Digital Transformation In Times Of Crisis

By Victor Madueno, Senior Commercial Director at Merkle MENA

During COVID-19, our reliance on digital services and solutions has been at all-time height, and I can’t see that fading out anytime soon. Brian Solis called it the “Novel Economy” and is here to stay. But it’s not something new, it has been developing at a very slow pace over the past decades and now it has been accelerated due to this social and economic crisis.

“COVID is not really changing anything fundamentally. It’s really accelerating things that have already been going on…The industry shakeup that was going on and that was expected to take place between 10 to 15 years is almost happening in a matter of weeks.” – Katrijn Gielens, professor, Kenan-Flagler Business School, University of North Carolina

Leading marketers will agree with this assessment. Even before the virus outbreak, the digital gap between enterprises, companies, SMEs and other forms of businesses and their consumers was noticeable. Now, more than ever, the adoption of digital is a necessity for consumers and businesses, period.

We have witnessed unprecedented changes in all sectors, while almost everyone is working from home. Consumer behaviors have changed overnight, but so does business structures, processes and procedures. 

Schools have pivoted to online learning classrooms. Grocery stores have sifted to online ordering as their go-to business. Restaurants and F&Bs have fully adopted on demand and online ordering to stay in the game. Doctors have shifted from physical presence to online telemedicine. Manufacturing companies have changed their supply chain (like in wartime), shifting from apparel to face masks and epi suits, or from soap to hand sanitizer. Hospitality and travel industry have been one of the most impacted industries, but they have had reacted and transitioned to a social distancing and sanitized business, with less guest per hotel or less passengers per flight, having to re-evaluate their operations and offering models. 

While many will think of digital transformation as the use of digital to promote their business and its products – so called digital marketing -, 71% of digital champions think that digital transformation means reinventing their business, while 55% still believe is about websites and portals. But there is much more included within a digital transformation of your business, from operations to supply chain, HR and even finance.

No business has been left aside on this transformation in times of crisis, either they transform and evolve, or their business will be relegated to the oblivion. We are talking about implementing AI, machine learning, data science, blockchain, cryptocurrencies, automation, robotics, customer experience, and many more. All from a centralized structural point of view and then channel down to regional or local markets. 

Data says that only 7% of companies will succeed in their digital transformation initiatives. And that is because the strategy or the plan was not thought through properly, or that the execution was not bought by the top level management, creating leaks in the organizational structure, and leading into a bad or siloed implementation. 

Every successful digital transformation is built on a deep understanding of the current business model of the company. Each business will need to step back before jumping into any digital transformation project, and question themselves if they are doing the right thing. Start by thinking on:

– Why are we doing this? 

– What are the outcomes we want to achieve?

– When do we start and end? 

– How do we start and from where? 

– How do we measure our success?

Seems pretty basic questions, that every management team will have asked itself during COVID-19, or in any other new project. But to be honest, many brands jump on the transformational trend without planning, and end up having disjointed and siloed executions that will create even more friction on employees, processes and mostly towards their customers. Ending losing revenue, top talent, or even worst, increasing redundancies or lack of direction. 

Besides having a deep understanding of the business and its revenue model, management has to guide the whole organization, be patient, and put their customers at the heart of everything they do. Only then, the transformation will come through. 

1. Digital transformation starts from management down to every employee, but decision happens everywhere.
2. Find your transformation champions.
3. Build a customer-centric or people-based approach, with seamless and frictionless experience. 
4. Selecting your tech and how this will integrate between one another will be crucial.
5. Being able to utilize the tech at full speed and adoption. 
6. Automation will give you the scalability you will need.
7. Develop a realistic and efficient strategy, allowing and encouraging failure as a learning process.
8. Identify any digital or knowledge gap across the team and company as a whole. 
9. Permeate an agile and creative thinking

Last but not least, have fun along the way.

Despite this turmoil time, there is an opportunity for many businesses to succeed. Think about it, many of the big brands of today came out from a crisis or got stronger right after a crisis, such as Google, Facebook, Airbnb, Uber, and the list goes on. 

If you need more guidance or seek support on your digital transformation, ping me on Linkedin.

Source of insights: Trianz.com Digital Transformation 2020 report