Strategizing Success for Digital Maturity
Why have a digital strategy?
Successful digital transformation requires a singular, shared vision running through the entire organization. Winning in the digital world is much more of a strategic than a technological play. It’s a shift in the fundamental mindset of doing things in ways most executives (and workforce) have never done so before and requires going back to the drawing board and re-imagining the way they execute tasks. Unless technology and innovation initiatives are placed and strategized in the context of an overall corporate strategy, digital initiatives have a very high risk of being expensive business experiments. In today’s scenario, a complete strategy includes a comprehensive understanding of technology’s risks and benefits, including potential risks of inaction.
Know your customer: The road to Digital Mastery
Perhaps the most popular misconception about the direction of a digital strategy is that it must be focused on technology. According to McKinsey’s Barr Seitz, digital transformation is typically a Trojan horse for a much broader business transformation. However, upon closer inspection, the role of technology in a Transformation strategy, or for that matter any strategy, is purely an enablement tool, not of a goal. At the heart of this mess stands the modern customer, who, if not alone, is by some distance this change’s biggest influencer. As the recent Salesforce State of the Connected Customer research showed, around 76% of consumers they were ready to take their business elsewhere, upon dissatisfaction. A corporate philosophy which places consumers in the middle of the pie results in extraordinary service delivery. Using technology and data, customers’ digital profiles can be created which allows representatives to better address issues and roll out custom-built solutions. Further, the workforce develops digital skills that help take care of customer problems with increased efficiency.
A digital transformation strategy must address the entire value chain throughout all stages of the customer journey. Most organizations, while realizing the importance of understanding the consumer, still fail to address the gap between customer expectations and internal capabilities, as studies have shown time and time again. Forrester recently reported that 37% of organizations understand their consumers, while just 10% could make real-time strategic moves based on their actions. It’s about time organizations started looking at their consumers as determinants of brand value and future relationships. What’s clear is that 70% of organizations worldwide are underway in their digital transformation journey, 84% of which end in failure. To reboot this long series of failures, companies need to take a more customer-centric focus rather than implementing tools and technologies listlessly.
Get everyone on board: A Digital Culture.
The ultimate power of a digital strategy lies in its scope and objectives. Technology is only one of the domains that fall in the scope of a Digital Strategy. For it to be successful, a strategy needs the backing of culture, which helps raise the engagement level of employees, attract new talent and better serve consumers, among other things. However, the opposite can’t be said to be true, as culture usually grows organically without much in the name of guidance from the top echelons. At best, a strategy can codify existing rituals and best practices (however, as we’ve discussed, efforts to copy culture have almost universally fallen flat). Culture unifies organizations in times of trouble and distress, which means any hurdles during the digital transformation process become easier to cross. The digital skills which people obtain overtime help consolidate the organization’s long-term vision and can form part of another advantage which is difficult to replicate. In short, it would be a case of short-termism to not consider culture when setting out the digital business strategy.
The Role of Technology: Digital Nirvana
At its heart, undertaking digital transformation is like developing a military force. The preparation of defence starts a long time before time is needed out on the battlefield. The actual process starts with the selection of a competent force, putting them through real-life simulations, and hundreds of hours of training before they can be declared fit for active duty. Only after this painstaking process is the forces given the appropriate weapon-kit for real-world scenarios. Quite similarly, in the case of digital transformation, the core business domains — strategy, people, culture and customer — forms the essential groundwork which weeds out inefficiencies and irregularities, ensuring smooth sailing in the long run. Only once this groundwork has been set should the weaponry of technologies be handed over for attaining the maximum advantage and turning the odds in favour.
Fail First, Fail Fast.
Since most corporate executives don’t agree on what digital is, the fear of what it really could encourage them to make mistakes in overcoming it. Forward-thinking enterprises embrace this with open arms and continue to strive in the ways they communicate and operate for ultimate success. Digital Transformation requires businesses to operate in a radically different way than has been the norm. Modern times demand businesses to be dynamic and prepare themselves for any cross-industry disruption, which makes the case for stronger utilization of data analytics. Further, as mentioned earlier, organizations need to put the consumer at the centre of the strategy, as it is the consumer’s need that is being catered to. The fundamental step to any successful transformation strategy is being open to change. Organizations must be willing and prepared to transform their business as their customers’ preferences change. “Keep up with the times” may sound clichéd, but if you’re not following your customers’ digital behaviours, you’re ignoring the single most important stakeholder in your strategy.
About TransformX
TransformX, was founded on the basic premise of educating and empowering executives across the globe in re-imagining their journeys of innovation and success through the right foundational elements of vision, processes, skill-sets & tools to tackle the demands of the next generation of customers.
Reach out to us!
www.transformx.io
Facebook: facebook/transformx.io
LinkedIn: LinkedIn/company/transformx.io
