Start Fast
Achieving Rapid Impact from Digital Transformation
A book written by Alan Hesketh, soon to be available through good online bookstores, that offers a practical methodology on how to get digital transformation started quickly.
About Start Fast
Digital technology is changing faster than we know, affecting almost every area of our lives. To engage successfully with the amazing transformations ahead, organisations need to adopt technologies quickly and safely. It’s too important to get wrong. Your teams, suppliers, and customers depend on it. Yet many workplaces are struggling to keep pace.
Is yours one of them?
Are you tasked with making digital transformation happen?
Do you know which change activities will take your organisation forward?
Do you know where to begin?
Wherever your organisation is on its digital transformation journey, Start Fast offers a practical methodology to determine your readiness, choose your approach and work with the right people to select the best change activities. Start Fast is for leaders who want digital technology that adds peoplecentred value. It is full of sensible, workable advice to guide you through the change process.
What Others Are Saying
“Any business working out how to use digital tools to create a better customer experience, a better employee experience, make their organisation more efficient or any sort of digital transformation should read this first. The models included provide an easy to understand approach for all forms of digital transformation that a modern organisation is faced with.”
— Graeme Muller, NZTech CEO · in
“Not only is this book brimming with mastery, drawn from the author’s deep experience, it is explained in a simple, easy to grasp manner. I was drawn in from the start by the use of smart analogies that lead to many nuggets of wisdom, practical tips and valuable tools to help not only navigate the often complex world of digital transformation, but to also expand my knowledge and provide me with an immensely valuable well structured and explained framework.”
— Sonja Bernhardt OAM · in
“Alan Hesketh offers a clear view of how to create an adaptive culture while embarking on digital transformation. His VIE model focuses on a value-centric approach to building innovation into this process.”
— Dr. Alea Fairchild, Director, The Constantia Institute, Belgium · in
“In Fast Start, Alan provides an applicable method for executives and leaders taking on challenge of digital transformation. Clearly a humble yet master practitioner, Alan shares practical models, tools and case studies to make your digitization journey more effective. So you and your teams can take action now.”
— Joanne Flinn, Author, “Greensight ~ Sustainability,
responsibility and liabilities for directors” · in
“If you are looking for digital transformation guidance, then look no further. Read and understand this and you are well on your way.”
— John Ansley, Tech Guru and Experienced CIO · in
“This book is an easy read with plenty of simple analogies that help the reader understand the topic. The book is very good at posing questions to help explore the topics and challenges. Overall, it makes the complex simple and very easy to understand.”
— Nina Du Thaler, Experienced CIO · in
Start Fast starts with a memoir-like narrative on how Alan Hesketh progressed a career in digital and information technology. It then flows through chapter after chapter of one of the most useful and jargon-free leadership guides for business technology executives and their teams. Hesketh is unstinting in sharing his experiences and lessons learned on leading technology and digitally enabled change for more than 30 years across geographies.
— Divina Paredes, Business Technology Writer · in
“Alan is a highly experienced CIO and Digital Transformation practitioner and Start Fast will help any leader tasked with delivering a digital transformation in their organisation.”
— Malcolm Follos, Sensei UKE · in
Start Fast is a comprehensive guide to delivering great digital transformation, backed by Alan's substantial experience in leading digital changes. I appreciate the practical framework and the real life stories that reflect the challenges many of us went through leading enterprise-wide transformation initiatives. This is a book that will support the leaders who are working toward a digital future for the organisation.
— Christine Yip, Business Improvement Advisor · in
About the Author
Alan Hesketh has led digital change as a CIO across multiple industries, sectors and geographies. With his focus on placing the customer at the centre of outcomes, Alan has successfully implemented digital capabilities across private and public sector organisations.
He has developed a deep understanding of relevant strategies and change management approaches through more than thirty years of leading IT and digital organisations. In Super Retail Group, an Australian specialist retailer, Alan delivered omnichannel retail capabilities that offered industry-leading customer experiences.
He has a record of dramatic performance improvements with internal IT and digital teams, supported by strong supplier relationships that achieve better business outcomes. Within New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, Alan led the implementation of cross-sector systems that improved collaboration within a highly devolved health system.
From his first experience with innovation processes in Unilever’s global marketing teams, Alan has used proven and bleeding-edge technologies in powerful combinations that balanced the risks and rewards of new approaches. More recently, Alan has used agile and iterative techniques to achieve rapid returns on investment in complex organisations such as Fletcher Building.
Alan is committed to continuous improvement, having seen that yesterday’s exceptional performance is tomorrow’s expectation. He holds a BSc (Information Sciences) from Victoria University of Wellington, reinforced by hard-won experience in demanding real-time business environments.
Growing up around water, Alan went on to play water polo at international level. This sport gave him an early opportunity to experience different cultures and countries. With his family of partner, son and daughter, he has lived and worked in both northern and southern hemispheres. Now resident back home in New Zealand, Alan continues to swim for exercise and reads voraciously. A high-speed internet link has become an essential part of life!
Pre-Order.
“Start Fast” is soon to be released at good online bookstores. If you would like to be advised by email and receive a discount voucher to purchase the book, click here to enter your details.
