Speaking at DIGIT’s fourth annual Digital Transformation conference in Edinburgh yesterday, Hutchinson Networks CTO Stephen Hampton addressed a room filled to capacity; attendees eager for insight and analysis.

Digital transformation is, Hampton said, a very nuanced subject. Looking back to his time at university, he compared digital transformation to purchasing his first personal computer.

The IBM model was, by all means, a very efficient machine for the time. He could work, study and play on his newly acquired gadget.

However, there was one major issue with this. Placing the computer on the kitchen table in an already cramped apartment meant that he now had nowhere to eat. Solving this issue, Hampton asserted, is fundamentally what digital transformation is all about.

“Although the technology was very useful, it was also very intrusive and didn’t quite fit with the environment,” Hampton said. “This, for me, is a good analogy because when we look at digital transformation it should be about the tech working with your business, your product and your users to deliver value without being intrusive and impacting your business or operations.”

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Any successful digital transformation project rests on four fundamental pillars, Hampton told DIGIT.

Empowering your employees, optimising operations, transforming your product and engaging with customers are key components for any organisation undertaking a digital transformation project.

“Those are the four main things that you’re trying to achieve because you’re potentially changing your business model,” Hampton said. “Empowering your employees can simply be giving them the tools they need in order to make their lives easier and to help them interact better with customers.”

“Optimising operations is about looking at whichever internal process you want,” he added. “Such as your orders right through to invoicing, and making that slicker and easier for your employees to operate.”

Key to these four fundamental pillars, Hampton asserted, is transforming product. Through this, organisations are altering and adapting the way they view development and gradually beginning to move from project methodology to product methodology.

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These components, Hampton explained, are going to differ on a business-to-business basis, an issue he was keen to impress during his talk. For younger organisations, the process will likely be easier, whereas, for older legacy companies and organisations, potentially drastic changes will be required.

“I think, in a lot of cases, this will be down to the leadership and, for others, it’s about how long they’ve been around for. If you’re a new organisation or a startup then you can potentially do a lot of this natively, and you can build right from the start and be digitally native from the beginning,” Hampton explained.

“If you’re a legacy organisation that’s been around for a long time, then you’re definitely going to need a cultural change. You’re going to need a legacy infrastructure change and you’ll also need to consider upskilling and a change of mindset across the executive and senior leadership levels.”

While challenges are expected, he said, the current global environment means digital transformation is essential to ensure organisations are keeping pace and engaging with customers.

Looking forward, Hampton expects a growing awareness of security and the use of consumer data to influence how seriously organisations view digital transformation.

“I do think we will see a lot more cloud adoption as an enabler for digital transformation and security will continue to be a focus,” he said. “There will no doubt be a number of high-profile breaches that we’re not yet aware of that will drive security and bolster security budgets.

“I guess the next key trend will be organisations waking up to the value of consumer data and understanding how they can use this to transform their products and engage with customers to a greater degree.”