For most people, digital transformation is much like the story of the six blind men and the elephant: different pieces, but no coherent overall picture. For some, it's like the sides of the pachyderm in John Godfrey Saxes' poem: a wall. For others, it's like the trunk, snake-like and hard to get a handle on. For yet others, it's like the elephant's tail, a rope that we are binding ourselves with.

Digital transformation can be an enigmatic issue within an organization. However, digital transformation is a major undertaking that no organization can ignore. Gartner predicts that by 2020, at least 75 percent of businesses will be a digital business or preparing to become one.

What companies should be doing to take advantage of the Digital Era?

From an IT perspective, many organizations have a generation of legacy hardware and software systems that they can't just simply abandon, even though it may handcuff an organization in many ways. From a pure business angle, they see their established markets, and they are afraid to take risks with what has worked so well in the past. The companies also see competition popping up all around them at a frantic pace and know they can't continue to do things the same way they always have, and get the same results long term.

They need to strategically think about how to transform their companies to being a digitally innovative company. The strategy should not just be to hire a Chief Digital Officer and assume things will happen. The Digital transformation should be treated as transforming the core business and business owners need to play an important role. It's not a technology problem, it's a major business transformation. They need to re-think all their business processes - how they interact with their customers and employees - and figure out how to digitally transform them.