By: Lungi Sangqu CEO - Africa Digital Success | Former CIO, Transnet Freight Rail & UNISA

Across Africa, organisations are accelerating their digital transformation journeys. Yet many struggle with a fundamental question: where do we start, and what capabilities really matter? Too often, digital transformation is approached as a technology shopping exercise rather than a strategic capability-building journey.

Gartner’s digital business platform framework offers a powerful alternative. It provides a structured, practical roadmap that organises digital transformation around five interconnected areas: customers, partners, employees, things, and intelligence. When understood and applied correctly, this framework enables organisations to build digital capabilities incrementally, aligned to business priorities, while laying a foundation for long-term innovation and growth.

Digital Transformation Is a Platform, Not a Project

At its core, Gartner’s framework recognises that digital transformation is not about implementing a single system or tool. It is about building an integrated digital platform that connects people, processes, data, and physical assets across the organisation and its ecosystem.

The real strength of this approach lies in its flexibility. Organisations do not need to “boil the ocean” by building everything at once. Instead, they can start with the capabilities that address their most urgent business challenges and expand systematically over time.

Customers: Designing Seamless Digital Experiences

Digital transformation often begins with the customer, and for good reason. Technologies such as customer relationship management (CRM) systems, digital experience platforms, mobile applications, e-commerce solutions, and conversational AI enable organisations to engage customers consistently across channels.

However, technology alone does not deliver great customer experiences. Organisations must also build skills in customer journey design, digital marketing, data privacy compliance, and service design. Equally important are soft skills such as empathy, collaboration between business and technical teams, and an agile mindset that supports continuous improvement.

Partners: Building Digital Ecosystems

No organisation operates in isolation. Digital platforms increasingly extend beyond enterprise boundaries to include suppliers, distributors, and strategic partners. B2B portals, supply chain management systems, APIs, and collaboration platforms enable seamless data exchange and coordination across partner networks.

To succeed, organisations need more than integration technology. They require strong capabilities in ecosystem strategy, contract and performance management, risk management, and stakeholder engagement. Trust, negotiation, and cross-cultural communication are critical soft skills in digitally enabled partnerships, particularly in complex African supply chains.

Employees: Empowering the Digital Workforce

Digital transformation fails when employees are treated as an afterthought. Modern organisations require digitally enabled, engaged, and continuously learning workforces. Human capital management systems, collaboration tools, learning platforms, and workflow automation solutions are foundational technologies in this area.

Yet the real differentiator lies in skills. Change management, employee experience design, leadership in hybrid environments, and workforce analytics are essential business capabilities. Soft skills such as empathy, communication, coaching, and adaptability are increasingly central to performance in digitally transformed organisations.

Things: Connecting the Physical and Digital Worlds

For sectors such as logistics, energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure, digital transformation extends into the physical world. Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, sensor networks, asset management systems, and predictive maintenance solutions connect physical assets to digital intelligence.

These technologies unlock operational efficiency, safety, and cost optimisation, but they also introduce complexity. Organisations must develop skills that bridge IT and operational technology, manage cyber risk in connected environments, and translate data insights into operational decisions. Systems thinking and collaboration between engineers and digital teams are critical enablers.

Intelligence: Turning Data into Decisions

Data and analytics sit at the heart of every digital business platform. Business intelligence tools, data platforms, artificial intelligence, and automation technologies enable organisations to move from descriptive reporting to predictive and prescriptive decision-making.

However, analytics only creates value when aligned to business strategy. Skills in data storytelling, KPI design, ethical AI, and decision science are just as important as data engineering and machine learning expertise. Leaders must foster a culture that values evidence-based decision-making and responsible data use.

Foundational Capabilities That Cut Across the Platform

Supporting all five areas are foundational technologies such as cloud infrastructure, cybersecurity, integration platforms, DevOps practices, identity management, and API governance. These are not optional technical considerations; they are strategic enablers of scale, resilience, and trust.

Equally important are universal skills in digital technologies, digital strategy development, change management, governance, and cross-functional leadership. Digital transformation is as much an organisational challenge as it is a technical one.

A Phased Approach to Capability Building

Successful organisations approach digital transformation in phases:

1. Assess and prioritise by aligning digital initiatives to business value.

2. Build foundations through core infrastructure, governance, and early wins.

3. Scale and integrate capabilities across the enterprise and ecosystem.

4. Optimise and innovate by leveraging data, platforms, and partnerships.

This disciplined approach reduces risk while creating momentum and organisational confidence.

The African Opportunity

African organisations face unique constraints, from infrastructure variability to skills shortages. Yet these challenges also create powerful opportunities. Mobile-first strategies, cloud-based platforms, remote work models, and vibrant local innovation ecosystems allow African businesses to leapfrog legacy constraints and build future-ready digital platforms.

Digital transformation in Africa is not only about competitiveness. It is about inclusion, resilience, and economic growth.

Building the Future, Systematically

Digital transformation is not a destination; it is a continuous journey of capability building. Gartner’s five-area framework provides a clear, practical lens for making deliberate, value-driven choices about technology and skills.

Ultimately, sustainable success comes from the combination of the right technologies, skilled people, effective processes, and a supportive culture. Organisations that invest systematically across customers, partners, employees, things, and intelligence build platforms that do more than digitise operations, they enable long-term relevance and growth in a rapidly changing digital economy.