The Unknown State in Digital Transformations.

Almost every organisation considers a digital transformation to be a transition from a known current state to a (somewhat) known future state. In reality, there is a third state that must be navigated through before arriving at your actual future state; the Unknown State.

Software can be procured fundamentally in two different ways; the first one is to subscribe to an online service that functions the way it functions and you pay per use. The second option is to purchase (on-premise) or subscribe to a platform that is adapted to your organisational needs and evolved with you over time.

When selecting an online service (such as Mail Chimp or Survey Monkey), you are essentially shopping for a product that can be compared to other offerings in the marketplace; this can be compared to buying apples you can see, touch, and taste prior to purchase.

Product features are well-known and understood at the beginning of the purchase process and an assessment of suitability can be made with relative ease in most circumstances.

Building a new transformational platform solution (such as Salesforce) is a completely different experience and therefore requires a different mindset.

When this time comes, the process of analysing and determining feature design will, at some point, look at the current operational state as well as design a desired future state. Your team will come up with new features that would be great to have whilst also being focused on maintaining the operational capabilities you have today.

Here is the challenge: your future state is totally unknown until it has been developed. It only exists in people’s imagination and, at times, in a functional design document.

This means, that transitioning from your current state to your desired future state will require you to go through the Unknown State; a state in which your organisation does not have certainty of ultimate outcome.

This leap of faith applies to four components of your digital transformation:

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