Becoming a digital organization requires fundamentally changing how you do business. Answering these nine questions can help break through the inevitable barriers. Here is a brief excerpt from an article written by Karel Dörner and Jürgen Meffert for the McKinsey Quarterly, published by McKinsey & Company. To read the complete article, check out other resources, learn more about the firm, obtain subscription information, and register to receive email alerts, please click here.

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Is there a more anxiety-inducing term in today’s corporate lexicon than “digital transformation”?

Probably not, given the high stakes involved. New technologies and business models are upending entire sectors, threatening incumbents with an unprecedented wave of disruptive forces. Corporate leaders understand the need to raise their Digital Quotient, but many are struggling with how to do it.

Digital experiments such as innovation labs and new digital products have yielded notable successes. But how do you transform your organization from an enterprise that engages in digital to a digital enterprise? This is no small challenge for companies with thousands of employees, assets worth billions, and established business models.

Practices such as committed leadership, targeted communications, and appropriate incentives are crucial to successful transformations. Yet the principles and behaviors that drive the process are equally important. In our experience, answering the following nine questions greatly improves a company’s chances of getting its digital transformation right.

[Here’s the first of the nine questions.]

How well do you know where change is occurring?

Because digital is so ubiquitous and affects so many aspects of customer behavior and company operations, it can be difficult to know where to begin. To demystify the process and bring structure to it, we suggest leaders review the new frontiers where big changes are happening, the core elements of the business affected by change, and the foundations needed to support the change (Exhibit 1). Systematically working through the elements and ranking each by its likely impact and feasibility provides a clearer picture of how the landscape is changing and how to think through the implications for your business. It’s important to look beyond your own sector: digital disruption doesn’t respect industry boundaries.

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Becoming a digital enterprise requires fundamentally changing the way you run your business. Answering these nine questions can help you understand how to break through the inevitable barriers, increasing your company’s odds of achieving a successful digital transformation.

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Here is a direct link to the complete article.

Karel Dörner is a principal in McKinsey’s Munich office, and Jürgen Meffert is a director in the Düsseldorf office.