Why an organization's response to digital disruption should focus on
people and processes and not necessarily on technology.
Digital technologies are disrupting organizations of every size and
shape, leaving managers scrambling to find a technology fix that will
help their organizations compete. This book offers managers and business
leaders a guide for surviving digital disruptions--but it is not a book
about technology. It is about the organizational changes required to
harness the power of technology. The authors argue that digital
disruption is primarily about people and that effective digital
transformation involves changes to organizational dynamics and how work
gets done. A focus only on selecting and implementing the right digital
technologies is not likely to lead to success. The best way to respond
to digital disruption is by changing the company culture to be more
agile, risk tolerant, and experimental.
The authors draw on four years of research, conducted in partnership
with MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte, surveying more than
16,000 people and conducting interviews with managers at such companies
as Walmart, Google, and Salesforce. They introduce the concept of
digital maturity--the ability to take advantage of opportunities offered
by the new technology--and address the specifics of digital
transformation, including cultivating a digital environment, enabling
intentional collaboration, and fostering an experimental mindset. Every
organization needs to understand its "digital DNA" in order to stop
"doing digital" and start "being digital."
Digital disruption won't end anytime soon; the average worker will
probably experience numerous waves of disruption during the course of a
career. The insights offered by The Technology Fallacy will hold true
through them all.
A book in the Management on the Cutting Edge series, published in
cooperation with MIT Sloan Management Review.
