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It is enough to just think for a second of the way consumers are now in full control of their experience, by deciding what/when/where to consume content or purchase products and services.
Or about the way they (we all!) Are not just “consumers” anymore, but also content producers, publishers, entertainers: dare i say actual competitors of your brand (!!), since competing for a share of that same attention.
This profound consumer transformation has been happening before the eyes of every business owner and manager in the past years, but only few of them have decided to address it deep at its roots by challenging the status quo – the vast majority still only opted for band-aid solutions (ie: designing a new website, hiring a social media manager, etc…).
As millions of millennials live on their mobiles and have been shifting their attention from facebook and twitter to instagram and snapchat, the consumer transformation is in fast motion and keeps happening even as you read these words – thus making apparent how simply “adding pieces” to business-as-usual won’t cut it to keep up with your consumers.
There is instead need for a profound transformation.
A complete business evolution into a learning organisation that is agile, and as such, able to adapt to change and to respond to consumer needs – a process that impacts, and needs contribution from, all areas of business not just digital, ecommerce & it, but also hr, procurement, finance, sales and obviously marketing at large.
This in a nutshell is the so called digital transformation.
Although this is a now common term used to describe what businesses need to do to survive their competitors and thrive with their ever-changing consumers, it is also a bit of a misleading one… and that is because it is not just about digital.
Digital transformation is in fact a consumer-centric journey of transformation that uses digital (data, channels, tools) and culture (leadership, skills, organisation) to deliver on a business’s maximum potential.
It is about embedding a deep consumer-centric culture and the necessary technology to execute it.
Step #1 to kick-start the process, is to appoint highly skilled leaders who will help you navigate through complex technical ecosystems, but most importantly who will operate as catalysts of change by speaking to the minds and by setting on fire the hearts of everyone within the business – since everyone will have to play an active role for this transformational journey to be successful.
