Learnings from Tony Saldanha, drawn from his extensive experience at Procter & Gamble, his books "Why Digital Transformations Fail" and "Revolutionizing Business Operations," and various interviews.

On The Definition & Reality of Digital Transformation

  1. Quote: "Digital transformation means the complete rewiring of companies operating in the third industrial revolution era so they continue to be successful in the fourth industrial revolution."[1][2]
  2. Quote: "The biggest piece of advice is to remember that this is a game of clarity... ignore the technology, actually ignore everything else and get extremely clear on what goals you want to set for yourself."
  3. Learning: Digital transformation is not about incremental improvement; it is an existential change. If you are just converting physical to digital, that is "digitization."[3] If you are optimizing processes, that is "digitalization."[3][4] "Transformation" is changing the business model entirely.
  4. Quote: "70% of digital transformations fail. That means for the vast majority of companies, digital transformation is just a buzzword."
  5. Quote: "The reason 70% of digital transformations fail is an issue of clarity. Clarity of intent, clarity of direction, and basic clarity of language."
  6. Learning: Do not confuse "innovation" with "creativity." In successful companies, innovation is a disciplined, left-brain exercise, not just a creative, right-brain one.
  7. Quote: "Digital technology frees workers from tedious tasks, allowing them the opportunity to migrate to higher value-added responsibilities."
  8. Learning: Companies often fail because they treat digital transformation as a project rather than a systemic change in "DNA."
  9. Quote: "It’s not another similar sized or a larger company, most likely, it will be a startup. Large companies are losing market share to small, nimble startup companies."
  10. Learning: The "Innovation Valley of Death" is the critical stage between successful piloting and scaling. This is where most great innovations in large organizations die due to a lack of operational discipline.

The 5 Stages of Digital Transformation

  1. The Framework: Saldanha identifies 5 clear stages of transformation: Foundation, Siloed, Partially Synchronized, Fully Synchronized, and Living DNA.
  2. Stage 1 (Foundation): This is about automating internal processes (e.g., SAP, Oracle). It is not true transformation, but it is the necessary "digitalized foundation."
  3. Stage 2 (Siloed): Individual functions begin to disrupt themselves (e.g., Marketing or HR uses a new tool), but there is no overall company strategy.
  4. Stage 3 (Partially Synchronized): The CEO recognizes the power of digital and sets a strategy. However, the culture has not yet shifted to make it sustainable.
  5. Stage 4 (Fully Synchronized): A digital business model has taken root. But, the company is still one technology change away from being disrupted again.
  6. Stage 5 (Living DNA): The holy grail. The company becomes a "perpetual transformation engine" (e.g., Netflix). It reinvents itself constantly.
  7. Learning: You cannot jump stages. You cannot become Netflix (Stage 5) if you haven't automated your core processes (Stage 1).
  8. Learning: Each stage requires a different checklist of disciplines. What gets you to Stage 2 will not get you to Stage 3.
  9. Quote: "Success isn't about a few projects, it's about systematically and sustainably transforming the entire enterprise."
  10. Learning: GE’s failure to become a "digital industrial" company was a classic case of getting stuck between Stage 3 and Stage 4—great vision, but execution failure.

On Leadership & Discipline

  1. Quote: "The largest issue in our time isn’t technical skills, it’s a technical mindset."
  2. Quote: "Diligence is the mother of good fortune." (Referencing Don Quixote in the context of transformation).
  3. Learning: Leaders must adopt the 70:20:10 model: 70% of capacity on operations, 20% on continuous improvement, and 10% on disruptive innovation.
  4. Quote: "Translating business goals into digital strategy is a key task that leaders cannot delegate."
  5. Learning: Aviation became safe because it adopted rigorous checklists. Digital transformation needs the same "checklist simplicity" to reduce the 70% failure rate.
  6. Quote: "Ignore anybody that's trying to 'sell' you digital transformation, because it cannot be bought - it has to be earned."
  7. Learning: Boards of Directors often lack "Digital Literacy." A key step is educating the board so they don't block necessary disruption.
  8. Quote: "You must disrupt before being disrupted."
  9. Learning: Most leaders think of innovation as "fun" creativity. Real transformation is "gritty" discipline.
  10. Quote: "It’s about discipline. Discipline in setting the right goals... and discipline in executing the correct processes."

On Global Business Services (GBS) & Operations

  1. Quote: "Product innovation is seen as flashier... but you can create an enduring competitive advantage by revolutionizing business operations."
  2. Learning: The "Dynamic Process Transformation Model" focuses on three drivers: Open Market Rules, Unified Accountability, and a Dynamic Operating Engine.
  3. Driver 1 (Open Market Rules): Business processes (like HR or IT) should run as separate businesses, competing for the internal "customer" rather than being forced mandates.
  4. Driver 2 (Unified Accountability): Outcomes must be clear across the company. Avoid the "blame game" between silos (e.g., "Sales sold it, but Supply Chain couldn't deliver").
  5. Driver 3 (Dynamic Operating Engine): A methodology to convert high-level goals into tactical day-to-day employee actions (similar to Toyota Production System but for services).
  6. Quote: "Global Business Services (GBS) was not a function; it was a strategy."
  7. Learning: Old shared services were about "cost savings" and "labor arbitrage." Modern GBS is about "value creation" and "user experience."
  8. Quote: "Why should the travel expense process even exist?" (An example of asking disruptive questions rather than just automating the old process).
  9. Learning: Treat your internal operations like a product. If you are running IT, your competition isn't the internal policy, it's the external market (e.g., why use corporate IT when I can use Dropbox?).
  10. Quote: "Revolutionizing business operations is... a blueprint for enduring competitive advantage."

On The Future of Work & The 4th Industrial Revolution

  1. Quote: "By 2030, 40–50% of jobs in the manufacturing, transportation, and retail sectors could be done by hardware or software robots."
  2. Quote: "It is inevitable, just like electricity... You have to find ways to make it work for you."
  3. Learning: The 4th Industrial Revolution blurs the lines between physical, digital, and biological worlds. Leaders need to understand this convergence.
  4. Quote: "If you’re looking for exponential change and improvements to survive and thrive... then you really need digital transformation!"
  5. Learning: By 2027, computers will exceed the basic human literacy levels of 24 million U.S. people. This necessitates a massive reskilling of the workforce.
  6. Quote: "Staying Current is about driving digital learning and literacy into every level of the organization."
  7. Learning: There is a "doomsday clock" for businesses. Leaders must create metrics that "sense risk" to know when their business model is about to expire.
  8. Quote: "Artificial intelligence... should be used as a tool and not as something to rule us humans."
  9. Learning: In the future, "Sensing" (detecting change) and "Responding" (agile execution) will be the two most critical capabilities for any organization.
  10. Quote: "The bigger question is actually not would you like to do it, but how do you go about it?" (Referring to the inevitability of digital change).

Sources help 

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