Overused and Under-Defined – Digital Transformation in B2B

If you’re working to create revenue in b-to-b sales, marketing or product, few terms can elicit a mixture of interest, fatigue and uncertainty like “digital transformation.” The interest comes from the fact that your organization is probably either seriously considering some form of digital transformation or is already deep into it.

The fatigue is likely from the sheer overuse of the term. It is used everywhere and by everybody to describe all manner of initiatives. This overuse contributes greatly to the uncertainty as well. Despite the ubiquity of the term, the real meaning of digital transformation is unclear to many organizations.

In our research and conversations with organizations going through the process, we’ve found that this lack of clarity is one of the leading reasons that digital transformation efforts often fail. Digital transformation is a complex undertaking that can be applied across many domains to solve multiple business issues. Organizations that do not take the time to identify the problems they’re trying to solve or the type of digital transformation they should undertake will likely end up falling back on a set of disconnected projects that may or may not address their challenges.

Fortunately, our research has uncovered new ways that b-to-b organizations can approach digital transformation – and succeed. At the SiriusDecisions Summit in May, my colleague Marisa Kopec and I will present the SiriusDecisions Transformation Model and apply it specifically to digital transformation. In the process, we will define what digital transformation is and use the framework to understand the various types and how to determine which one you should be pursuing.