Digital Transformation:

Technologies & Applications

Agenda
Digital Transformation:
Technologies and Applications
Class 1: Introduction + Basic concepts and scope
Class 2: Digital transformation and strategic analysis for
sustainability
Class 3: Digital transformation practices and sustainability
Agenda
Digital Transformation:
Technologies and Applications
Class 1: Introduction + Basic concepts and scope
Class 2: Digital transformation and strategic analysis for
sustainability
Class 3: Digital transformation practices and sustainability
Sustainable
Digitalization

Sustainable digitalisation is a process whereby

societies digitise themselves in a way that safeguards
natural resources, respects the environment and
people
Where do
companies go?

To survive the digital revolution, companies

need to develop their digital capabilities and
balance their economic, environmental and
social impact.
How does digitalization
contribute to
sustainability?
At the same time, digital technologies also offer various opportunities,
such as optimizing processes, using resources more efficiently, and
measuring and monitoring the health of ecosystems. Furthermore,
digital technologies are an indispensable tool for the crucial
communication regarding the climate crisis.
Basic Definitions

Digitalization Digital
Digitizatio (Automation) Transformatio
n n
The Concept of Externality

Positive Externality Negative Externality

Circular Economy
Agenda
Digital Transformation:
Technologies and Applications
Class 1: Introduction + Basic concepts and scope
Class 2: Digital transformation and strategic analysis for sustainability
Class 3: Digital transformation practices and sustainability
Is digitalisation a driver
for sustainability?

The interplay between digital technologies and sustainability is referred to as

the “twin transition.” Basically, digitalisation and sustainability go hand-in-
hand, and we should focus equally on both areas to drive transformation at
scale.
How can technology be
used for sustainability?

Sustainability in technology can be defined in a few ways: Substitution. The

technology fosters a shift from non-biodegradable to biodegradable
materials in its production. It also replaces non-renewable with renewable
resources
Disruptive Technologies
Digital Transformation and Technology
• Digital transformation is "about the changes that digital technologies can
bring to a company's business model, products, or organizational structures"
(Hess et al., 2016, p. 124)

• This concept represents the most important challenge faced in the field of
management in recent years (Nadkarni and Prügl, 2020).

Digital transformation has the opportunity to revolutionize the organizational

structure of companies because it allows companies to do something really
new and different (Warner & Wäger, 2019).
•
• However, there is a widespread tendency to focus more on the use of new
digital technologies and the technological framework associated with it
(Tabrizi et al., 2019).
•
• The disruptive technologies used create a technological leap, creating
fundamental changes in organizational competencies (Nambisan et al.,
2019), operational routines (Chen et al., 2014), and business processes
(Henriette et al., 2015).

• Therefore, digital transformation involves making profound changes not

only in technology but also in overall strategy and all organizational
processes (Kane et al., 2015).
• Organizational conditions and constraints on how former and established
firms can respond to a change in this scale and depth are widely
overlooked.
Digital Transformation and Its Precursors

Kaynak: https://www.businesstechweekly.com/operational-efficiency/digital-transformation/digitalization-vs-digitization/
What do we know?
• We know more technical characteristics of technology than its managerial
conditions and possibilities (Tabrizi et al., 2019).
• In this environment, companies founded before the digital age are failing to
position their businesses in the digital ecosystem (Kopalle et al., 2020).
• Companies are struggling to grasp their new dependencies in the new
network patterns that the technologies they use can create, and they face
significant uncertainty about how they can gain a competitive advantage by
using digital capabilities (Govindarajan & Immelt 2019; Subramaniam et al.,
2019).
•
What do we know?
Technological change leads to organizational configuration changes that
determine whether organizations can survive (Lavie, 2006) (Frankenberger et
al., 2021; Kopalle et al., 2020).
•
• Transactional changes are happening at the micro scale to support
and sustain dynamic capabilities related to technological change in
organizations (Argote & Ren, 2012).
•
What do we not know?
• What challenges does digital transformation pose, what obstacles does it
face, and what potential problems does it create?

• What are the organizational consequences of digital transformation?

• How do companies and employees respond to sudden changes in the digital

environment?

• How should organizations and their dynamic capabilities be restructured in

light of the new digital scenario?
Source: EGOS 2023, Sub-theme 48: Legacy Firms and Digital Transformation beyond the Dynamic Capability Approach
What do we not know?
• Which strategy is more appropriate between talent substitution,
evolution, and transformation (Lavie, 2006)?

• How does digital transformation affect legacy firms by changing

business content and processes?
• How do new technologies change the design, tasks, functions, relationships, or
organizational spaces of old firms?
• What are the new skills, competencies and resources that need to be
acquired for legacy companies?
What do we not know?
Does digitalization reduce carbon footprint?
The digital transformation has brought many benefits that also
have a positive impact on the fight against climate change and
reduce CO₂ emissions. However, the production, use and data
transfer of digital devices causes more CO₂ emissions than one
might expect.
What is a digital carbon footprint?

• The digital transformation has brought many benefits that also

have a positive impact on the fight against climate change and
reduce CO₂ emissions.
• However, the production, use and data transfer of digital
devices causes more CO₂ emissions than one might expect.
• These emissions are summarised under the terms “digital CO₂
footprint” or “digital carbon footprint”.
• According to one estimate, in 2022 around 5.3 billion people
worldwide have access to the Internet [1].
• Every single search query, every streamed video and every type
of cloud computing, executed billions of times, is responsible for
ever-increasing global demand for energy and thus also for
increasing CO₂ emissions.
• The lion’s share of the digital footprint is caused by video
streaming due to large data sizes of videos.
• By comparison, using a search engine or sending text-only
emails has a negligible impact. In light of constant technological
progress, increased efficiency, changing consumer habits and
the substitution and summation effects, it is difficult to estimate
exactly how large the global CO₂ emissions are.
• Various studies estimate them to be between 2.3 – 3.7 percent
of global CO₂ emissions, which is equivalent to the emissions of
the entire aviation industry [2]. On an individual level, it is
possible to estimate more precisely how high the CO₂ emissions
are and how they can be reduced by simple means.
Is digitalization part of ESG?

ESG Digital Transformation: Combining Sustainability and

Digitization in Tech Upgrades. Environment, Social, and
Governance (ESG) principles and digital transformation are two of
the most impactful concepts helping to shape the modern
business world.
Question
• For the development of your company's sustainability through
(radical) technology applications and a transformation
inherent in employee culture
• To what steps
• To what processes
• To what functions
• Should I intervene?

Which ones don't you need?

Which actors in the company can do this?

 Simple means to reduce emissions in everyday digital life:
• Reduce streaming: Video streaming causes 75 percent of global data traffic
[3]. Production of the device (smartphone, laptop, TV), internet network
energy consumption, several involved data centres and servers/routers,
energy consumption use of device during streaming itself. By comparison
downloading is much less energy-intensive.
• Play songs as audio files rather than streaming them as a video on YouTube
or watch the video at a lower resolution [4].
• Use devices longer: The average useful life of a smartphone in Switzerland
is just two years, that of a television five years [5].
• Dispose of old devices correctly.
• Empty your e-mail box regularly to reduce data storage.
• Store data locally, use the cloud as little as possible (applies to private
individuals, for companies with server structure "on premise" rather vice
versa)
• Use WLAN networks instead of mobile networks.
• Use a renewable energy mix (photovoltaic, hydropower, wind, biomass).

https://www.myclimate.org/en/information/faq/faq-detail/what-is-a-digital-carbon-footprint/#:~:text=The%20digital%20transformation%20has%20brought,emissions%20than%20one
%20might%20expect.
Value Chain Analysis

Michael Porter
Sustainable Revenue Model?
Definition
Model
Unit sales Selling a product or service based on quantity.

Advertising cost Selling the opportunity to make the message heard.

Franchise price
Locally distributing a repeatable business to someone else for investment purposes.

To price products or services according to the number of uses or the time consumed.
Usage fee
Fixed price based on a set of usage or access rights duration.

Subscription fee Pricing based on the number of transactions made, supported, or tracked between the parti
Transaction fee
Professional service pricing based on time or output.
Sale of rights to use an intellectual property to a certain extent.
Professional fee
License fee
Question
• For the development of your company's sustainability through
(radical) technology applications and a transformation
inherent in employee culture
• To what steps
• To what processes
• To what functions
• Should I intervene?

Which ones don't you need?

Which actors in the company can do this?

Dijital Transformation: Teknolojies and
Applications

Class 1: Introduction + Basic concepts and scope

Class 2: Digital transformation and strategic analysis for
sustainability
Class 3: Digital transformation practices and sustainability
Digital Transformation and Sustainability (DTS) model

Kaynak: Pappas et al. (2018)

Current Applications

Kaynak: Feroz, Zo, Chiravuri (2021)

Control of Environmental Pollution
Air pollution Clean Water
Digital technologies offer opportunities to Through technologies, it provides opportunities
study, control, manage and predict air pollution for the treatment of wastewater and the efficient
in cities. Digital technologies are transforming use of energy, minimizing the environmental
the relevant processes and mechanisms in this impact and saving resources.
regard.
CO2 emissions
Climate change/Disaster management
As governments and commercial organizations
begin to adopt practices to reduce carbon Digital technology-driven methods play a vital
dioxide emissions released into the role in reducing the carbon footprint on the
atmosphere, the digitization of environment, regulating climate change and
environmentally sustainable practices is managing natural disasters.
gaining traction.
Waste Management
Solid Waste: Food Waste:
Kentsel ve endüstriyel atıkların birikmesi Industrial and domestic food waste can
çevreye önemli ölçüde zarar veriyor. Dijital be successfully disposed of using digital
teknolojiler, çok büyük ölçeklerde atıkla technologies such as IoT and big data.
başa çıkmanın yeni yollarını geliştirmek
için kullanılıyor.

E-Waste:
Agricultural Waste:
There are growing calls for the effective Digital technologies are used to combat
use of digital technologies to manage the waste generated in agricultural processes
waste generated by electronic devices. for high-quality production.
Sustainable Production
Sustainable Manufacturing Sustainable Supply Chain
• Together with the concept of circular Digital technologies can enable companies
economy, clean production processes to completely eliminate waste across all
focused on digital technology that do value chains, increase sustainable
not harm the environment are being consumption and eliminate
investigated. environmentally harmful waste residues.
• Such processes can reduce not only the
cost, but also the negative impact on
the ecosystem.
Urban Sustainability
Smart Cities Sustainable Cities
• The technological advances of the With the help of digital
modern world are enabling the technologies, smart cities are
transition of city centers to smart transforming into sustainable cities
cities by improving the well-being when they adopt zero waste
of citizens, improving generation mechanisms, clean
sustainability, expanding the energy use and sustainable
scope of efficient energy use, and consumption practices.
providing a conducive • But this transformation is quite
environment for healthy slow
applications.
5 Pillars of Digital
Transformation:
Piecing together the five
key elements of
successful digital
transformation
1. Digitizing operations
Digitizing internal
operations is one of the
key digital
transformation pillars,
which involves
automating internal
processes to reduce
manual work and
improve productivity.
Aligning it with business
objectives, ensuring it
compliments employee
expertise and driving
constant innovation.
2. Technology
In the present scenario,
there is a pressing need
to reimagine the role of
tech and automation in
the workplace. It has
also become vital to
modernizing IT to adapt
to a new landscape and
invent strategies that
add significant value. A
tech-first approach not
only fosters sustained
growth but ensures you
stay ahead of the curve.
3. Culture
Companies have soon
realized the role
organizational culture
plays in enabling wide-
scale digital change.
Digital transformation
cannot be a top-down
decision. It has to be a
movement that merges
the company’s vision
with a strong, human-
centric work philosophy
that embraces change.
4. Leadership
If there’s one thing that
determines the success
of digital transformation,
it is a company’s ability
to thrive through
disruption and move in
unity. It is pertinent for
leadership to pose the
right questions, create a
unified vision, be
unafraid to challenge
decisions, and push
beyond the boundaries
of the status quo.
5. Customer Experience
Customers expect to be
at center stage.
Organizations recognize
the need to create
consistent approaches
across brand touch
points, personalize
experiences, and
integrate smart tools
that help customers
derive value. And this is
why customer
expectations are the
biggest drivers of digital
transformation