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Also inside
The Road to Digital Transformation: Transformation In Action
Turning Strategy into Execution Rules of the Digital
Transformation Road
The value of digital transformation is clear, but the
A Five-Phase Approach to
paths to get there can vary dramatically. Heres some Help You Get to the Future
guidance on navigating the digital journey.
Additional Reading
T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
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FOR most organizations, digital transformation is no longer a question of ifits when.

The revenue gains, customer satisfaction spikes and efficiency improvements that analytics, mobile, social, cloud and
Internet of Things technologies make possible are too compelling to ignoreas are the repercussions for companies
that fail to transform customer experiences and business processes in a timely manner.

New market growth for most companies now hinges on digital Office supplies retailer Staples is
using social media and analytics
transformation, says Akhil Uniyal, director and global head of digital
to monitor, filter and shape
You need to
transformation consulting for Dell Digital Business Services.
For organizations that have yet to begin that journey, questions of its online brand. Social media spend time up
where to start and how to get there remain unanswered. They need listening services have greatly front thinking
a core set of time-tested principles and methodologies to help them improved efficiency, by enabling
the retail leader to react more
about goals,
decide what to do and how to do it.
quickly to relevant social posts risks, opportuni-
Transformation in Action by rapidly adjusting marketing ties and available
Digital transformation can be a powerful force. Heres a look at campaigns, public relations
resources.
various ways a digital-first approach can be applied across industries. policies and in-store operations.
At the University of Kentucky, John DuBois
A financial services firm uses social media to identify prospective digital technologies help the Managing director of
clients in an underpenetrated market, employing big data provosts office spot students digital business consulting
analytics to predict what products and services the prospects who are at risk of dropping Dell Digital Business
might need and targeting consumers with a free mobile app that out. A mobile app gives Services
makes learning about and buying insurance policies fast and easy. students real-time feedback
A healthcare provider investigates how to securely collect infor- to improve their potential for
mation about patients daily routines via social media and wearable success and provides personalized support from their professors
devices and then analyzes that data to look for unhealthy habits. to help to raise overall retention levels.
The providers goal is to send customized preventive care advice via
a mobile app, resulting in potentially happier and healthier patients. The impact of digital transformation is also being felt across
A manufacturer uses embedded sensors and the cloud to government and nonprofit sectors. The American Red Cross, for
keep track of where inventory and truck drivers are located example, operates regional digital operations centers that monitor
and then applies analytics to optimize routing and delivery relief efforts and connect people in real time during disasters. The
schedules in real time. organization also uses social media tools to gather insights and
 T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
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analytics to help drive interest in its digital volunteer programs. business models and delivery
Another solution leverages social media, analytics and business processes typically collect Digital transform-
intelligence software in an effort to increase the number of blood the greatest ROI from digital
donations, improve customer service and donor engagement and transformation.
ation is a journey
enhance product offerings. Successful planning involves that never ends.
two important steps: Before you realize
Rules of the Digital Transformation Road one vision comp-
Businesses eager to achieve similarly impressive results should Building a blueprint of your
long-term plan. Thinking
letely, its time to
keep the following guidelines in mind when setting out on a digital
transformation journey: broadly about digital start looking at what
transformation is essential, but the next evolution of
Careful planning is the key to success. Companies that dive into only as a starting point. Your the business model
digital transformation without adequate preparation are usually plan must also define specific
will be and what new
dissatisfied with the results, so the first steps on any digital journey steps for attaining your goals,
should be developing a strategic vision and roadmap and balancing based on a detailed evaluation opportunities have
those plans with your organizational readiness. of your environment. What been created.
You need to spend time up front thinking about goals, will your posttransformation
Akhil Uniyal
risks, opportunities and available resources, says John DuBois, infrastructure look like, and
Director and global head
managing director of digital business consulting for Dells Digital what technologies must you
of digital transformation
Business Services unit. Dont be afraid to think big, either. implement to get there? What
consulting for Dell Digital
Companies that completely reimagine their value propositions, data will your re-envisioned
Business Services
architecture require, what
systems will you get it from
and how will you connect
video them all to one another? Where are the gaps between your
current IT skills and those you will require, and what training will
A roadmap your end users need? A good transformation blueprint will help
you get the right answers to these vital questions.
for successful You may decide to start out in a single area such as social
digital media or analytics as your organizations digital entry point, but
transformation having a long-term, big-picture plan will enable you to avoid
building a siloed solution that cant evolve over time. Lack
Discover the value of of proper up-front planning can mean missing out on the
the 5-R methodology opportunity to completely transform your business model, says
DuBois. Digital is made exponentially more powerful when you
merge multiple facets such as using analytics and social media
together to fuel a contextual mobile app.
 T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
Understanding your readiness for change. How quickly your
organization can and should transform itself will vary, based on
Dells 5-Step
several factors, including the following:
Methodology to Bring
You into the Future Cultural readiness. Businesses with a heritage of regularly
modifying work processes are generally better candidates
for swift, sweeping transformation initiatives than more-
1 RECOGNIZE conservative companies.
Architectural readiness. Legacy architectures tend to be
hierarchical and inflexible. These older systems usually take
2 RETHINK more time to transform or integrate with new business initiatives.
Executive support and alignment. Executive buy-in and
commitment need to be in place to champion digital solutions
3 RENDER and align the right resources with projects in a timely manner.
Urgency of change. This is arguably the most important
consideration. Businesses that compete in industries
4 REORGANIZE undergoing rapid disruption must move faster than those in
more-stable markets. For example, the exploding popularity
of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft gives taxi
5 REALIZE companies little choice but to transform themselves as swiftly
as possible. Its not a matter of whether you should proceed
quickly. Its a matter of whether you will be in existence five
years from now if you dont, Uniyal observes.
Adopt an agile point of view. The time required with traditional
waterfall software and solution development approaches may be a
luxury your business can no longer afford. Instead of having release
cycles that are 8 to 16 months or even longer, organizations now
need to introduce solutions quickly and accept occasional failure, as
long as they fail small and learn from their mistakes. An agile model
requires adopting a DevOps approach to solution development
and implementation and fostering an environment in which
programmers and business partners continuously design, deploy
and enhance solutions in close collaboration.
Always keep an eye out for new opportunities. Just as technologies
and market conditions continually evolve, so too must your business
processes and the infrastructure that supports them. Digital
4
transformation is a journey that never ends, Uniyal says. Before
you realize one vision completely, its time to start looking at what
the next evolution of the business model will be and what new
opportunities have been created.
Needless to say, planning something as complex as digital
transformation isnt easy if youve never done it before, so be sure
to work with an experienced digital transformation consultant. A
trusted partner can help you capitalize on proven best practices and
avoid common pitfalls.
A Five-Phase Approach to Help You Get to the Future
Companies committed to the basic ground rules can structure
digital transformation projects in many ways. Adopting Dells five-
step methodology is an established way to help you succeed in a
comprehensive journey or in an incremental step along the way.
In the recognize phase, consultants, business leaders and IT
executives work together to understand the digital possibilities
present in the overall business environment. The team takes a
macro look at the organizations industry and business models
as well as employees, partners and competitive threats. This is
an exploratory step in which we build a high-level vision of what
is possible through digital and begin to identify digital use case
candidates, says DuBois.
In the rethink phase, the team defines the requirements for
achieving future-state digital strategies and the appropriate key
performance indicators (KPIs) for measuring success. Digital
experience journey maps are created, showing exactly how revised
processes and consumer experiences will flow from start to
finish. This is where we dive deeper and start laying an actionable
foundation for change, adds DuBois.
Next comes the render phase, in which the project team builds
digital models and prototypes based on journey maps to begin
moving from vision to reality. Relevant business processes, as well as
people management and technologies, are taken into account to help
determine the potential return on investment of real-world initiatives.
In the reorganize phase, the project team gets ready for
implementation by prioritizing transformation initiatives; identifying
 T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
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needed skills, tools and technology resources; and deciding which
strategies it will use to meet security, governance and compliance
requirements. The specific mix of digital technologies to be
implementedincluding advanced analytics, mobility, social media,
the cloud and the Internet of Thingsis also determined. We
also develop organizational change management plans and user
education programs to ensure that everyone understands whats
changing and why and has the requisite training and skills to use
transformed processes successfully, says Uniyal.
Finally, in the realize phase, the project team brings its
transformation vision to life by deploying and integrating the
solutions it has envisioned, designed and prototyped.
Companies eager to transform quickly should figure on imple-
menting an agile approach for transformation. They can look to put
together a proof of concept that can be tested on a small scale and
then refine the plan, based on what is learned, before scaling it out
across the enterprise, says DuBois. Youll wind up with better results
and waste much less money and effort getting there.
As digital transformations first generation of pioneers can attest, the
planning is worth the effort. The digital journey need not be arduous,
and any company that goes about it in the right way can position itself
for sustainable, profitable growth.

Dell Digital Business Services

Take a business-first approach to digital transformation with Dell Digital Business Services. Our robust consulting methodology helps you create digital
strategy roadmaps to realize new revenue models, exceptional customer engagement and superior operational excellence. We leverage digital technolo-
gies including analytics, mobile, social, cloud and Internet of Things to deliver comprehensive solutions for your organization.

Learn more at Dell.com/DellDoesDigital

additional reading CIOs Must Put Customers First in Business Technology Decisions
By Dan Muse, CIO | Oct 31, 2014

Modern mobile technology may have been born with the first
iPhone, a quintessential consumer device, but it wasnt long
before the business possibilities began to emerge. Fast forward
to today, and its difficult to find a company that hasnt embraced
phones and tablets for its employees to some degree.
Its not difficult to see why. After all, the potential is nothing if
not compelling: an untethered workforce equipped with easy-to-
use tools for workers to be productive no matter where they are
and at any time of day.
That allure, indeed, is surely part of the reason IT organiza-
tions will dedicate at least 25 percent of their software budgets
to mobile application development, deployment and manage-
ment by 2017, according to IDC. By that same year, in fact, the
vast majority of line-of-business apps will be built for mobile-first
consumption, IDC predictsand for competitive necessity at
least as often as for efficiency or productivity.
The bring your own device trendin which employees bring
their own devices into the workplaceis one key factor contrib-
uting to this massive shift in enterprise computing. Its an extension
of the consumerization trend seen in enterprise technology more
broadly: People want to have the same mobile tools at work that
theyve become accustomed to in their personal lives. ...
Read the full article
 T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
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additional reading Feds Lay Down Social Media Rules;

Enterprises Should, Too
U.S. government spells out guidelines for what workers can tweet and post,
something many companies have yet to do

By Sharon Gaudin, Computerworld | Apr 17, 2015

The U.S. government is making it clear to federal employees of termination or possibly even
what they can and cannot post or tweet about on their favorite bring a lawsuit.
social networks. What surprises Kerravala is From the
Its an idea that enterprises should note and use to put their the number of companies that interviews Ive
own guidelines in place, according to industry analysts. have not laid out their own
The U.S. Office of Government Ethics released the guidelines, guidelines, leaving employees
done, my
dubbed Standards of Conduct and Social Media, last week. The thinking there are no restric- estimate is that
rules cover not using social media during work time and on tions on what they can post or less than one-
government property, as well as not using their official title, using tweet about their bosses, the
third of compa-
social media to look for another job and not disclosing non- company or its products.
public information to further private interests. Frankly, all companies
nies have a social
In light of the ever evolving nature of social media, the fore- should have a plan like this, he media policy.
going advice is not intended to be comprehensive, the Office of added. From the interviews
Government Ethics noted in the advisory. [The office] expects Ive done, my estimate is that Zeus Kerravala
to issue additional guidance in the future, addressing questions less than one-third of compa- Analyst, ZK Research
outside the scope of this Legal Advisory. nies have a social media policy.
With social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and And its unfair of companies to
Google+ taking up so much of peoples timewhether their expect employees
own or work timeit makes sense for the government to lay out to comply with something thats not in writing.
specific rules for federal employees. Jeff Kagan, an independent industry analyst, said hes not
That same idea goes for enterprises. surprised at the number of companies still lacking social media
I would recommend that companies put their own policies policies; despite the popularity of sites like Facebook and
in place, said Zeus Kerravala, an analyst with ZK Research. The Twitter, social networks are still a fairly new creature for enter-
positive is that the government appears to understand the value prises to address.
of social media. They just want to ensure its used for government This is always the case when advancements in tech are much
use cases. I think it helps avoid situations that might be the cause farther ahead than laws, rules and regulations, he noted. Today,
 T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
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we think Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are key ways to stay in insider content
additional reading touch, but its important to remember these are all brand new.
Ten or so years ago, no one used any of these services.
Another issue is that people tend to overshare online. Around the World With BYOD
The same person who gives endless personal details on Face- More than half of employees across the global bring
book might also be someone who would readily say something a mobile device to work. However, when you look at
negative about the boss or an employer. individual countries, the results vary wildly in terms
First we use them. Then we misuse them. Then we carry this of ownership and adoptionsurprisingly, some tech-
misuse to our jobs, whether that be government jobs or private loving countries are lagging behind.
corporate jobs, said Kagan. When that happens, every one of us
suddenly has a much larger megaphone than ever. And this often Click here
conflicts with the carefully crafted marketing messages compa-
nies work to build.
However, theres a difference between setting out rules to
guide people and setting out rules so a company, or the govern-
Betting Big on the SMAC Stack
ment, has a legal basis for terminating a worker.
Both are legitimate reasons to have policies in place. But Rob The concept of creating an IT infrastructure that sup-
Enderle, an analyst with the Enderle Group, noted that the govern- ports and integrates social, mobile, analytics and cloud
ments new rules should have been written more clearly if theyre is gaining ground, and some industry experts and IT
meant to help workers stay within the social media lines.If they executives are convinced that the next generation of
IT will revolve around SMAC components as the key
wanted to fix the behavior, they should have kept it far simpler:
foundational technologies..
Dont use your title. Dont talk about anything your organization
is related to and dont share any internal information, he said. Click here
People generally dont read or remember long lists like this, but
they can be held accountable by them. So this is more of a CYA
scapegoat tool than an attempt to really mitigate the problem.
Kagan, though, said the government has taken a positive step
by offering guidance. CIOs Adopt Down-to-Earth Cloud Strategy
The hard part will be separating people from their social CIOS are taking a pragmatic approach to cloud com-
networks while at work, he said. Just because this is the new puting, selectively launching SaaS applications and
policy does not mean all problems will mysteriously disappear. If shifting infrastructure resources to IaaS platforms
you believe that, then you are naive. It will take time and effort, while building their own private clouds.
but this is the right step.
Click here
 T E C H D O S S I E R : The Road to Digital Transformation: Turning Strategy into Execution
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additional reading The Mobile-Enabled Enterprise: Are We There Yet?

The potential is considerable, but plenty of challenges remain
By Katherine Noyes, IDG News Service | Apr 12, 2015
Modern mobile technology may have been born with the first landscape than what it faced
iPhone, a quintessential consumer device, but it wasnt long before years ago.
The expecta-
the business possibilities began to emerge. Fast forward to today, Originally, we all worked on
and its difficult to find a company that hasnt embraced phones and desktop computers in the office, tion is that even if
tablets for its employees to some degree. Kanaan said. Then, in the first youre on vacation,
Its not difficult to see why. After all, the potential is nothing if not generation of the mobile enter- you respond to
compelling: an untethered workforce equipped with easy-to-use
tools for workers to be productive no matter where they are and at
prise, we started working from
somewhere else, but still on
email. Its just part
any time of day. computers; we tried to solve that of normalcy now.
That allure, indeed, is surely part of the reason IT organizations through desktop virtualization. Michael Luu
will dedicate at least 25 percent of their software budgets to mobile When mobile technology first IS director
application development, deployment and management by 2017, began to enter the corporate world, City of Milpitas, California
according to IDC. By that same year, in fact, the vast majority of employers tried to limit it to specific,
line-of-business apps will be built for mobile-first consumption, IDC locked-down devices and applica-
predictsand for competitive necessity at least as often as for effi- tions. But users rejected that.
ciency or productivity. The problem is, computing happens everywhere, Kanaan said.
The bring your own device trendin which employees bring their That kind of control doesnt workit made users revolt.
own devices into the workplaceis one key factor contributing to this Todays workers simply expect to be able to use the technologies they
massive shift in enterprise computing. Its an extension of the consum- want and to be able to use them any time, said Michael Luu, IS director
erization trend seen in enterprise technology more broadly: People for the city of Milpitas, California, which uses Workspots technology for
want to have the same mobile tools at work that theyve become mobile access. The expectation is that even if youre on vacation, you
accustomed to in their personal lives. respond to email, he said. Its just part of normalcy now.
This is a revolution, said Eldad Eilam, CEO of mobile productivity Vendors of enterprise software are racing to address these new
vendor HopTo. Everyone is looking into BYOD. expectations in numerous ways. With its workspace-as-a-service
A veritable tsunami of devices has entered companies as a result, offering, for example, Workspot lets users securely access apps and
said Rana Kanaan, vice president of products at workspace-as-a-service data from any device, it says.
provider Workspot. Also playing a role, however, is what Kanaan calls Enterprise-software heavyweight Salesforce has committed to a
the rise of the corporate citizen: independent-minded employees mobile first philosophy with its own applications, said Anna Rosenman,
who place a high value on the ability to work wherever and whenever senior director of product marketing for the Salesforce Analytics Cloud. ...
they want.
Put those two trends together, and IT is left with a very different Read the full article