"Digital" is the nomenclature of this era, an era characterized by the use of technology to increase the speed and breadth of business innovation.While numerous sources -industry analysts and business advisors -had written about Digital Transformation, very few truly grasp the correlation between organizational digital priorities and the network requirements. According to Gartner, as much as 90% of organizations going digital share this predicament. So, that begs the first question: what does Digital Transformation mean?

In a feature with InformationWeek NewsDesk at Interop, Prashanth Shenoy unlocked the mystery around Digital Transformation in three simple steps.

Step I: Recognizing the forces that fuel the transformation.Mobility, Internet of Things, Big Data, and Cloud/SaaS adoption have always been there. What's new:

1. These forces are converging at incredible pace.
2. They have outgrown their embryonic stage reaching the metamorphosis stage.

Customer experience is the epitome of this transformation. One or more of these forces are the enabler to re-defining business processes, revenue model, and competitive strategy for one end goal: to better serve customers.

Step II: Knowing where to look and what to focus on. Mastering others is strength. Mastering oneself is true power.(Lao Tzu) It is only when organization knows itself (its business) will it be able to understand others (the competition) and the world in which it functions (the industry), to attain enlightenment (priorities) and, subsequently, a prescription (requirements) for change. Introspection, when not overlooked, often is done at the surface level in most organizations. The correct way is with these three pillars:

1. kaizen, a.k.a. more quality and efficient processes,
2. workforce empowerment through the use of technology, and
3. knowing one's customer via analytics to provide a contiguous personalized digital experience.

Only with such knowledge will the organization be equipped to devise revenue-enhancing innovations that produce the right offer (product or service), for the customer, at the right place and time.

Step III: Leveraging the network as your Noah's Ark.If Digital Transformation is thePerfect Storm, then the network is yourNoah's Ark. Having the right set of components on the ark could be the key to success or failure. The right bundle entails:

1. automation to accelerate IT processes and simplify the monotonous day-to-day,
2. security everywhere to protect not just the perimeter but all around, and
3. openness and programmability to breed innovations.

Now you know what Digital Transformation is, where to look, what to focus on, and which lever to use. The next question is how to do it. For this, I invite you to checkout Prashanth's Get Ready Get Inspired session at Cisco Live! 2016 in Vegas this July.

• Cisco DNA, Network Best Practices for Your Digital Organization. Session ID: PSOCRS-1008. Register here.

Complementing this session are two others that highlight the branch -the epicenter of digitalization -and the WAN -the fabric that connects users to apps and things.

• Is Your Branch Ready for Digital Transformation? Session ID: PSOCRS-2009. Register here.
• Moving to a Software Defined WAN with Cisco Intelligent WAN. Session ID: PSOCRS-2011. Register here.