A new business relationship is asking me where to start when exploring enterprise digitalization. My answer is somewhat unusual.

It would be best if I can start with a one-on-one chat with the company CEO, as success builds on trust.

You can then follow through with the usual innovation lifecycle:

• Educate yourself on the problems you are facing. This means talking to people!

• Generate a parking lot of ideas, questions, and intuitions.

• Synthesize insights into possible solutions.

• Validate ideas with real end-users through some form of prototyping.

• Execute by leveraging the right technologies.

Innovation leaders MUST be seasoned, customer-centered, highly creative, and digitally fluent individuals. Where many see an unknown future full of challenges, these optimists perceive tremendous business opportunities from moments of doubts. 

If your company acknowledges that it does not possess this leadership internally, one option is to rely on an external partner.

This relationship can be tricky. Therefore, a digital ally must provide:

• Trust at an executive level.

• Leadership in using technology creatively.

• Active collaboration with your own teams.

• Rapid and measurable results.

If you are a business leader thinking about digitalization, let's start over coffee.