The Contribution of Agility to an Organization’s Digital Transformation

Abstract

Firms strive to become agile as part of their organization’s transformation to face the changes spurred by the digital world. Thus, this study aims to provide new and insightful findings to assist firms in carrying out digital transformations through agility. We surveyed agility practitioners currently operating in companies undergoing or within digital transformation. Our findings suggest that agility and digital transformation are still in their early stages and that they may coexist. Moreover, the study supported that if agility is well-enabled, it can assist an organization's digital transformation by leveraging the following components, namely agile culture, collaboration, value-co-creation, experimentation, willingness to take risks, continuous improvement, and organizational learning, seizing market opportunities, competitiveness, and agile leadership. In addition, the study identified the pain points that companies encounter in this process, including employee resistance to change. Finally, the findings represent a first step toward a shared understanding of ways to carry out digital transformations through agility and serve to guide future research work while also assisting practitioners in implementing digital transformation effectively.