Although the term “digital transformation” has become quite popular, many of us really don’t know what it truly means. To help us get a better sense of what digital transformation by organisations entails, Julio Lima and Carlyle Assue of the Caribbean Development Bank discuss the digital transformation process that is currently being implemented by the Bank, and share some important takeaways that organisations, and even countries, can consider.

 

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‘Digital transformation” continues to be a buzz phrase, especially in the Caribbean region, with virtually every country and major organisation being either in the process of executing, or planning to execute, a digital transformation exercise. Following from a recent article here on ICT Pulse, 5 reasons why organisations fail at digital transformation, we are continuing the conversation on the subject by seeking first-hand insights from an organisation that is currently in the throes of its own digital transformation process.

Established in 1969 and headquartered in Barbados, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is a regional financial institution that seeks to promote the economic growth and development of the 19 regional borrowing members (Caribbean) countries, it serves. Similar to many donor agencies, such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, and in addition to providing grant and loan financing, the CDB provides expert and technical advice to its borrowing member countries, on a broad range of topics and thematic areas that are of interest to the region.

An important area that is being examined by the Bank, is the role of ICT to drive economic development, and the digital transformation of countries, which is essential for them to better leverage ICTs in the 21st century. To that end, the Bank recently published a discussion paper, which sought to examine the current digital infrastructure and ecosystems in its borrowing member countries and to begin the process of exploring the potential for development in select areas.

More importantly, the Bank is also looking inwardly and has embarked upon a digital transformation exercise within the organisation, which is our focus. We recently spoke with two important actors guiding the Bank’s digital transformation efforts:

  • Carlyle Assue, the Director of Finance and Information Technology Solutions, and
  • Julio Lima, the Bank’s Chief Information Officer.

 

Key areas covered in our discussion with Carlyle and Julio included the following:

  1. An overview of the CDB, the scope of its work, and Julio’s and Carlton’s respective roles in organisation
  2. What does the term ‘digital transformation’ mean to Julio and Carlyle
  3. How digital transformation fits into the strategic objectives and priorities of the CDB
  4. Some of the expectations that the CDB hopes will be achieved at the end of its digital transformation exercise
  5. The key elements that must be addressed in order to get the CDB from where it is, to where it would like to be
  6. Some of the metrics through which the CDB will be measuring the success of its digital transformation exercise
  7. How or whether digital transformation is related to organisational or business agility and agile leadership
  8. How or whether digital transformation is related to disruption
  9. How the digital transformation process of a business might differ from that of countries
  10. Three key pieces of advice to an organisation looking to embark upon a digital transformation exercise

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:  Bryan Mathers (flickr)

Music credit:  Ray Holman