Digital Foundation

Phases of Holistic Digital Organization.

The digital transformation has been something everyone has talked about for a long time, its been a topic for so long now that it has lost its meaning. That is saying that, what it really means is described differently by a vast category of experts. So we will make an effort to describe it with a metaphor and why it matters.

Why it matters
Innovation is about realizing value and digital enables feedback and automation that reduces the lag in systems so that unintended consequences does not disrupt everyday work. Unintended consequences occur due bottle necks that slow down information and actions across the organization. What digital enables is real time analytics, self-organization through transparent progress so that control can be localized in the teams and still be monitored. The speed of feedback to and from customers, old and new, accelerates possibilities of customization through automations. Higher value delivery with less work output so less staff in relations to higher productivity.

In systems, or ecologies which are systems of systems, the parts interact in such a manner that the natural growth (realizing value) pattern is exponential. There is no such thing as linear growth in nature. The natural growth pattern in systems is exponential, and digital enables us to organize our system (organization) in such a manner to tap into that natural growth pattern.

Organizational structures
Traditional organizations are organized through structure that are created for control and constraints for production efficiencies. The paradox of that is that this structure also restricts the natural growth pattern of a system and innovation.

So if you have an horse and carriage and try to improve it, no matter how hard you try it will always be a horse and carriage it will never become a car. To achieve a natural (exponential) growth pattern you need to organize the people and the technology in synchronization with each other to achieve a systemic growth pattern. This is what is meant by holistic digital foundation.