This year I had the pleasure to attend a Think Tank seminar in Davos with a focus on Smart Cities and seeking to leverage new technologies to overcome future challenges. As digital transformation and some of the associated new technologies are on many leader’s agenda, it’s worthwhile providing a brief context and guidance on how digital transformation ought to be implemented in the fast-paced Contract Services pharmaceutical world, where customer-facing roles are front and center to revenue generation and operational efficiency.

#1        Let’s start by acknowledging that the key word in digital transformation is not digital as expected based on the social media noise but transformation. A transformation is a major change in an organization that goes right to the roots of the firm and seeks a cultural and operational change in order to be better prepared for market dynamics ahead. 

In order to prepare a transformation, there is some heavy lifting to be...