Today, the IT industry is abuzz with discussion of digital transformation. There are nearly as many definitions of digital transformation as there are firms looking to profit from the trend. Techaisle defines digital transformation as integrating digitalized processes to achieve enterprise-wide automation spanning multiple functions – including modernization of current processes and supporting infrastructure – to achieve previously unattainable or unimaginable business outcomes. Today’s midmarket firms are expected to more with less, quicker and across geographies. But this virtual world is built with advanced physical products, from client devices to networking and servers. The vision of digital transformation described may seem ambitious, and even daunting: it requires a journey.
The aphorism attributed to Chinese philosopher Laoze, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” is often used to encourage launch of this type of complex initiative. But the rebuttal of data scientist Randal Olsen – “Really, that’s not true. Every major journey begins with a plan”.