Growing up in a small town in New England provided me with many opportunities to learn how to adapt and overcome and has left me some great memories as well.  One of these memories involves walking to grammar school in the toughest part of the winter season.  No, it was not up-hill both ways, however it was quite a challenge to find our path through the woods after a long night of fresh fallen snow.  You never knew if it was going to be hard pack, fluff, or that risky combination of a thin layer of ice on top of ten inches of snow that made the march to school with your book bag a shin scraping challenge.  You gingerly stepped on top of the thin layer of ice, and then thud, fell into the soft snow, cursed the pain in your shin, and then continued to put the right foot in front of the left repeatedly until you got through the woods and nearer to the warmth of the school classroom.  I was fortunate enough to have an older brother that was one year ahead of me in grammar school, and he was a true leader and is still a great brother today.  He would lead the way on these toughest of tough days heading out into the snow-covered neighborhood and woods between our home and school.  He would say, “Step into my footprints” and since we were so close in physical stature, it made my journey on these tough winter days much easier.  Thanks to big brothers and big sisters everywhere and for all you did to help your younger siblings reach their destinations. 

OK – Trip down memory lane over – no pun intended.  What does this have to do with today’s digital transformation journey so many of us are still facing?  It is a perfect analogy.  Today’s organizations facing the toughest part of their digital transformation have the benefit of a much clearer path.  The digital transformation trailblazers and early adopters have broken through the ice and with their trials and tribulations they reached their destinations of transforming their organizations.  Were the first steps easy, not really; however, their purpose was pure, and the mission was defined.  Remember it is nothing to be knocked down, it is all about the getting up and continuing the journey.  The lessons they learned, hopefully failing fast with a quick recovery are there for all of us to benefit from.   There has never been a better time to forage ahead with your digital transformation.  For many of us this digital transformation is data focused and involves upgrades and shifting data and applications to the cloud.  With the Global Pandemic behind us, let us get back up and continue our digital transformation journey so we come out of this better, stronger, and ready to optimize our business and serve our customers.  In almost every case you do not need to reinvent the wheel, the path is clear, step into the footprints and make the next step in your digital transformation with confidence and thanks to those that have cleared the path.  We remain at your service and look forward to helping you with your journey.