I’ll be sitting on a panel soon to discuss digital transformation and one of the key themes of the event is whether digital is dead. It’s a theme that’s come up for me a lot in the last couple of years and I wanted to put down my thoughts on it and to hear yours.
The short answer is of course no. Digital is very much alive and kicking. In fact many businesses, believe it or not, have yet to embrace it in any significant way. Many you’d know and be quite shocked at. Tech developments and the digital implications of those continue and show no sign of slowing so surely this is a crazy notion. Well clearly not or this would be a very short blog.
There are two ways of looking at this. Firstly the concept of digital itself. Sure, we will continue to develop digital solutions but will thaw be considered digital solutions or just solutions? Do we refer to other solutions as paper solutions or people solutions. No. Digital will increasingly stop being thought of as a separate area. Digital marketing departments will ultimately cease to exist. As tech moves us away from thinking about desktop and mobile and towards one experience we will not need digital teams to think through this. So in this sense, whilst digital is not dead, it is likely to become more integrated into the fabric of our businesses than before.
Secondly, digital will never die. In fact it has hardly been born. We currently interact with technology every day – even the largest technophobe is probably involved in some form of digital experience be it in their car, office or home. Over time this experience will become less conscious. Implants, gesture control, voice control and ultimately mind control will make it feel more organic but will in reality be more digital.
It’s really a matter of perspective. So if you hear that digital is dead, don’t worry about your job – embrace it. Which ever way you look at it, it’s very positive. Read more about digital transformation and cultural change in my book, Digital Marketing Strategy.
What do you think?
