Digital transformation is often discussed as a technology problem. Companies invest in new platforms, cloud systems, dashboards, automation tools, customer portals, analytics software, and AI-enabled products. These investments are important, but they do not always create the expected change.
Many organisations discover that technology alone does not transform a business. A company can buy the right tools and still struggle to use them well. It can collect data and still make weak decisions. It can launch digital platforms and still fail to improve customer experience. It can automate processes and still leave teams confused about what has actually changed.
The missing layer is often people.
More specifically, businesses need professionals who can sit between strategy, data, product, operations, and technology. These are not always engineers. They may be product managers, business analysts, product owners, operations leads, data-literate managers, or transformation professionals. Their value lies in their ability to translate business needs into usable digital systems and translate data into practical action.
This is the missing middle of digital transformation.
At the top, executives may understand the business problem. At the technical level, engineers may understand how to build the system. But between both groups, there is often a gap. Someone must define the problem clearly, understand the users, document requirements, interpret data, prioritise features, manage trade-offs, test assumptions, and ensure that the final product actually solves the right problem.
Product literacy helps professionals understand how digital services are designed, built, tested, measured, and improved. Data literacy helps them understand what is happening inside the business and how to make decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.
Without that middle layer, digital transformation becomes tool adoption rather than business improvement.
This is why product literacy and data literacy are becoming essential across many roles. Product literacy helps professionals understand how digital services are designed, built, tested, measured, and improved. Data literacy helps them understand what is happening inside the business and how to make decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions. Together, they help organisations move from buying technology to using technology effectively.
The work of professionals like Oluwasegun Babatunde Esho sits within this broader shift. As a product manager with experience in AI, analytics, fintech, education technology, Agile delivery, API management, business analysis, and stakeholder engagement, his career reflects the kind of hybrid capability that modern organisations increasingly need.
His work has included product optimisation in financial services, support for digital banking products, SME-focused retention initiatives, and delivery of a Learning Management System for a UK school. These experiences show how digital transformation operates across different environments. In one context, the goal may be faster loan processing. In another, it may be a better learning administration. In another, it may be stronger customer retention or clearer product delivery.
The common thread is not the industry. It is the ability to connect user needs, business outcomes, data, and product execution.
This is also why initiatives such as Data Immersion Hub are relevant to the wider transformation conversation. The platform’s focus on data skills and business transformation reflects a growing need: helping professionals and organisations build practical digital capability. Many people do not need abstract technology theory. They need to understand how to work with data, ask better questions, interpret patterns, manage digital products, and contribute meaningfully in technology-enabled workplaces.
The work of professionals like Oluwasegun Babatunde Esho sits within this broader shift. As a product manager with experience in AI, analytics, fintech, education technology, Agile delivery, API management, business analysis, and stakeholder engagement, his career reflects the kind of hybrid capability that modern organisations increasingly need.
For businesses, this kind of capability can make the difference between failed digital adoption and meaningful change. A dashboard is only useful if someone can interpret it. A product roadmap is only useful if it is connected to real customer and business priorities. An automation tool is only valuable if the workflow it supports has been properly understood. A learning platform is only successful if students, teachers, and administrators can use it effectively.
The demand for product-literate data professionals will continue to grow as organisations adopt AI and automation. AI may increase speed, but it also increases the need for clearer judgment. Teams will need people who can evaluate outputs, understand risks, define responsible use cases, and ensure that technology supports real human and business needs.
This is particularly important in emerging markets, where digital transformation is often tied to access, inclusion, efficiency, and competitiveness. Businesses need people who can help them adopt technology without losing sight of the customer, the process, or the commercial reality. Professionals who understand both data and product thinking are well placed to support that transition.
The future of digital transformation will not be won by software alone. It will depend on people who can understand problems deeply, work across teams, interpret evidence, and turn digital tools into practical value.
The organisations that succeed will not only invest in technology. They will invest in the people who know how to make technology useful.
