The Digital Business Transformation Iceberg helps to show how the conscious mind of digital leaders should be focused on far more than the tip of the iceberg. Listen to Rob Llewellyn introduce the Digital Business Transformation Iceberg in the 3 minute 20 second video or podcast below.

Digital Business Transformation Iceberg – Transcript

The Digital Business Transformation Iceberg helps to show how the conscious mind of digital leaders should be focused on far more than the tip of the iceberg.
It illustrates the principle of what is often sitting beneath the surface requiring transformation focused leadership and management, and is designed to encourage leaders approach digital enterprise transformation holistically.
It helps leaders approach digital business transformation with an open mind and primed to answer the question …what should we transform?
Its a concern when some suggest the Chief Marketing Officer should be leading digital, unless of course they are sufficiently equipped and prepared to address all that sits below the surface of the iceberg – and not just customer centricity at the tip.
There's a range of transformation tools now available to help leaders consider the bigger picture of digital business transformation.
Regardless of which are used, its important to remove any blinkers that focus a firm only upon the customer, and well constructed transformation tools based on solid research can help ensure that happens.
Even when customer centricity at the tip of the iceberg is deemed to be a firm's strategic priority, components that sit immediately below the surface all need to be sufficiently mature, if transformation initiatives
are to be successful.
They include transformation management capability, innovation management capability, transformation governance and digital capabilities. These are often the reasons that transformations don’t go the way everyone had hoped. But many firms make the mistake of only recognising this when they run into trouble.
There are also other digital enterprise transformation considerations such as workforce automation, operational excellence, effective staff, product and service development and business model re-engineering. They’re all part of the transformation iceberg.
It's important to note that the primary focus needs to be on the business, as opposed to specific technologies.
After all, any business should be focused upon its strategic business objectives, and how the innovative use of all available technologies can be used to help achieve those objectives.
Getting hung up on using a particular technology for the sake of a technology trend is something that all CEOs need to be on their guard for.
Three transformation tools that can help leaders consider their digital enterprise transformation more holistically are; The Digital Capability Framework; The Digitization Piano, and the Digital Organisational Design Framework.
These tools also introduce a common transformation language that both the business and IT can use, along with consistent ways of working.
As with GPS tools that help us get to where we need to be, there are multiple digital business transformation tools available.
The important thing is that leaders adopt tools that will ensure they see beneath the surface and avoid the same fate of ships that only saw the tip of the iceberg.