What is Digital Strategy?
Digital Strategy is your compass in the digital storm—it stops you from sailing in circles.
At its core, strategy is about making choices to meet your goals. Digital Strategy is simply a set of deliberate choices made to achieve those goals through digital technologies.
Does that mean every business needs one?
The answer is no.
If your business has no specific goals and you’re happy with the way things are, you probably don’t need a Digital Strategy. But if you do have clear goals—and you’re committed to using digital tools to reach them—then a Digital Strategy becomes essential.
Why do we need a Digital Strategy?
Because the digital landscape is vast and messy. Without a guiding strategy, most organisations make random decisions—adopting tools here and there, chasing trends, and layering on complexity. These decisions often contradict each other, creating a patchwork of systems that are hard to scale.
A Digital Strategy brings order to that chaos. It defines a plan and a set of choices at the executive level, becoming a reference point for all digital projects, product development, and IT support.
It covers—though not limited to—architecture, infrastructure, enterprise software, operating systems, support, platforms, mobility, security, data, and storage. Depending on the size and complexity of your organisation, the strategy can be simple or detailed.
Too often, Digital Strategy is an afterthought. Leaders only consider it once major investments have already been made and the digital environment has grown unwieldy. By then, the cost of missed alignment is high—and sometimes irreversible.
Before moving on, pause and ask:
- Do we actually need a Digital Strategy?
- Who owns it in our organisation?
- How could it change the way we work?
- What risks are we taking by not having one?
Digital Strategy isn’t just another document—it’s the foundation. Without it, your digital environment is like a house built without blueprints: one room added here, another there, until the structure is shaky and hard to live in. With it, you’re building on purpose, not by accident.
