Winning in a digital era requires new ways to compete. Leaders focusing only on traditional where-to-play and how-to-win options risk missing important opportunities.
Leveraging technology to improve business processes is becoming increasingly important for winning, as believed by the Leader in Technology & Driven Business Growth Shohreh Abedi. To succeed in the digital world, it is essential to focus on changing entire domains, such as the customer journey or process, rather than individual steps.
Enhanced Customer Experience
Digital strategies can enhance the customer experience by redefining how a business operates, providing new services, or creating unique digital experiences. These can be externally facing (think Nike launching its vacuum-sealed shoe) or internal process-oriented (think John Deere using digital to improve its farming technology, such as weed detection and targeted spraying).
A good digital strategy starts with framing a company’s ambitions, such as the extent to which it wants to leverage digital methods for competitive advantage. Then, they can create a plan to implement those digital capabilities.
In some cases, this may be a comprehensive digital transformation, but more often, it will be a focused set of initiatives complementary to existing strengths.
Increased Revenue
While plenty of ink gets spilled about companies that were felled by digital disruption, traditional incumbents often use digital strategy to grow their businesses and create new sources of competitive advantage. A well-designed digital strategy begins with clearly understanding how emerging technology can complement and grow your business.
From there, the strategy focuses on people, processes, and platforms that will enable those goals to be achieved. For example, a company may need to increase its social media presence, organic search results, or customer engagement.
Similarly, a company may need to provide new products or services to attract new customers and lock in existing ones. Companies also need systems that measure performance and quickly identify growth opportunities. All of that is possible through a digital strategy.
Enhanced Employee Engagement
A great digital strategy begins with a clear frame-up of a business’s desired objectives and the implementation of tactics that enable those goals. To do that, businesses need an analytical viewpoint of their position in the marketplace – something they can gain through effective benchmarking against core competition.
Employee engagement is a major concern for leaders because disengaged employees are one of the top reasons for turnover, which can be costly to companies through constant hiring and training. Achieving high levels of employee engagement requires leaders to build trust and a sense of integrity within their teams by listening to feedback (such as through pulse meetings, performance conversations, stay interviews, or employee suggestion boxes) and taking action.
Increasing employee engagement doesn’t have to involve massive change initiatives,as small internal process digitalization can be equally effective. This is especially true if they are focused on addressing drivers of engagement that can’t be achieved through technology, such as meaning and purpose, shared values with leadership, and a bond with coworkers.
Increased Productivity
Digital strategies provide businesses with new tools to cut long-term costs and exponentially propel productivity. These tools include robotic process automation, business intelligence software, and data analytics. They allow companies to streamline internal and external processes, allowing them to deliver a better customer experience.
The most effective digital strategies take a measured approach and only add new technologies once they have a clear plan. Otherwise, they risk wasting resources on projects that don’t align with company goals or need to address non-technological issues first.
For example, if a company needs more customer service, it should look at its hiring and training practices before introducing new digital technology. This ensures that new digital solutions are an investment in the long run, not a patchwork of sexy apps that don’t solve core problems.
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Enhanced Brand Reputation
A company’s reputation isn’t just a buzzword; it plays a crucial role in the success of any business. Whether it’s a Fortune 500 company or a one-person side hustle, brand reputation impacts how customers perceive and interact with a business, both online and off.
Establishing transparency and authenticity in a brand’s messaging can increase consumer trust and loyalty, ultimately driving revenue growth. A digital strategy can also help companies better understand their current position in the marketplace by providing an analytical viewpoint of how they compare to their competitors.
Businesses can use this information to prioritize and implement new digital solutions that will impact the bottom line. This will ensure that any investments aim to deliver real value to consumers and boost long-term business success.
Image Credit: by envato.com
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