Traditional industries must adopt authentic digital strategies that honor their legacy
If you’re running a traditional company, you don’t need another consultant telling you to “get on TikTok.” Real digital transformation comes from bringing the core of your business into the digital world in a way that respects what you’ve built, while making it relevant to people who never knew it was there.
Millennials and Gen Z now dominate business purchasing decisions, over two-thirds of buyers involved in B2B deals worth more than $1 million are from these groups. Many leaders still visualize a 60-year-old executive when shaping outreach strategies, but the decision-makers today were raised in a digital environment. They expect clarity, transparency, and digital fluency from the companies they work with. So if your brand still sounds like it’s marketing to executives from 1995, you’re losing credibility before the conversation even starts.
This is about building a bridge between what your business knows and what newer audiences value. Evertrak, a company in the railroad sector, a stronghold of legacy industry, gets this. CEO Tim Noonan is reshaping perception by leading with values and substance. They showcase how their composite ties reduce deforestation and remove tons of plastic waste from landfills. That resonates. It’s digital done efficiently, with purpose.
Successful digital transformation in legacy sectors hinges on integrating modern technology within core operations
87% of major digital transformation efforts fail. It’s largely because companies try to bolt digital tools onto outdated structures. That’s like plugging new hardware into an unstable system and expecting it to run smoothly. It won’t.
Many organizations mistake surface-level digital fixes, like revamped websites or cloud-based dashboards, for real transformation. But if your operations still run on old assumptions, or worse, old systems, you’ve just layered cosmetics over a structural issue. That’s why most transformation programs stall. The foundation isn’t built for speed, scale, or flexibility.
People know this internally, especially younger talent. Millennials and Gen Z who understand AI and automation expect it in their workplace. 86% of millennials and 79% of Gen Z employees familiar with AI say it should improve how they work. And more than 78% are actively looking for roles that are resilient to automation. That tells you where the workforce is heading.
When core infrastructure is modern and AI is actively shaping operations, something powerful happens. You start attracting high-caliber digital talent, the kind that will move your organization further, faster. Rohit Garewal, CEO of Object Edge, nailed it, working with manufacturers on digital rollouts shows how much impact IT modernization has on hiring, training, and productivity.
This is about enabling collaboration across generations. Experienced teams have the domain knowledge. Younger teams bring execution speed and tech fluency. When both groups work within modern systems, upskilling and innovation accelerate naturally.
You don’t need to chase disruption. You just need to build for it. Start at the core. Upgrade your systems, tighten your operations, and bring your people, regardless of age, into the process. That’s how you make transformation real.
Build integrated ecosystems that combine physical and digital offerings
Physical retail hasn’t died. It’s just overdue for reinvention. Digital doesn’t replace the physical world, it expands what it can do. If you own hundreds or thousands of retail locations, they’re assets. You just have to use them differently.
Michaels, a brick-and-mortar crafts retailer, proves the point. Instead of treating digital as an add-on channel, they launched a new digital downloads subscription platform that brings over 30,000 active designers into a connected, monetized ecosystem. Seventy percent of these creators signaled that they wanted this exact kind of platform. That’s demand-driven evolution based on creator behavior.
Michaels didn’t force a digital pivot by moving everything online. They connected their existing physical infrastructure, 1,300+ stores, to a scalable digital layer that expands opportunities for monetization and customer reach. Now, while retailers like Etsy face scaling constraints from being purely digital, Michaels can deliver digital and physical value simultaneously.
This model works because it’s built on real user behavior and operational advantages. If you have physical distribution, inventory, or customer infrastructure, digital can make those core assets perform better. But only if the digital strategy is embedded into the operational blueprint, not sitting next to it.
Executives who want to remain relevant must stop treating digital transformation as a one-directional shift. The opportunity is in integration, connecting people, processes, and platforms into something that works better than the sum of its parts.
Cross-generational, digitally fluent teams are key for driving innovation
Most leaders understand the need to innovate. Few focus on where that innovation will truly come from.
Legacy industries carry decades of embedded experience, that knowledge has real value. The challenge is that much of it is undocumented, held by long-serving employees who have seen shifts unfold in real time. If that experience isn’t transferred to new talent, it’s lost during transitions. At the same time, millennial and Gen Z employees want environments where they can experiment, move fast, and learn from others. They’re fluent in emerging tools and platforms because they grew up with them.
Innovation happens when these perspectives mix. That requires intentional design, leaders must enable teams where experience and digital fluency operate on equal footing. That doesn’t happen if teams are siloed, or if leadership treats digital work as urgent but separates it from core operations.
Creating cross-generational teams isn’t just good ethics, it’s a competitive advantage. It supports faster problem-solving, respects institutional memory, and makes sure that transformation decisions aren’t based on partial perspectives. This speeds up execution and improves quality at every level.
Too often, companies focus on tools and platforms while ignoring the structure of their teams. But even the best technology will underdeliver if the people using it are fragmented by culture, age, or process. Build cohesion. Make collaborative work the norm, not the exception, and innovation won’t be a project. It’ll be your default state.
Maintaining brand consistency across digital platforms is key for keeping credibility
When your company communicates in multiple digital environments, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, industry newsletters, live webinars, your message can’t shift uncontrollably. The tone, format, and delivery can adjust based on the platform, but the core values must stay aligned. If they don’t, people notice. And when trust breaks, growth slows.
Business leaders need to understand this is about maintaining identity across different audience touchpoints. Consistency brings clarity. Your team should be able to communicate the same message in different ways without misrepresenting who you are or why your company matters.
Today’s B2B and B2C buyers don’t tolerate mixed signals. They engage with content across multiple platforms before they connect with your sales team. If each platform tells a different story, or speaks in a voice that feels disconnected from your values, you risk lowering trust before the conversation starts. Attention spans are short, but decision-makers are watching closely.
This becomes more critical when working with cross-generational audiences. Boomers might engage with white papers or industry panels. Millennials and Gen Z may find you first through a short-form video. Both matter. If there’s a gap in how your brand presents itself across these formats, you’re forcing the audience to question which version is real.
A digitally fluent brand voice adapts to context, short-form video, long-form thought leadership, interactive webinars, but it never becomes vague or chaotic. Senior leadership should ensure that brand positioning frameworks are agreed upon across teams, and that every platform pushes forward a unified strategic message, written in different but coherent forms.
The companies getting this right are clearer. Evaluate how your brand shows up platform-to-platform. Make sure it earns trust, at speed, with every interaction. That’s what builds lasting visibility.
Key takeaways for leaders
- Build an authentic digital voice: Leaders should modernize brand messaging to align with millennial and Gen Z values without discarding legacy identity. Digital efforts that stay rooted in core expertise, while adapting to new formats, earn credibility and expand reach.
- Modernize operations from the core: Surface-level digital fixes fail without foundational upgrades. Executives must prioritize updating core systems and integrating AI to retain talent, boost productivity, and reduce digital friction across the organization.
- Create seamless physical-digital ecosystems: Digital success in legacy sectors depends on integrating online platforms with existing physical assets. Leaders should focus on ecosystem models that deliver scalable value across both channels instead of treating them as separate strategies.
- Enable cross-generational collaboration: Innovation relies on diverse teams where experience and digital fluency are equally valued. Leaders should design roles, workflows, and training to facilitate knowledge transfer and collaboration across age groups.
- Stay consistent across platforms: C-suite teams must ensure brand messaging adapts to platform context without losing clarity or integrity. A unified voice builds trust and drives engagement across different audience segments and digital touchpoints.
