Q&A with Emily Ashby

Ahead of her appearance at Digital Day Scotland on April 24, we caught up with Emily Ashby, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at VERITY RI

What are the most common misconceptions or barriers businesses face when embarking on digital transformation, and how can they overcome them?

The common misconception is that transformation is all about adopting the latest technology and tools. In reality, it’s a holistic process that touches on many elements, such as business processes, organisational structure, company culture, and engagement with both employees and customers. The biggest hurdle, however, is managing the change itself—resistance can emerge from every corner, and handling it is no easy task. Many expect transformation to be swift, but in truth, it’s a gradual journey. Rushing the process often results in scattered outcomes and missed opportunities. It’s crucial to take a deliberate approach and keep an eye on the long-term picture. 

Think of transformation as navigating a river—sometimes, the current may be strong, but it’s about steering steadily, not rushing to the destination. Patience and focus on the course make the difference between sinking or sailing through. 

To ensure success, the key is aligning on a shared vision and securing buy-in from everyone involved, so you fully understand the scope of the transformation from the start. Equip your teams with the right tools and knowledge so they can stay ahead, and continuously assess the health of your relationships—both with customers and within your organisation.  

Relationships are the heartbeat of any transformation, and how they evolve is a true reflection of your progress. 

How does relationship intelligence specifically contribute to a successful digital transformation, and what are some real-world examples of this in action?

As digital transformation unfolds, it's crucial to weave the human element into every step of the journey. Feedback loops from both customers and employees become indispensable in this process. Relationship intelligence provides valuable insights into how people are responding to changes and highlights areas that need fine-tuning. It ensures that the organisation not only collects feedback but also acts on it effectively, leading to more refined strategies and improved results. 

Being relationally intelligent means grasping the impact of operational decisions on relationships and understanding the narratives and mindsets they generate internally. Change is never easy, but the foundation of successful transformation lies in clear communication. By prioritising transparency, you can minimise uncertainty and prevent, or at least reduce, the creation of unproductive narratives. When information is scarce, people tend to fill in the gaps with their own stories, and those are rarely helpful. 

A significant part of our digital transformation journey is scaling globally. To move quickly, we've focused on unifying our ways of working. While this doesn’t always provide a perfect experience, customer and employee feedback allow us to build more personalised experiences that deliver value at the right moment. We can use the data to make informed decisions about internal process, improve strategies and ensure what we deliver has meaningful impact for our customers.  

What are the key 'Future Fitness' trends you’ve observed in high-performing agencies, and how do they set these agencies apart from the competition?

The highest performing agencies understand that tools and technology will only get you so far. The winning combination is to have trusted people with the expertise and strategic vision to apply and leverage these tools for maximum commercial impact. Vision and guidance were an especially potent part of the mix, without that you’re unlikely to get the maximum impact from the tools. So in summary, while technology is key, it’s the quality of the talent you have to leverage it, that will get you to top performance. The best talent brings forward momentum through proactivity, challenge and expertise. It’s worth also remembering that agility is the body language of Future Fitness. High performers do it well, pivoting quickly to changing client needs, while poor performers were criticised for its absence.  

With AI and automation playing a bigger role in marketing, how can businesses ensure they don’t lose the human touch in client and internal relationships?

AI can enhance personalisation and efficiency, but to craft an authentic experience, creativity, warmth, and empathy are essential during key moments. 

Building lasting relationships requires fundamental relational behaviours—such as deep understanding, commitment, shared goals, partnership, and trust. The most successful client relationships are defined by these qualities, focusing more on how they engage rather than just what they do. Keeping this in mind and investing time in these aspects will be crucial moving forward. 

What are the most effective ways to measure whether digital transformation is truly driving meaningful change within an organisation?

The three key metrics we focus on are efficiency gains, customer satisfaction, and employee engagement. Achieving alignment across customers, employees, technology, product usage, cost savings, and operational performance is a challenging but essential goal. Ultimately, the question is: Are people purchasing our product or service? Are we reaching more customers? Are we enhancing our sales effectiveness, and have we introduced new business models? Do we have a competitive advantage that makes our customers truly passionate about what we offer, delivering lasting value? And, are our teams able to innovate, collaborate seamlessly, and keep up with the rapid pace of market change? 

Assessing customer and team satisfaction thoroughly and authentically is key here. Understanding what they really feel and think about the experience, not just what you think they think or want them to think. That’s where Our VerityRI product, TRR (The Relationship Rating), can really help. It captures the emotional temperature of the experience and importantly maps it against industry benchmarks. This keeps the business honest, stops you from marking your own homework, allowing you to course correct where necessary.

Emily is speaking at this year's Digital Day Scotland. Tickets available here.