Digi 2.0: From words to action

Have you heard enough talk about digitalization? The time has come to move on from words to action and give a shout-out to those who actually make it happen. People who have managed to tangibly transform their organizations.

They say that in the digital world everything happens quickly. In a short period of time, digitalization has become the talk of the town, even though those talking about it do not always seem to know what they are talking about. For some, digitalization equals everything that involves information technology, or even “ADP”. For others it represents all new technologies that they should be getting the hang of…and yet for others it is about Uber-like newcomers wiping out the old players.

In fact, the roots of digitalization date pretty far back. Technology and how it is utilized evolves in cycles. Plans once buried as immature will be revisited and turned into disruptive inventions. The more seasoned scholars surely remember the e-trend at the turn of the Millennium, also referred to as the e-bubble. Without as much as a blink of an eye, the prefix ”e” was at the time added in front of everything to make it ”electronic”. E-business was hip and the ”old business” was something to get rid of. Sound familiar?

What remains from the e-business of the 00’s is online trade, which has year by year grown to become a major business sector. However, it has not wiped out the traditional stores, as some were eager to predict. Yet it did leave many businesses between a rock and a hard place, forcing them to think about developing their operations. Now at the very latest all industries are facing a similar path, as increasingly advanced digital technologies gain ground, allowing the emergence of services the likes of which have never been seen before.

There has been a lot of digi talk, which always happens with hyped up things. However, there has been a lot less action than uneasiness and good advice. It is time to move on to phase 2.0 in the path of digitalization, and demand tangible actions. Therefore, we want to turn the spotlight on those who have managed to transform the operations of their established organizations using modern information technology. From a long list of names we have selected ten nominees for Digital Leader of the Year. Among them there are names from the private and public sector alike.

This is a democratic selection, so please vote at http://www.digigallup.fi.

The winner will be announced at Nordic Business Forum on Friday, October 7th.

Don’t miss out on voting for your favorite digi person!

ABOUT THE WRITER

Hemminki Sääksjärvi is the Head of Marketing, Fujitsu Nordic