The intriguing phenomenon that is digital perception

The digital world is one rife with ambiguity. I call this digital perception and it's the difference between what businesses think is happening and what is actually happening. How they think they are faring in the digital economy and how they are actually faring. The way they are doing things and the way they should be done. These discrepancies reflect on their digital maturity. It's like a digital age version of the Emperor's New Clothes. I'd like to call out four examples for particular attention:

1. SME activity in the digital economy

2. The business value of digital strategies

3. Undergoing digital transformation

4. Recruiting digital leaders

1. SME activity in the digital economy. Measuring SME activity used to be easy. They were either online or they were not. It was black and white. Nowadays businesses are mostly online. The question has become are they passive online or active online? The Brisbane Digital Audit published by EY and UQ Business School in 2012 raised the issue of digital perception for the first time in my experience. When questioned 80% of companies said that they were engaged in the digital economy. When the true definition of engagement was applied (were they selling online, etc.) the real figure proved to be 30%

2. The business value of digital strategies. SME's may be excused to some extent because they are predominantly small and busy and haven't had the time to fully develop digital strategies. However when Forrester carried out a study of larger organisations "The State of Digital Business 2014" they interviewed CEO's about their awareness of their own organisation's digital strategy. While 80% of the CEO's knew that their company had a digital strategy, only 20% said they understood it or had confidence in their team's ability to implement it.

3. Undergoing digital transformation. Forbes recently cited Altimeter Group's 2014 State of Digital Transformationreport, in which the central conclusion is that only 20% of the companies surveyed have a clear understanding of new and underperforming digital touch points. Yet over 80% of the same cohort report that they are undergoing digital transformation efforts. In other words, the vast majority of people interviewed claimed they are undergoing digital transformation, even though most of them don't know what it is.

4. Recruiting digital leaders. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2015, 25% of all companies will have appointed a Chief Digital Officer. Despite this, ads for CDO positions are still quite rare. Those that do appear tend to consist of a job title, role description and sometimes a salary guide. Rarely are these three elements in sync with each other. Some companies are hiring CDO's but calling them something else. Others use the trendy title CDO but the role itself doesn't live up to it. Some think they need a CDO, but don't know what to call the role or who it should report to. Some companies need a CDO to define what they need in order to hire a CDO.

Digital perceptions cause distortion and create blurred lines making companies see their needs or achievements differently to what they actually are. This is a sign of lingering immaturity in the sector and skews everything for everybody because surface level impressions don't accurately portray the full story. To eliminate the effects of subjective digital perception, businesses need clearer definitions, better education, access to trusted sources and a level playing field in order to understand the opportunities open to them in the digital economy and find the right level at which to engage with it.