In conversations with our clients, we are often asked questions like: “Should we move to Drupal?”, “Is it time to rebuild our website?” or “Should we be using AI?”
All perfectly reasonable questions. The problem is that they often come too early in the conversation. And our answer would always be the same: “It depends on your digital strategy.”
That often leads to another question: what do we actually mean by a digital strategy? Is it simply a technology choice? For us, it's much broader than that. We believe a digital strategy is the bridge between what an organisation is trying to achieve and the technology that can help it to get there.
A good digital strategy starts with understanding where an organisation wants to go. Whether the ambition is commercial growth, operational efficiency, better services or humanitarian impact, the starting question should always be: “What are we trying to achieve?” Only once that question has been answered should the conversation turn to technology.
Do it the other way around, and technology can quickly begin to shape the strategy around it. Once an organisation has committed time, money and resources to a particular platform, the conversation will shift from “What do we want to do?” to “How do we make what we have bought work for us?”
Clear objectives are only one part of digital transformation. The other - and arguably the most important - is people. A digital strategy isn't simply a technology roadmap. It is an organisational commitment to changing the way people work, collaborate and deliver value. Digital transformation is impossible without a committed team.
Technology will continue to evolve. Today's conversations about AI will eventually be replaced by something else, just as previous technology trends have been. The tools will change, and so will the possibilities they create. What shouldn't change is the order in which decisions are made.
So, start with your organisation's vision.
Build a digital strategy that supports it.
Bring your people with you.
Only then choose the technology that enables that vision.