The market has a real fascination with so-called buzzwords—those trendy, seemingly revolutionary terms that everyone repeats and that signal whether you are “in the know, up to date” or “outdated and behind.” Digital Transformation seems to be one of them, but in this case, the issue runs deeper.
First, because in this case it truly is something revolutionary, unavoidable, and undeniable—not just the latest passing trend. Beyond that, there is a real clickbait war, where everyone tries to make more alarmist claims than the next in order to position themselves as a reference on the subject. And in the middle of this crossfire, we are left trying to figure out what is real and what is merely hype.
Obviously, Digital Transformation is a phenomenon of extremely high impact. Let’s take a look at some recent statistics:
- Nearly 90% of senior executives surveyed by Gartner believe that digital transformation should be a fundamental priority for companies. ¹
- According to a Forbes analysis in 2016, 84% of digital transformation projects would fail. In 2022, they repeated the analysis and still did not observe significant improvement.²
- Companies are allocating substantial resources to digital transformation projects, with average spending of $15.7 million in 2023.³
- 89% of large companies worldwide have embarked on their digital transformation and AI journey. However, they achieved only 31% of the expected revenue increase and 25% of the anticipated cost savings.⁴
On one hand, companies do need to urgently begin their Digital Transformation journeys, treating it as a high-priority element directly tied to business survival. At the same time, however, they must be extremely careful when navigating this flood of information, false promises, and a great deal of hype.
It is important to remember that many predictions once taken as certain have actually turned out to be major disappointments. Do you remember how much was said about the impacts of Google Glass, Augmented Reality, and Second Life? Even the Metaverse (a revamped version of Second Life), whose hype accelerated incredibly fast, is already showing signs that it may not be all it was expected to be.
But then, what can we do?
One of the main survival techniques taught to military personnel around the world, for situations such as being lost in a forest, is based on an acronym: ESAON – Stop, Sit, Nourish, Orient, and Navigate. This technique applies perfectly to the Digital Transformation scenario. The first steps, Stop and Sit, may seem somewhat counterintuitive. However, stopping and sitting are actually the first things you should do, because, as the Cheshire Cat says in the classic book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any path will do.” And if you keep moving just for the feeling that movement equals progress, you may actually be expending energy for nothing.
The next step is Nourish. In the context of Digital Transformation, this means feeding yourself with data, information, reflections, and insights. Don’t rely on a single source and, honestly, be cautious of anyone who comes across as overly certain. The landscape is highly uncertain, and in this sense, the main characteristic of a reliable source is moderation. Stay informed, exchange ideas with different sources, but at the first sign of alarmism and absolute certainty, raise a red flag: you may be facing yet another clickbait alarmist.
The next step is to Orient yourself. Read the environment you are in, understand the context, and seek concrete facts and evidence that you can use to position yourself.
Finally, the last step is to Navigate. Once properly nourished and oriented, it becomes possible to define a strategy—deciding which path to take and how to move forward. And this entire process ultimately comes down to people. Preparing your team at all levels, from operational to strategic, is perhaps the one aspect of Digital Transformation that applies to every organization.
One of my favorite authors in this field (and definitely a reliable source), Cezar Taurion, stated back in 2016 that you cannot build a digital culture with a slogan. According to the author, companies need to move away from outdated models of bureaucratic and slow change implementations (such as traditional ERPs) and adopt a more flexible and agile approach. Based on a study from MIT Sloan Management School, he suggests three areas of focus to build a digital culture:
1. Creating a digital culture is an intentional effort, not something that happens by chance—it cannot be achieved simply with slogans like “we are digital” while continuing to maintain the processes and organizational structures of the analog era. It is a shift in mindset that requires commitment from the CEO and other executives.
2. All executives must be able to navigate the digital world effectively. Leaders in the digital era need to have technological skills, a fundamentally transformative vision, be forward thinkers, and possess a strong spirit of collaboration and leadership. Exceeding sales targets in previous quarters is no longer the primary qualification for taking on leadership roles in the digital world.
3. It is absolutely essential to invest in digital talent. Today’s work environment is completely different from that of the 20th century. The costs of experimentation and potential failure are much lower than they used to be. As an example, a fundamental change to Google’s AdWords algorithm was made by five software engineers over a single weekend.
Notice that since 2016, the need to develop digital talent has already been under discussion, and today it stands as one of the central aspects of any Digital Transformation process. At the end of the day, what will make your company more or less adapted to the current landscape is not any software, AI, or system—it is the people and how they choose to use these technologies.
Notice that since 2016, the need to develop digital talent has already been under discussion, and today it stands as one of the central aspects of any Digital Transformation process. At the end of the day, what will make your company more or less adapted to the current landscape is not any software, AI, or system—it is the people and how they choose to use these technologies.
For these and many other reasons, the support of specialists is essential in this process. Here at Clave Consultoria, we have been researching this topic since 2018 and have helped several companies navigate this landscape and make well-founded, robust decisions. To give one example, in a multinational telecommunications company we are currently working with, we have already assessed the digital competencies and digital maturity levels of more than 6,000 employees, and we expect to reach 12,000 by the end of this year. And here’s the key point: we are constantly monitoring the landscape and adapting the process, because Digital Transformation is exactly that—dynamic, fast-paced, and highly stimulating.
To conclude, I would like to suggest two books: *Technology vs. Humanity* by futurist Gerd Leonhard and *I, Human* by Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, an expert in human potential and technology. Both go straight to the point of this article’s theme, intelligently distinguishing what is real from what is hype in Digital Transformation.
1. https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/topics/digital-transformation
3. https://www.statista.com/topics/6778/digital-transformation/
4. https://hbr.org/2023/07/the-value-of-digital-transformation
6. Book Technology vs. Humanity, by Gerd Leonhard –
https://futuristgerd.com/expertise/author/-
https://futuristgerd.com/expertise/author/
7. Book I, Human, by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic -
https://www.drtomas.com/writing/
Luiz Victorino - Head of Research and Methodology
Partner & Head of Research and Methodology at Clave. Holds a Ph.D. and works as a Strategy Consultant at Clave. Has over 15 years of experience in national and international projects in people management and organizational strategy, as well as research in the field of Work and Organizational Psychology.