Exploring the Digital Transformation Playbook with David Rogers

These days, you can’t speak to a corporate leader or business owner for very long without the words 'digital transformation' tumbling out of their mouths. Every business in every space – small, medium and large – is faced with understanding how digital is transforming the landscape of business today. Understanding why so many companies struggle to adapt is what led Mirum to dedicating an entire brand offering platform to helping brands with business transformation.

Someone who is also at the forefront of digital transformation and really understands how it all works is David Rogers, who recently published the highly-acclaimed The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethink Your Business for the Digital Age. He is a Columbia Business School professor, brand strategist, and founder of the Center on Global Brand Leadership’s acclaimed BRITE conference on brands, innovation and technology.

Famed ad critic Bob Garfield said about Rogers' latest book: “Seldom have the effects of digital change on legacy businesses and innovators alike been so succinctly explained. David L. Rogers uses frameworks and case histories to illustrate how and why the times they are a-changin'. And more importantly, exactly how to adapt.”

Besides his latest book, Rogers has also written the influential digital and experiential marketing books The Network Is Your Customer, The Handbook on Brand and Experience Management, and There's No Business That’s Not Show Business, as well as many research articles.

“The willingness to take action [toward business transformation] is really important, and it’s good that the willingness is there,” said Rogers.

“But in many cases, the awareness, the willingness, and the need to drive change is definitely ahead of what’s actually been implemented in a lot of organisations. We’re kind of in that weird ‘cusp’ stage.”

So how does Rogers define digital transformation?

“It’s about rethinking your business for the digital age. You have a business that was started before the era of the internet, and it’s already grown up; it’s got customers, products, ways of doing business and corporate culture, it’s got position in the market and scale. And now you need to change to meet new challenges and opportunities that have come with the internet era. What you need to change and how you get there is what digital transformation is all about.”

If that still sounds a bit broad, I’ve challenged Rogers to drill down even further – listen to what he had to say in our interview here.

Mitch Joel is President of Mirum Canada. You can follow him on Twitter @mitchjoel.