Transformation happen only with clarity of what you
want the end goal to be
• You need clarity so that everyone knows what they are doing
• End goals do change - so clarity must be continually updated
• End goals make sure changes don’t happen in silos

16. You need Disruption and Errors
• You have to be happy to make mistakes and learn
• You have to take risks
• You might have to think about becoming agile (this might be
cultural)
• You might have to experiment with things
• You don’t have to invent things from scratch
• You can’t and don’t have to do it on your own
• You should collaborate with other organizations

17. You need Collaborators
• Identify collaborators who have the capability to support yours
• Look at expert providers – quick, cheap, robust, reliable
• Look at specialists who have very specific strengths that you
miss
• The key difference between Tech and Digital
• Tech is about inventing the platform
• Digital is about exploiting the existing platform

18. What is a University like
Manchester Met doing to make
this happen?

19. We’re creating the Digital Transformation you’re looking for
e.g. Manchester Met Digital Marketing Comms PostGrad 2019
Able to synthesize different digital solutions
Able to evaluate different digital solutions
Able to choose with justification
Able to be critical of choices and know the issues and risks
Can perform SEO for a company
Can develop a content strategy
Can develop a digital strategy
Can conduct measurement and evaluation activity
Can change the culture of marketing in your business
Can change the marketing practices of your business
Can change the marketing processes of your business
Can help you adapt to the marketing technology in your business

20. Conclusion: This is the Digital Transformation you’re looking for
The Manchester Met Digital Transformer
• Written as a Value Proposition Design
• Our digital literate and competent graduates will help transforming
businesses adapt to digital culture, practices, processes and
technology so that they can improve performance, create new
sources of value for customers and increase their agility in service of
those customers

21. Thank you for your time
• www.linkedin.com/in/
davidedmundsonbird
• @groovegenerator
• d.edmundson-
bird@mmu.ac.uk
• 0161 247 4603