Digital transformation: what is it and what can it do for me?

Digital transformation is vital to making our cultural sector futureproof. It affects all aspects of an organisation: the organisation culture, strategy, processes, collaborations and employee skills. How you relate to your audience determines the course you choose.

What is digital transformation?

"Digital transformation is the continuous change of an entire organisation, driven and supported by the increasing use of digital technology. The core of the transformation is a different business model. The principal question is how an organisation can continue to supply its customers with value. The transformation affects all aspects of the organisation, from culture, strategy, processes, relations and employee skills."

S. Jansen, 'Hét managementboek voor digitale transformatie', 2022

What does it mean for your organisation?

For the cultural sector, digital transformation means remaining in step with the continuously changing needs of an ever-growing audience. It means remaining in step with visitors who increasingly inhabit digital worlds. It is about finding and binding your audiences, with the support of digital technologies. This way, you can continue to serve the audience of the future with art and culture.

Audience of the future

Your audience can for instance be a generation of young people who are completely comfortable in digital landscapes. It is the world they live in. A world in which they meet each other, where they discover and investigate new things, and where they communicate about everything that is important to them.

These young people no longer talk about a physical world and a digital world. The one is just an extension of the other. Regardless of where we are, these worlds will always continue to blend into each other, through all conceivable channels. This is called the hybrid world.

Inclusion and accessibility

Your audience of the future is not necessarily limited to this new young generation, of course. The audience of the future and digital transformation also feature prominently when we turn our attention to inclusion.

Consider for instance elderly people for whom a physical visit to the theatre has become too challenging. Or a lover of Dutch museums who happens to live in Australia. Such audience members not only have the opportunity to visit museums online, but can also join discussions within an international online community dedicated to Dutch museums and/or art. Or picture a student with a mobility impairment who really wants to attend a concert by his/her favourite band, and to stick around afterwards to chat about the experience in the digital bar.

Derive insights from your digital offer

These digital experiences in turn enable you to collect valuable data and insights about your audiences. What makes them happy? What makes them tick?

Through their digital interaction with your product – from the number of clicks to online reviews – your audiences reveal exactly what they’re interested in. This allows you to personalise your offer even further. You can use the collected data to experiment, test and optimise.

The digital world is an enhancement

Digital transformation does not replace physical events, museums and exhibitions. Instead, it enhances them. It means offering further experiences to further satisfy your audience’s wishes and interests. It also includes, for example, making it easier to reserve tickets online or providing a QR code that gives access to more background information. It’s about offering additional features that augment your audience’s experience.

Digital means futureproof

Digital transformation creates countless means to connect with a wider public, in ways that they find appealing and inspiring. But there’s more to it than that. Digital technologies can help your organisation improve operational processes. As a result, you and your team gain more time to concentrate on your organisation’s role in society and the impact you can have. Digital transformation also translates into a new business model with a larger and more diverse public reach, and hence more impact. This is your immediate gain.