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Digital transformation

Customer engagement, fuelled by empowered people, infused by visionary leadership for successful digital transformation.

The world…

…is changing. The vast majority of information is available online these days. The internet became the largest and fastest source of information. Thanks to mobile devices, people got used to having the information anytime and anywhere at their fingertips. These changes happen at an unprecedented pace. Technologies and innovations destroy barriers of entrance into formerly limited and conservative industries and branches. Start-ups emerge literally overnight to cut substantial parts of the market share from big and until recently unshakable players. Time-proven business models stop to work. All the power is being diverted towards the customers. Even great marketing is not enough to persuade them. Customers verify quality of products and ask for the experience of other customers before they buy. In this world bad products can’t hold up. But great products alone are not enough. The customer wants to have “the whole package” – great product, great service aligned to latest trends preferably from great brand. 

Why you should care about these changes? Disturbances can hit any industry and nothing can be taken for granted. You do not have to buy a car anymore, you can rent it from the car manufactures. But there are still gaps, users don’t have to have the car 24/7, and therefore online car sharing services are emerging. Zipcar in the US and Car4way in the Czech Republic are providing users with an alternative, which may change how potential customers buy cars. In the banking sector, the Czech Republic is one of the most developed markets with contactless payments, Czechs love it and our banks know about almost any transactions we make. Expensr is providing financial planning and advisory based on these data; some established players like mBank have made their first moves in that direction already. The Media industry is anticipating massive changes and regular TV broadcasters, as we know them, should have reason to be worried. People around 20 no longer watch regular TV, they use YouTube and Netflix like services to reach all the content they want and at any time. Someone is always thinking of a new way to provide better services, with better customer experience, and these disruptive forces are trying to change the market. What can you do under such circumstances? 

The enterprise and their leaders feel that already. According to the latest Deloitte CIO survey, 47% of CIOs consider Digital as their priority for 2015. On the market there are a lot of small cheap solutions from various start-ups and agencies. It’s easy to start trying – various technologies, various digital initiatives and various campaigns. In such a situation you may end up with a couple of quick wins, numerous apps and microsites. But will it help satisfy your customers? Will it enable you to get a bigger market share?  

Successful strategy is the key to moving forward. A one-time event or activity will neither save your market nor you. You need to think big, think about a whole combination of steps, activities and technologies that could make a big difference to the market. Think of bold and smart ideas that will get you in on a major part of the pot. Prototyping and testing small customer facing front-ends are important to shorten time-to-market for new products and services but you have to not forget about your legacy back-end systems, which are vital to maintain your business operable. Thus the two speed IT approach becomes imperative for the success in digital era. But it’s not only about technology. You also have to have your people and internal processes ready. Especially in case you might be afraid of the risks and reputation, leverage your alternative brand or segmented a smaller group of your customers for that. The core is a fully structured roadmap with a solid vision, great products and/or services, fuelled by empowered people, infused by visionary leadership. 

Engaging your team, from top to bottom, is a significant factor for moving forward. That positive force is needed to overcome obstacles on the road and energize the whole company. The big steps, with outstanding results, might need to change the very core of your business and your company; essentially the way the company is working, not just one team, but entire departments or divisions. Strategic vision and leadership will shed light on the right path forward, and the engagement of employees will ease and fuel the digital transformation. 

Engaging your customers is a crucial part of your transformation, in the end that is the group who will be the decisive factor in your success. There is a way to support, promote and sustain that. Simply said, know what your customers want, what they are thinking and what they want. Keep them close, listen to them and be present on all your channels. Your customers are already talking about you, no matter if you are present on the digital channels or not. Get in on the current conversation; do not advertise all the time, but rather be present. Create a strategy to be a leader in the conversation, be ahead of the group, bring emotions, be creative, leverage your data and tell your great stories. With the right vision and plan there is no reason to wait; you can start tomorrow. Now is the time to take action!

Authors: Pavel Šprynar, Senior Consultant, Dominik Zosinčuk, Consultant, Josef Dvořák, Consultant, Deloitte - ICT poradenství