VIDEO Interview: Digital transformation is dead, long live continuous improvement

Bruce McGregor is the co-founder and CEO of Adhocracy Consulting, a new Brisbane-headquartered digital disruptive consultancy firm which "delivers programs where the milestones are proven via customer outcomes, not just achieving deadline dates."

The company, which only launched earlier this year, says it "delivers a consultancy and advisory service, a delivery practice and a training and coaching service."

So, my does McGregor say that "digital transformation is dead?"

{loadposition alex08}Because he believes that "continuous improvement should be the key strategy put in place by both Australian private and public sector organisations."

Indeed, Adhocracy Consulting says it exists "because service and digital transformation is riddled with failure and a massive wastage of money and limited with no tangible benefits or outcomes."

Now, it's not as if organisations don't need to digitally transform - they do - but while many organisations "undertake transformation to replace a solution," Adhocracy says that it "focuses on the culture of the organisation moving in a direction that betters their daily work lives and their roles inside their organisations."

Indeed, the company and McGregor believe that it is "the only organisation that delivers sustainable innovation in Australia and has a winning tool with its "Emotion Based Design" that maps the emotions of the customer experience which then feeds the design of new services bespoke to the end customer."

During the interview embedded below, McGregor discusses the state of Australian service and digital transformation, the importance of leadership and the executive in a transformation approach, the importance of culture and change management versus technology, and the value of Emotion Based Design.

Here is the interview, the article continues thereafter, please read on!

In the interview, I welcomed Bruce to the program, and I started by asking for his definition of digital transformation, especially seeing as he was declaring it "dead", and ask him to explain why it had failed - and what has replaced it instead with the better strategy of "continuous improvement."

We spoke about a range things pertaining to business, the state of change and how companies are undertaking their transformative and continuously improving journeys, as well as the future, great advice received in life, and his final message it to viewers, readers and customers.

Prior to establishing Adhocracy Consulting, McGregor clocked up a suitably impressive CV - most recently, he was "Executive Director – Customer Service, Strategy & Transformation at the Queensland Building and Construction Commission where he lead the customer services business unit and was accountable for the organisation’s omni-channel service propositions reaching across digital, contact centre and all retail channels."

McGregor was also responsible for "all project and programs of delivery including an agile-led, customer insights embedded organisational transformation program."

Prior to that, McGregor "worked at Optus Digital Media as Group Manager – Digital Media, Senior Product & Marketing Manager at Telstra, State Manager – Victoria and Tasmania at Vodafone Australia, and Consultant for Digital and Monetisation at Cisco."

In all these roles, McGregor states he has been able "to push the boundaries whether it be the delivery of new products and services throughout the telecommunications industry through to more recently designing and delivering transformational change within organisations."

Adhocracy Consultancy says it is "now using this experience to unlock company value be redesigning service experience based on deep customer insights versus a technology or solution approach," and reiterates its belief that "the market is littered with failed transformations based on big buzz words and flashy brochures, but not on a focus of continuous meaningful improvement."