If you ask ten different CEOs to define "Digital Transformation", you will get ten different answers.
Some will say it’s moving to the cloud. Others will say it’s adopting AI. Most will say it’s about "going paperless".
They are all wrong.
Those are technology projects. They are examples of digitisation, not transformation.
After a decade of helping companies navigate this, I define Digital Transformation as one thing only:
"The deliberate, strategic repositioning of your business in the digital economy."
1. The Caterpillar vs. The Butterfly
The best way to understand the difference is through biology.
Most businesses focus on Change (Optimization). They use technology to fix the past—making their existing processes faster, cheaper, and better.
This is like a caterpillar doing push-ups. It becomes a faster, stronger caterpillar. But it is still a caterpillar.
Transformation is different. Transformation is when the caterpillar builds a cocoon and emerges as a butterfly.
The butterfly is not a "better" caterpillar. It is a completely different creature with a different capability (flight) and a different ecosystem.
If your digital strategy is just building a faster caterpillar, you aren't transforming.
2. The Four Strategic Choices
You cannot "accidentally" transform. It requires a deliberate choice to move out of your comfort zone.
Every business I audit sits in one of four boxes:
- The Skeptic: "This digital stuff is a fad." (You are already dead).
- The Optimiser: "Let's use tech to cut costs." (You are building a faster caterpillar).
- The Strategist: "Let's find new customers and new value propositions." (Good, but slow).
- The Transformer: "Let's use technology to deliver new value that wasn't possible before." (The Butterfly).
3. The Hard Truth
Technology is easy. You can buy technology.
You cannot buy a new business model. You have to invent it.
Digital Transformation is not an IT function; it is a Board-level imperative. It requires you to look at your business and ask: "In a world of AI and hyper-connectivity, does our current business model even deserve to exist?"
The Bottom Line
Stop trying to digitise your past. Start trying to invent your future.
If you aren't uncomfortable, you aren't transforming.