Business
Digital ‘transformation’ versus ‘mutation’: challenges and opportunities
Published by maria gbaf
Posted on January 12, 2022
4 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by maria gbaf
Posted on January 12, 2022
4 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
This article discusses digital transformation, its challenges, and opportunities, emphasizing the importance of clear goals and efficient execution.
By Miles Toolin, Principal Solution Consultant at Cheetah Digital
Type ‘digital transformation’ in Google and in less than a second you get 597,000,000 results. In a BCG survey, 80% of Australian businesses surveyed were undergoing digital transformation, however, only 30% are doing it successfully.
So the question is, are businesses actually driving digital transformation, or are they suffering from ‘transformation fatigue’?
No doubt COVID-19 impacted digital transformation, with PWC reporting Australian businesses’ slow-burning digital transformations got fired up in response to COVID-19’s work from home requirements.
The usual statements from businesses “undergoing digital transformation” are along these lines:
“We are kicking off a Digital Transformation Journey where we will buy new marketing technology to solve our data problem and our customer churn issues.”
“We are in the middle of our Digital Transformation Journey which has been ongoing now for about 2 years and we still haven’t fully implemented that product. We aren’t in a position to buy new platforms.”
The list could go on and on.
Breaking down the end states of transforming and mutating
The concept of ‘transforming’ is associated with providing clear value to the business, driving efficiencies and a streamlined customer experience.
The concept of ‘mutation’ is associated with groupthink, rigmarole, muddled inefficiency and unacceptable business practices. The ‘mutated mindset’ generally ends with a re-launch or a new technology platform, which was supposed to solve a supposed problem that another piece of technology couldn’t.
In summary, here are some keywords one would associate with each ‘end state’:
Transform
Mutate
Here are some questions to ask yourself to clarify whether you are transforming in a constructive way, or merely mutating down a yellow brick road to nowhere:
Turbocharging transformation
If you’ve read this far then it is clear that you don’t want to be a ‘mutated ninja turtle’ sort of company. You want to be a ‘big shiny transformer’ that can adapt and transform quickly and provide value to your business and most importantly, to your customers.
If we focus on the business value and the top-down approach to transformation strategy, we will always come out the other end with a defined path to our destination that is clear for everyone involved, champagne in hand.
Once we have our value and alignment in order, we can move to align with third-party vendors and share our vision with them. They bring us the tools to transform and create long-lasting partnerships for perpetual success.
About the Author
Miles Toolin is the Principal Solution Consultant at Cheetah Digital. Passionate, confident and highly motivated, Miles is focused on designing and implementing practical and leading technology solutions for enterprise businesses. His passion for tech allows him to move organisations to the forefront of the technology sector, ensuring that the Business and IT are always aligned.
About Cheetah Digital
Cheetah Digital is a cross-channel customer engagement solution provider for the modern marketer. The Cheetah Digital Customer Engagement Suite enables marketers to create personalized experiences, cross-channel messaging, and loyalty strategies, underpinned by an engagement data platform that can scale to meet the changing demands of today’s consumer. Many of the world’s best brands, including Hilton, Neiman Marcus, Walgreens, and Williams-Sonoma trust Cheetah Digital to help them drive revenue, build lasting customer relationships, and deliver a unique value exchange throughout the customer lifecycle. To learn more, visit www.cheetahdigital.com.
The main topic is digital transformation in businesses, focusing on its challenges and opportunities.
How has COVID-19 impacted digital transformation in businesses?
What are the key differences between transformation and mutation in business contexts?
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