Great State Transformation Report - Flipbook - Page 4
Introduction
Some of the retail, banking and leisure brands
Welcome to our latest
research report into the
reality of digital
transformation today.
street (both physical and digital) for decades
As I’m sure you’re asking, why has Great State
decided to write a research paper in an area so
well established? Digital transformation was
Digital transformation has
possibly become one of the
most overused business
terms in recent years, with
every company on some kind
of transformation journey.
So why a report into it now?
Surely digital transformation
was all over five years
ago and we’re all in a post
disrupted world?
the hot topic years ago, we’ve all done that
now and moved on.
We have our five-year transformation plan
created by a top four consulting firm, we’ve set
up our innovation lab in the nearest WeWork
and built our shiny new website and Alexa
skill. Box ticked and the risk of our Uber/
Amazon/Airbnb/Tesla moment avoided. Phew.
That is of course not the answer - although
for some that may well be seen as ‘job done’.
For many that journey has only partly started,
whereas for others they can only dream of
having made such apparent progress. So,
despite being a concept that’s been widely
used since the early 2000s, it feels as if
transformation is only now getting real for
many organisations.
Just one look down the high street alone shows
you that many brands haven’t successfully
reacted to the change digital has brought.
that have been cornerstones of the UK high
no longer exist or are (very publicly) struggling
to survive. Whilst I’m sure few of us believe
that the ‘House of Sports Direct’ is the future
of retail.
The true challenge is that the expectation of
today’s connected consumer is higher than
ever and continually evolving; driven by the
experiences delivered by new entrants, the big
tech companies and by the rapidly changing
technology in their pockets.
Those that are successful understand the
needs and desires of today’s customers better
and have the ability to evolve continually at
pace - all clearly easier if you’re a new entrant
without barriers such as legacy systems or
organisational structures to overcome, although
far from impossible for traditional business.
In fact, often it’s not that many organisations
haven’t had the foresight to change. As
Joshua Gans (economist at the Rotman
School of Management in Toronto and author
of The Disruption Dilemma) noted recently in
the Financial Times:
“Kodak and Blockbuster weren’t caught
by surprise. They knew what the future
looked like. They didn’t know later than
everybody else, they knew ahead of
everybody else. They knew; but they
couldn’t organise around the new.”
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