It really doesn't seem all that long ago that most people in the UK had just four TV channels and got their news from – believe it or not – a printed newspaper. Good internet access was only affordable for major corporates and government departments and mobile phones were futuristic devices that required an extra large jacket pocket to carry them around. Contrast that with the UK in 2011: today, people have more choice than ever before about how, when and where they access the media they want. Over 70% of the population has broadband internet access, 9/10 homes have digital television , nearly 13 million of us have a web-enabled smartphones and we're just as likely to access our media through services like Facebook and Twitter as we are television and print media.

This ever accelerating rate of change has created a 'perfect storm' for the media industry. Disruptive influences from technology and industry convergence have blurred the lines between traditionally separate markets; and, as content distribution trends towards zero-cost, media companies of all types find themselves under threat from new, innovative rivals playing the game by their own rules. The question this poses becomes less about “What can I do?” to one of “What must I do to survive?”.

Regardless of what type of business you're running, the challenge remains the same – how do you adapt your current business model to fight off competitive threats and to seize opportunities to grow, in a way that is cost effective and still delivers results? The answer is that leaders of media companies need to become adept at translating business strategy into reality through programme led change across all aspects of their operations – including people, systems, processes and ways of working. To achieve such change successfully, you will need to develop a clear blueprint for the future of your organisation, understand how to implement this through a programme of transformational change and recognise that you need to embed the change throughout your organisation in order to sustain the benefits.

The ability to rise to such a monumental challenge is not to be underestimated even at the best of times, made all the more demanding by the seismic changes reshaping the industry at present. Moreover, business transformation done poorly can leave your company worse off than before, hamstrung by a 'mish-mash' of quick fixes, point solutions and half-baked initiatives, and unable to deliver on any strategy, no matter how well defined.

For those companies willing to take up the mantle, the future looks bright. The forces of change in the media industry have created opportunities like never before such as stronger engagement with customers through sticky, low-cost marketing channels, access to new sources of revenue as media channels proliferate, and the emergence of innovative ecosystems of partners and contributors to support creative development. Of course, industry change will always create winners as well as losers, and those companies transforming themselves through well managed, programme change initiatives are finding themselves well positioned to take full advantage of the raft of opportunities brought about by digital and media convergence.