There is an emerging digital awakening as the Covid-19 pandemic brings about the reality that digital transformation is no longer a nice-to-have, but rather a critical part of businesses’ sustainability moving forward.

However, an essential element of the digital transformation journey is about unpacking what value can be extracted, and where it can be extracted, as well as how a company can best use this value to deliver a successful digital journey.

“Pre-Covid-19, we had a lot of conversations around digitalisation, digital transformation and digital journeys and these were often seen as nice-to-haves – something [that] business was going to get to [eventually],” says Syspro Africa solutions engineering head Deirdre Fryer.

With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the landscape is now vastly different, with a lot of pressure placed on businesses to review ways of doing things faster and driving more efficiency.

“Suddenly, that digital journey is now a priority and . . . digital transformation becomes quite crucial. Digital awakening is a very real situation.”

New technologies like cloud computing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive analytics have all already had a profound impact on the world’s economies and continue to disrupt industries.

However, digital transformation has been used in so many different ways that its real meaning has become blurred, along with what the real value outcome is supposed to be.

Further, not every digital transformation on every digital project is a success, in part owing to the silo approach between the digital processes and the subsequent transformation processes.

The digitisation process assists the move into digitalisation, ultimately shifting to the next step of transformation.

It is often a logical sequence that requires the effective and results-based execution of both sides of the digital processes and transformation processes.

“When we talk about a digital journey, it is not just about digital transformation. It is about the other steps of digitisation and digitalisation and bringing them all together . . . to start the transformation, and bring in that value across,” Fryer comments.

Often, half the task is complete with a successful move to digital. However, the challenge is the potential dilution of the transformation process.

“When we look at digital, it is about having information digitally ready and digitally acceptable. The transformation part then becomes a process of . . . converting something into value,” she continues, adding, however, that, while something is done digitally, if it is not converted into value, there is no real digital transformation.

There is also a need to examine deeper digitalisation opportunities, including the use of mobile applications and leveraging the digital experience by means of digital tools.