When is “digital transformation” not digital transformation?
Answer: when it’s just the same as mainstream digitalisation.
We’ve recently produced a set of 13 principles for digital-transformation-for-development (DX4D) research and consulting, but a key essence is that transformation is special and different. Digital transformation means doing something different from the kind of digitalisation that has been undertaken for decades:
Digitalisation:
Digital Transformation:
Yet the term “digital transformation” is now being applied to all sorts of initiatives, some of which are not digital transformation. As greenwashing is to sustainability, some of this looks like “X-washing”: labelling a project as transformation even when it patently is not.
To identify if something is digital transformation, a simple substitution test can help. Replace the term “digital transformation” with “digitalisation”[i] (defined here as “adaptation of a system, process, etc. to be operated with the use of computers and the internet”[ii]). If it still makes sense, it’s not digital transformation.
I give some examples below, though kept simple by just dealing with definitions:
EXAMPLE 1
Here’s a fairly-obvious example:
Original:
“digital transformation … goes beyond the digitalization of process, and it is a deep transformation of the organization activities, processes, competences, and patterns to face challenges and take advantage of the emerging technology opportunities and its accelerated impact on society”[iii]
Substitution:
“digitalisation … goes beyond the digitalization of process, and it is a deep transformation of the organization activities, processes, competences, and patterns to face challenges and take advantage of the emerging technology opportunities and its accelerated impact on society”
This does not make sense. Quite apart from the obvious problem of contrasting digitalisation with itself, digitalisation (“adaptation”) is not the same as “deep transformation”.
EXAMPLE 2
From the same source, here’s a reverse example:
Original:
“digital transformation (DT) is the organizational alignment between processes, people, and technology with the aim of complying efficiently with all the relevant activities of the company”
Substitution:
“digitalisation is the organizational alignment between processes, people, and technology with the aim of complying efficiently with all the relevant activities of the company”
The substitution text could pass as a definition of digitalisation, and there is no sense of transformation e.g. disruption or radical change. So the original does not appear to be referring to actual digital transformation.
EXAMPLE 3
Lastly, here’s a more shades-of-grey example:
Original:
“Digital transformation can be defined as the migration of companies and societies to a stage in which digital technologies become the backbone of their products and services, giving rise to the development of new forms of operation and new business models”[iv]
Substitution:
“Digitalisation can be defined as the migration of companies and societies to a stage in which digital technologies become the backbone of their products and services, giving rise to the development of new forms of operation and new business models”
The substitution text could work but it is quite a bold definition of digitalisation. You could argue that it fits with those approaches that see digitalisation encompassing all digital change from the incremental to the transformative. However, it seems to be ignoring the incremental improvement and redesign elements of the digitalisation spectrum. Since it also takes things beyond the individual process / system focus of digitalisation, I would lean towards saying the original definition passes the test and does reflect actual digital transformation. But it’s debatable.
CONCLUSION
The substitution test only focuses on one aspect of what digital transformation truly means: you can find the other DX4D principles here.
However, it will in some cases help to identify definitions and other usages which can appear to be X-washing: the re-badging as “digital transformation” of something that is not.
The test can also be used for more than just definitions; for example, in the assessment of policies or strategies or projects – are they transformative or are they actually just standard digitalisation, re-badged to make them look more modern and innovative.
Follow @CDDManchester[i] Terms other than “digitalisation” can also be used for substitution e.g. “digitisation” or “automation”.
[ii] Google/Oxford Languages definition
[iii] Serna Gómez, J.H., Díaz-Piraquive, F.N., Muriel-Perea, Y.D.J. and Díaz Peláez, A. (2021). Advances, opportunities, and challenges in the digital transformation of HEIs in Latin America. In: D. Burgos & J.W. Branch (eds), Radical Solutions for Digital Transformation in Latin American Universities, Springer, Singapore, 55-75.
[iv] CEPAL (2020). Food Systems and COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean N° 8: The Opportunity for Digital Transformation. CEPAL, Santiago, Chile.
ICTs for Development 