Today ‘digital’ is the talk of a town. We hear about digital technologies, digital data, digital media, digital transformation, digital marketing. Everyone wants to go digital. But which way to go? And what is digital transformation and why having a digital transformation strategy is important?
We know now that mobile is the future of everything. With the rise of the Internet of Things and mobile devices, our lives and habits have clearly changed. Everything is now connected and if it’s not, it’s about to. We live in a world where you can connect your coffee machine to the Internet and make your coffee via Bluetooth. If your coffee machine can go online and you’re still only thinking about it, what does it say about you?
Go ‘digital’ or go home. What is digital transformation?
So, you’ve decided ‘to put yourself out there’? But before you move with your digital strategy, it’s important to understand what it really means and thus how to be able to benefit from it.
Digital transformation is often viewed as an implementation of digital technologies into all areas of business in order to build more sustainable relationships and better understand the needs of customers.
But this is just one of the ways to look at it. When talking about digital, we can think of discovering new frontiers and using innovation and technologies to push your business. It’s about finding new possibilities of an existing service in order to design and deliver a better experience for your customer. Some might argue it’s a new way of interacting with customers. None of these definitions is truer that the other but what we can all agree on is that today digital transformation is the force that moves businesses forward.
Why it’s important to have a digital transformation strategy?
Strategy is more important than technology – states MITSloan report. And they’ve got some facts to back their opinion.
Simply going digital isn’t going to cut any more. Only 15% respondents from companies that are at the early stages of going digital say that their company has got a clear digital business transformation strategy. While for digitally mature companies, where digital first has helped transform business models and processes, as well as increase talent engagement, the number is more than 80%.
It seems like being a digital company is a key factor in many respects today. Potential employees name being digitally enabled company as one of the reasons to seek employment within the organization.
For companies, a digital business strategy is viewed as means of transforming their business, streamline processes, and making use of technologies to enhance their interaction with customers and employees, and deliver excellent customer experience at the same time. Failing to plan in that field comes with a great price. One of the biggest obstacles to becoming digitally mature company is lack of digital transformation strategy. 50% of survey participants named it the main barrier to digital maturity.
And what is the state of digital, you might ask? In a race between enterprises and startups, the later seems to be leading. 55% of startups have already adopted digital transformation strategy, by contrast, only 38% of traditional enterprises did. But this doesn’t mean that the race is over. Among the established organizations, the wind of change is blowing heavy with 89% of companies either already adopting or planning to adopt a digital-first business strategy, with Services (95%), Financial Services (93%), and Healthcare (92%) at the forefront.
It may seem that your business is doing just fine offline today. Either because your industry is quite conservative or because you’ve been using other means to get the word out there. But what about tomorrow? In the quickly changing world will it be enough what you are doing today? The lesson we can learn from the Titans of business is quite simple – in the today’s world of digital transformation, be an ‘Amazon’ not a ‘Kodak’. Learn to think ahead of your customers’ needs rather that fail to adapt to the needs of the market. Find a way to deliver today what your customer might need tomorrow.
What to remember before you move with your digital transformation strategy
Change is the only thing we can be sure of. Strive for innovation and greatness now in order to stay competitive.
Embrace the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things has arrived and it is a key to creating your innovative experience. Everyday objects are now connected to the Internet, like a fridge that determines when you’re low on food and orders it for you. This creates a lot of new opportunities for marketers. Businesses and customers will only continue to benefit from it.
Go with the trends
When it comes to marketing, the party is happening in the digital world also. Traditional media is slowly dying while digital media is projected to become the number one channel for ad revenue by the next years.
Don’t underestimate big data
There’s myriad of valuable data out there but not everyone knows how to use it fully. Analytics helps us understand how customers behave, what they really think about the brand and how your business is seen by the market.
Adapt to the new needs of customers
The one lesson we can definitely learn from Kodak is that if you ignore your customers, soon they will ignore you. It’s not enough to have a great product, you have to see a bigger picture. Kodak was not in the film business, their business was of storytelling and they ignored that.
Think outside the box
Like Inkbay did. Be a frontrunner in your field, create value where everyone else thinks it’s impossible. The main takeaway of going digital is, if you’re not online, it’s like you don’t exist. But what goes into the process is careful planning and strategizing. Both your customers, current or potential employees are interested in the best possible experiences and opportunities. And businesses have no other choice but to be on the lookout and continuously improve to engage and retain them.