As a former Head of Digital for the United Nations and a leading speaker on AI, big data, and digital disruption, Giulio’s work spans 40+ countries and includes collaborations with Fortune 500 firms and government institutions. He’s widely respected for his practical, systems-thinking approach to transformation—placing people, data, and strategy at the centre of the process.
We spoke with Giulio to explore what real digital transformation looks like, why AI is no longer optional, and how small businesses can survive and compete in the age of big data.
Q: From your perspective as a digital strategist, what core advice would you offer to businesses aiming to successfully navigate today’s evolving digital landscape?
Giulio: “Yeah, so when we talk about digital transformation, we have to talk about a new way of doing business, changing the digital landscape and adopting new business models in a new way. So when we talk about it, we have to consider that.
“We don’t just need to digitalise things. We need to have an omnichannel approach—like a website, an app, and other different touchpoints depending on the business. You have to have a constant collection of data that will allow you to understand your customers.
“The typical example, when we talk about one of the biggest failures and then successes of digital transformation, is The New York Times—when they decided to digitalise the newspaper. At the beginning, they were just thinking of literally digitalising the information—putting it on a CD or uploading it to a website. But they did not consider how this flow of data was going to affect and improve the business.
“Surprisingly, other companies like the Huffington Post were taking more advantage of the online content that The New York Times was offering—more than The New York Times themselves. Why? Because they were just putting things online, but not collecting data. They were not optimising their SEO—search engine optimisation—to better serve the customer.
“So when The New York Times started doing this—after five years of losing money, for example—they connected all the elements of what they were offering: from the crosswords, to recipes connected with interviews with famous chefs, connecting the news (which they had always had as a strong asset) with the reports from previous years, to offer in-depth documentaries.
“This is when we have an omnichannel approach to business. It’s not just putting everything online and having a nice website—it’s much more than that. It is about offering the customer a new digital solution.”
Q: What common challenges should organisations anticipate when implementing a digital transformation strategy?
Giulio: “Digital transformation is tough because it requires a change to the business model. So you will face a lot of resistance from people who, in some way, have temporarily lost their privilege. The privilege can simply be that they know how to use a certain tool, so they don’t have to think.
“A very simple example—probably each of us has experienced this. There’s a new update to an app and maybe they move a button from the top right to the bottom left. That small discomfort sometimes pushes you not to update the app, because you know there will always be a change that forces you to rethink, readapt, and relearn how to use it.
“This is a very typical problem for every company—not only that people have to learn a new way of doing business, but they also have to learn new tools. And this process is constant. You don’t just do it once—you have to start now and continue forever.
“Digital transformation is not a destination—it is a journey.
“So how do you overcome these hurdles? You have to start by explaining to people what is happening, why it’s happening, and give them the freedom to decide how it will happen.
“Digital transformation is a top-down process, but how it’s implemented in each unit, in each country, in each team... I’ve been in a very big company, and I’ve seen this in our deployment across 20 different countries. The “how” must be decided individually—by the team leaders and unit leaders.
“So to create motivation, once you provide that freedom, and the top-down mandate is very clear, it becomes easier to talk to people. Then train them. Then allow them to recruit new people who are aligned with this information, with this new strategy—and start seeing results.”
Q: In your view, what are the most significant advantages of integrating AI technologies into the workplace?
Giulio: “It’s not just a benefit—it’s a must. At the moment, you don’t get to decide—you must be there. And being there doesn’t mean, as I said before, simply digitalising your processes. It’s about being digitally transformed.
“It means that the business model is integrated into a digital process.
“When we think about it, we have to consider that it requires some investment. But the outcome is that you start seeing results in real time—not just in individual departments.
“It’s not like we invest in marketing and only marketing benefits. No—we start having a flow of data that, when we think about true digital transformation, isn’t just accessible to one department—it’s accessible to the whole organisation.
“And the whole organisation feeds and improves this data. The sales department contributes, the legal department contributes—it becomes a fully orchestrated system.
“Why? Because it’s not just about technology—it’s about business. And now, it’s also about legal constraints.
“Especially in Europe, when we talk about GDPR, it’s very typical that companies deploying new digital projects will pair a technical expert with a business person, to ensure the product is customer-centric. But a third profile is now emerging: the legal expert. This person ensures that GDPR and the latest AI Act from the European Union are respected.”
Q: How can businesses meaningfully leverage big data, and what insights can they expect to gain?
Giulio: “When you start collecting data and we talk about big data, it means you're gathering a huge amount of information that really only informs you about the choices users make. It’s not about preferences. It’s not about behaviours.
“This is very important to understand. Just by collecting data on how and when I buy my newspaper, you only know that I chose to buy the newspaper on this day, at this time. That doesn’t mean I like the newspaper. It doesn’t even mean I want it. I’m just buying it. Maybe it’s for someone else. Maybe I’d prefer something different. But what I’m doing—it just describes it. I’m doing this.
“Furthermore, buying a newspaper doesn’t tell you anything about the person. It doesn’t show their preferences. It doesn’t show what other behaviours they might have.
“So collecting just one type of data doesn’t inform you about very much. That’s why Google, for example, doesn’t rely solely on Google Search. They collect information through Google Maps as well. They know where users are.
“Google Maps allows reviews of restaurants and shops, so they can start profiling whether a user likes certain restaurants or types of shops—and whether they dislike others.
“Now, combining those two data sets—Google Search and Google Maps—you start getting more insight into the user, not just their choices but their preferences.
“And Google also owns Nest, the digital thermostat. This provides data on how people heat or cool their homes.
“This is the kind of data that makes up big data. It’s not just about a small or medium-sized company with 10 employees and 500 customers who knows a bit about them.
“Why do I bring up SMEs? Because only a few companies today truly have big data. Yet SMEs make up the majority of the industrial structure in any country. Most countries are made up of 80% SMEs, the rest being large companies—and SMEs don’t have big data.
“So one of the future challenges—and probably a future revolution—is that small companies will have to work together to collect data collectively. They’ll still compete commercially on other things. But to collect data, they’ll need to cooperate. And that will allow them to compete with larger companies that already have big data.”
This interview with Giulio Toscani was conducted by Mark Matthews.