The media industry in the country and across the globe is undergoing digital transformation, with all products converging and competing in one place, which is the internet or internet-based communication platforms.

Digital transformation is the reinvention of an organisation, its vision and strategy (business model), organisational structure, offerings (products, services), processes, capabilities, and culture through the use of digital technologies, (Veit eta, 2014). A Nigerian media academic, Anderson Uvie-Emegbo, has argued that for an organisation to successfully embark on a journey of digital transformation, it has to bury the past with its successes and glory.

"How willing are you to burn the brides that brought your organisation across?" he asks.

He goes further to argue that digital transformation is "less about technology and more about sociology and psychology". This suggests that for digital transformation to be a success, there has to be a culture change in the organisation. A simple definition of sociology is that it is the study of society and culture.

A society is a group of people who live within some type of bounded territory and who share a common way of life, while culture is the common way of life shared by a society or a group. On the other hand, psychology is defined as the scientific study of the mind and behaviour. It is therefore prudent to bear in mind that human behaviour is now centred around technology, with communication on the go using digital products and platforms.

As Zimpapers pursues the goal of building a future where the newsroom thrives journalistically and commercially, culture change has been pursued in recent years, with workers getting to appreciate the direction that the industry and business are taking.

Zimpapers chief executive, Mr Pirikayi Deketeke, is on record saying adaptation and agility are key in the digital age.

"The future of Zimpapers and, I reckon, the media industry in Zimbabwe, will be determined by how willing we are to adapt to technologically-driven change and adopt business models that respond to the opportunities and threats the digital age presents . . . Suffice to say, the objective is to adopt a digital first content dissemination strategy that would allow us to lead, influence, inform and shape discourses online with regards the Zimbabwean story.

"Agility is key in the fast-paced age of social media interactions where an avalanche of information floods cyberspace by the second. To this end, adaptation alone will not suffice if the pace at which we are transforming our newsroom cultures and business operations is slow.

"Hence we must be prepared to fail fast, fail cheap and innovate in as many aspects of our newspaper businesses as possible. Agility is our trump card and we need to be able to disrupt our newsroom cultures to adapt to the inexorable digital-led changes that may render our businesses obsolete if we fail to transform."

Commenting in the group's 2023 annual report, Mr Deketeke said the organisation had made significant progress in implementing its digital-first strategy and leveraging on its 360-degree media solution.

He said the company had consolidated all its printing operations under one roof, which is expected to enhance efficiencies in the printing business and attract more clients. Of note is that all these changes are centred on culture change more than technology.

"Plans are in place to further improve the company's printing capacity by investing in new printing presses so that the company remains very competitive.

"The initiative to broaden products under scholastic, paper merchandising, corporate gifts, and book shops is expected to further broaden the revenue base for the company," he said.

Mr Deketeke noted that the group will continue to focus on servicing the needs of the market through growing deeper relationships with its audiences, advertisers, and various stakeholders, which will entail re-imagining its journalism to meet the new media trends and operating a sustainable business model.

Furthermore, the digital media industry requires that staffers bridge the gap between the newsroom and business, fostering collaboration, supporting high-quality journalism, promoting transparency, and ensuring ethical decision-making. The culture that is required is that of a shared vision across the board.

However, digital transformation has come with its fair share of challenges, and the buzzword nowadays is media sustainability. For lack of a better word, media sustainability is the "elephant in the room".

Nonetheless, to ensure the efficiency of newsrooms, the creation of content hubs and content factories through convergence has been seen as the answer.

This is simply because the real product of any media organisation is content, and the platforms are simply brands or newspapers, radio, and television titles.

Going into the future in a digital world of multi-media, what a media organisation can only sell is content, and not brands or titles, thus the creation of hubs and content factories is the way to go. And that requires culture change adaptability among journalists and marketers first before the conversation on technology comes in.

Experts say cultural aspects among staffers that need to be transformed to facilitate successful digital transformation include risk-taking and trying new things, collaboration and breaking down of silos, innovation, and creativity, as well as continuous learning. By transforming these cultural aspects, media organisations can create an environment that supports digital transformation and enables them to stay competitive and thrive in today's fast-paced business landscape.

In the digital age, technology is often seen as the solution to all our problems.

However, simply relying on technology to solve issues is not enough.

True transformation requires a cultural shift that embraces the benefits of technology while also addressing the underlying social and cultural issues that technology cannot solve, says Chris Taylor (2023).