Does digital transformation ever end?

The digital journey may be rife with timelines and launch dates, but the overall goal is much loftier: To develop an organization that is more responsive to change — not as an event but as an ongoing reality.

As 2020 started, Sentara Healthcare averaged 20 telehealth visits a week.

Three months later, with COVID-19 rapidly spreading through the country and shutting down business as usual, the Norfolk, Va.-based nonprofit saw that figure explode, climbing to 14,000 a week through March and April.

IT was ready for that ramp-up, not because it moved quickly to implement new solutions specifically in response to the pandemic but rather because it was far into its digital journey and thus ready with “the capacities and capabilities to connect with the consumer in a digital way,” says CTO and acting co-CIO Jeff Thomas.

As such, Thomas says Sentara’s ability to meet such rapidly evolving needs wasn’t a test of its digital transformation but rather proof of it.

Yet, despite that positive performance, Thomas says there’s still plenty of work left on the digital transformation agenda.

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