Leading Digital_ Turning Technology into Business Transformation ( PDFDrive )

What Is Digital Mastery? 21
to identify new opportunities. Together, the two capabilities spiral in
a virtuous cycle of ever-increasing digital advantage.
Our analysis shows correlation, not causality. Excelling in digital
capability and leadership capability may lead to higher financial
performance for the firm. On the other hand, we may be seeing that
companies that outperform their peers financially tend to excel in
the two dimensions of digital mastery. The direction of causality is
important from an academic research standpoint. But from a management
standpoint, either direction of causality leads to the same
advice.
So, let’s say it this way: the best-managed companies in the
world—those that significantly outperform their peers in both revenue
generation and profitability—tend to manage their digital activities
in a common way. They build both digital capabilities and leadership
capabilities that are better than other companies. If the best-managed
Âcompanies in the world do digital this way, then it’s a good idea to
manage your digital activities this way too.
DO YOU HAVE TIME TO WAIT ?
Digital transformation is moving much more rapidly in some
Âindustries than in others. If you are in the travel or publishing
Âindustries, you have been dealing with digital competitors and digital
sales for years. But what if you are in an industry like pharmaceuticals
or utilities, where strong digital threats have yet to materialize? Can
you afford to wait?
Figure 1.3 shows digital mastery, by industry, for our survey. Each
dot represents the average mastery of companies in each industry for
which we have twenty or more data points. Some industries are already
squarely in the Digital Masters quadrant, while others still lag. Many
firms in the high-tech industry are already Digital Masters, while digital
mastery in pharmaceuticals is far lower. Other industries, such as
telecom or consumer packaged goods, are on the cusp of digital mastery,
but need more digital or leadership capabilities, or both, to get there.