Any business that has made it through the nightmare year that was 2020 will know one thing for certain: digital solutions saved the business world’s bacon when the pandemic struck. In fact, many shudder to think what society would look like today – a year after Covid-19 was first discovered – were it not for the internet, laptop computers, smartphones, and the infrastructure that connects them all together.
The writing has been applied to the wall and it is clear: digital transformation is essential to future-proofing any and every business against upcoming threats to business continuity. The question is, how do we know that we’re transforming in the right manner? This article discusses briefly the need for digital transformation moving further into the decade, and three ways to tell if your business’s digital transformation is on the right track:
The Need For Transformation
Digital transformation future-proofs a business by ensuring it has more than one system in place to ensure continuity. For example, when the South African economy shut down and most businesses were ordered to close their doors and stay at home, those with advanced digital systems in place – like connected staff with devices able to patch into the office, or online project management systems facilitating remote file sharing – were able to continue doing business with only slight hindrances. Who knows what the next interruption to the business world will be, but digitally transformed businesses will be ready for it.
Failure Vs. Success In Digital Transformation
Leadership
A business that will succeed in holistic digital transformation has leaders who understand, embrace, and keep up with the latest trends regarding digitalisation. These owners and managers lead by example and act as role models for employees who also play a critical role in effective digital transformation in any organisation. Failure is often the result of underfunding and road-blocking because of laggard leadership who are reluctant to change the status quo.
Culture
Business leaders should be able to set a good example, by embracing digital technology themselves, but true digital transformation is facilitated by people on the ground. These are the employees who will be trained on how to use the new systems, and their interest in digital transformation will play a big role in how quickly and effectively the business will transform. A staff that is not sold on the benefits and life-changing potential of digitalisation will not want to change their behaviours and pre-existing routines.
Technology
A business successful at digital transformation (which is a marathon, not a sprint) is one that understands what outcome-based decision-making is. Too many businesses fail in their attempts at digitalisation because they get fixated on the snazziest, most trumped-up digital solutions because of well-versed and highly-effective salespeople. Winners will judge the technology based on how well it is going to perform, not on how fancy or expensive or visually-appealing it is.
The field of digital transformation is one of the most rewarding in marketing and advertising. It gives the professional a chance to enact meaningful change within an organisation, improving its service delivery and general business efficiency.
