Chapter 3: Integrating Digital Strategy with Business Objectives: Strategies for Achieving Digital Synergy

The introduction of digital technologies has caused a dramatic shift in organizational processes. Being a digital organization is no more an add-on, but an essentiality for survival amidst the highly digital market. Recent studies have shown that the competitive advantage of an effective organization lies not only in the usage of digital technology, but also on how well they are factored into broader business objectives. Integrating digital strategy into broader business objectives is challenging without the collaborative effort of information technology (IT) experts and strong strategic business leaders. This chapter synthesizes previous research studies to investigate the strategies that firms might use to make their digital strategy in line with broader business objectives. The findings show that the strategic approaches discussed in the chapter, such as aligning digital initiatives with business objectives, exercising digital leadership, adopting a customer-centric digital strategy, using data-driven decision making, prioritizing data and cyber security, adopting digital technologies that align with business goals, and forming strategic partnerships, can help business owners and leaders in driving organizational success through digital synergy. The chapter also underlines that technology is becoming an integral part of strategy and technological change seems to provide highest returns when coupled with comprehensive business goals. The findings of the chapter could help business leaders be better organized and structured for effortlessly integrating digital strategy with their broader business objectives, thereby improving their operational performance and ultimately succeeding in today’s highly digital marketplace.