Unwrapping Efforts and Difficulties of Enterprises for Digital Transformation

Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, Information Technology (IT) has made a fundamental transformation in our society through automation, a process known as the third Industrial Revolution. More recently, in the twenty-first century, there has been a farther stage of transformation through IT called “Digital Transformation.” However, enterprises are struggling with aligning suitable digital strategies and actions for Digital Transformation, since there is a fundamental complexity in IT management, and a scarcity of research relating to how enterprises could systematically approach Digital Transformation. Therefore, we conducted eight interviews as a case study to explore key strategic themes for those enterprises regarding Digital Transformation. We applied directed content analysis for the interviews and obtained detailed descriptions that fully explain Digital Transformation in Japanese enterprises. From our results, three key topics have been discovered for the enterprises to consider for Digital Transformation: (1) Customer Experience, (2) Strategic Intent, and (3) Ecosystem. The results of our research contribute to a better understanding of what struggle enterprises have experienced with Digital Transformation by showing a practical approach for real businesses, as well as by demonstrating the possibilities for future research.