from Michael Pertek at
The twin transformation is the noble goal of realizing social and environmental sustainability goals together with the accompanying change of Digital Transformation, thus driving economic change and shaping it in a socially meaningful way. How can this business dilemma be addressed?
The solution lies in a holistic approach that goes beyond digitalization. Sustainability plays a central role in this and has evolved from a purely economic perspective to a paradigm shift that emphasizes environmental and social aspects. Companies are increasingly being pushed to make sustainable changes by external pressures, including societal expectations, legislation and governance. Digitalization plays a crucial role in this and, if used correctly, is indispensable for change. The "old economy" is increasingly becoming the "data economy". Sustainability and digitalization are the flywheels that drive and fuel each other.
The digital transformation strategy is therefore the central basis for future-oriented and socially committed companies, as it offers a holistic approach to today's diverse and heterogeneous challenges. It is not enough to digitize individual sub-areas, network them with each other, and thus try to increase efficiency. To ensure long-term business success and avoid being penalized by society for ignoring or neglecting non-economic goals, it is necessary to take a comprehensive view of the interconnectedness of economic, societal, social and ecological challenges.
The resulting challenges are more complex than individual digitization projects. It is not only about improving existing processes, services and products, but also about understanding the context of these changes in all relevant dimensions. The lack of a holistic approach leads to myopic, uncoordinated, and sometimes conflicting solutions that waste resources.
At the same time, companies are being confronted with innovations and technology trends at ever shorter intervals, such as artificial intelligence (AI), new work, cloud computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, cryptocurrency, data-driven decision-making models, etc. These technologies and trends are important, but their meaningful integration requires strategic alignment in the business context.
It is important to think of transformation as a flywheel that takes into account various aspects and thus drives the development of the company. Economic principles, people, companies and the social environment must all be involved. Implementation requires concrete actions, starting with the organization - which must be open to agility, new work, inclusion and diversity - to the continuous development of the organization itself and the acquisition and expansion of digitalization skills. The result is a planned and meaningful use of new technological opportunities that not only preserves the core of the company - industrial competitiveness and technology leadership, and thus the (digital) business sweet spot - but also develops, strengthens and expands it in line with the times, and thus ensures the successful continuation of the company.
The result is not just a self-affirming change driven by technology and trends, but a macro-economic and social change in and through companies, driven by a sense of purpose and future orientation.
This sustainability in the transformation process must encompass the entire organization and be concrete and tangible. How can this be achieved? For example, by incorporating the principles of circular economy and the consistent and complete use of material resources. This not only increases efficiency and reduces material procurement costs, but also contributes to environmental and social responsibility-in other words, modern purpose-driven entrepreneurship.
