A conceptual framework for enabling a value-adding digital transformation

Organizations face various challenges that inhibit the successful enactment of a value-adding digital transformation. This study develops a conceptual framework aimed at assisting organizations to successfully undergo digital transformation. The framework is developed by synthesizing all the relevant concepts identified from the existing scholarship and validated through semi-structured interviews with subject matter experts and a case study. The framework consists of two phases. Phase one consists of five sub-phases, namely, industry disruption, customer needs identification, customer value design, digital capability assessment, and challenges assessment. The outcomes from these sub-phases are integrated in Phase 2, which comprises of the sub-phases: assessment report, value equation, and challenges index. The framework provides the user organizations with suggested tools and processes to achieve the desired outcomes, while allowing the organization to make tool selections based on their needs, permitting that the outcomes remain the same. The research and its resulting conceptual framework contribute by providing organizations with a resource that will guide them in their decision-making process regarding digital transformation, and it also contributes as an educational tool in Industry 4.0 principles and its integrated applications. The conceptual framework further serves as basis that can be evolved through future research to include new concepts and account for new challenges as technology, industries and people evolve.