Yesterday, I enjoyed watching a Kuppinger Cole webcast entitled, “Digital Transformation: Why Security and Privacy Matter,” presented by Martin Kuppinger, Principal Analyst, Kuppinger Cole, and Jackson Shaw, Identity Management Expert, Dell Security:

Digital technology has changed our society in an appreciable way. Just as our personal lives are being transformed digitally, the same happens in corporations and with our traditional technology solutions. The digital transformation affects everything from customer experience andoperational processes to business models and IT focus. Even software development is being digitally transformed. This leads to new security and privacy challenges: In IoT and digital transformation, organizations have to deal with more identities and relations than ever before. 

I was impressed by Martin Kuppinger’s discussion about what Digital Transformation really is.  I think some people take a very narrow, IT-centric view of Digital Transformation, but Martin took a much broader view, stating that Digital Transformation impacts every part of an organization.

The eight fundamentals of Digital transformation include:

1. The Digital Transformation affects every organization
2. The Digital Transformation is here to stay
3. Digital Transformation is more than just IoT
4. Digital Transformation mandates Organizational Change
5. Everything & Everyone becomes connected
6. Security & Safety: not a dichotomy 
7. Security is a risk – and an opportunity
8. Identity is the glue – who or what may get access to what?

Jackson Shaw pointed out that Identity is evolving, from its initial focus on security and lowering operating costs, towards the goal of “Identity Transforming Customer Outcomes.”  Digital Transformation is all about enabling businesses to disrupt the old legacy way of doing things in favor of providing new, innovative products and services that deliver real value.  Certainly, Identity is a vital enabler to make that happen.