It may be counter-intuitive, but technology is not the most important element in a successful program to “go digital”.  Yes, it is important to have good technology in place, but that alone will not drive success.  

More importantly, there needs to be a forward looking strategy in place that looks beyond the technology to the new capabilities it could enable.  You cannot always know where the journey will lead, so an organization needs an open-minded culture and employees who are willing to be creative and to be flexible to adapt to a changing environment.  

Leadership needs to set the overall direction while empowering all levels of the organization to help define the future.


Is Your Business Ready for a Digital Future?
Magazine: Summer 2015 Research Feature June 16, 2015  
Gerald C. Kane, Doug Palmer, Anh Nguyen Phillips and David Kiron

Successfully incorporating today’s digital technologies requires companies to operate in new ways. However, many employees are not impressed with how their companies are responding to digital trends.


Read the full article here

Interesting article in Fortune about how companies are creating “benevolent apps” to help build brand awareness and brand trust.  

Candidly, not something I had considered before.  


Clearly a lot of positives to the idea - developing a deeper relationship with your customers, empowering your employees to have a social impact, potentially identifying new "white space" opportunities.

The challenge will be how to quantify the benefits to know how much to evaluate such an investment against other strategic initiatives. 

Can mobile apps build brands?
 Glen L. Urban   DECEMBER 23, 2014, 1:54 PM EDT

A new generation of apps that build trust and relationships with consumers could actually help companies with their bottom line, says Glen Urban, marketing professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

To read the full article, click here