Didier Bonnet

Professor of Strategy and Digital Transformation

Didier Bonnet is Professor of Strategy and Digital Transformation. He focuses on digital economics, digital strategy, disruptive innovation, and the process of large-scale digital transformation for global corporations. A globally recognized thought leader on digital transformation, he was a precursor in anticipating the scale and impact of the digital revolution that is now sweeping through our economies. He is also the author of a bestselling book that makes the provocative argument that the next phase of digital technology adoption will make everything that’s happened so far look like a prelude.

Bonnet helps boards and management teams make the shift to the new digital economy and implement the changes in business models, operations, and customer experiences that this requires.

With over 30 years’ experience in strategy and transformation consulting, he is a trusted advisor and coach to senior executives who are leading their organizations through complex digital transformations.

Although the impact of digitization is not new, the accelerating pace of digital innovation presents relentless growth opportunities and unprecedented transformation challenges for all boards, CEOs, and executives. Some companies will graduate to digital businesses, while others will struggle or not make the transition at all.

His work spans information economics, digital transformation, platform strategies, digital innovation, the future of work, and organizational transformation. He also leads research programs on how the digital economy is impacting individuals, corporations, and society at large.

Bonnet has designed and directed customized digital transformation programs for large global B2C and B2B organizations and provided coaching advice to senior leaders in a variety of industries, including telecoms, banking, high-tech, insurance, consumer goods, media, transport, and industrial goods.

At IMD, he is Co-Director of the Digital Transformation in Practice (DTIP), Digital Transformation for Boards (DTB) and Leading Customer-Centric Strategies (LCCS) programs, and he teaches strategy and digital transformation in several other open programs. For the last 10 years, he has led a joint research program with the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy (IDE), at the Sloan School of Management, on the impact of digital technology on business models and society. He is also a non-executive board member of the SKEMA Foundation.

Bonnet is co-author of the bestselling book, Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation, which has been described as the “source code” for understanding the DNA of successful digital transformation. The book’s insights won praise from former EMC Chair and CEO Joe Tucci and former Pernod Ricard CEO Pierre Pringuet. This was followed in 2021 by Hacking Digital: Best Practices to Implement and Accelerate your Business Transformation, which provides a practical guide for how to navigate the challenges of digital transformation execution.

His research has been published in top management journals such as Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, R&D Management, Quarterly Review of Marketing, Strategy Direction, and Business Strategy Review. He is also a public speaker on digital transformation and has frequently been published and quoted in the media, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Financial Times, The Economist, the BBC, CNN, and CNBC.

Bonnet joined IMD in 2019 after a 30-year career in strategy consulting. He was Global Digital Transformation Practice Leader at Capgemini Invent and Global Leader of the Telecom, Media & Entertainment practice at Gemini Consulting. He started his career in hi tech and consulting with Coopers & Lybrand Consulting and Putnam Hayes & Bartlett.

Selected publications
Article
Don't buy the hype: Busting the myths of digital transformation

Digital Transformation is getting the worldwide attention it deserves. Executives in every industry and country are seeing opportunities to improve their businesses and sensing threats if they don’...

Digital
30 March 2020
Academic publications
Insight for Executives
Article
Don't buy the hype: Busting the myths of digital transformation

Digital Transformation is getting the worldwide attention it deserves. Executives in every industry and country are seeing opportunities to improve their businesses and sensing threats if they don’...

Digital
30 March 2020
Best practices to implement and accelerate your business transformation
Programs