Over on Facebook, Euan Semple triggered a conversation about two very different uses of the term digitisation in projects - one referring to people and the other about videotapes. At the moment, the “d’ word is dangerously over-hyped, often misunderstood, but definitely useful to separate the new thinking and business models required from "business as usual". In a number of keynote presentations over the last year or so, I’ve referenced Michael Corleone from The Godfather. The powerful scene when he explains to Sonny how he is going to kill Solazzo and McCluskey, but that "it’s not personal, it’s business". I’ve paraphrased that to say "it’s not digital, it’s business". Technology has become a component of just about every business model, product and service you can think of whether it’s B2B or B2C. This is the way we do business now, but at some point we’ll drop the “d" word or change it for something else. At the moment, the digital word highlights that we need a new kind of thinking and a new literacy for our leaders, our middle managers, and for our people on the front line with customers, in their cubicles, or at their desks in their home offices. Now more than ever in this digital era, as people speaking for our organisations we need to separate out and highlight the new thinking.

One of the presentations using the slide here: https://www.slideshare.net/david_terrar/digital-transformation-its-really-all-about-the-business-stupid