It’s time to step up to the challenge in Digital

To succeed in the digital era, you have to be totally in sync with the behaviour and preferences of your customers in a fast-changing landscape. You have to be quick and adaptable.

(Originally published on Linkedin) by Bilal Jaffery

Consumer preferences, choices and behaviors are changing at a faster pace than ever. All of us are sharing, connecting and expressing. The possibilities of learning and understanding each other are endless.

We, the managers, in companies know that we need to change. We need to be smart about data that we interact with in our interaction layer (marketing, sales, support, PR, development). We need to be smart about the context within the millions of data points that we create and capture online.

We all know we need to change. Evolve. Adapt. Transform.

Throughout my own career, leading the digital charge, I routinely come across executives, managers, and thought leaders aspiring to change and digitally transform their businesses. But as time progresses, more and more of us are falling behind. Why?

We all want to change.

In 2011, IBM asked world’s smartest and brightest CMOs on how they felt about the implementation of digital strategy within their organizations. They asked how prepared were they to deal with the analytics, content and technology mapping and the overall changes in end user behaviors.

At that time, 71% of the CMOs interviewed felt underprepared to deal with the data explosion. This year, the situation, if anything, is worse — around 82% of CMOs feel unprepared to address the full potential of their digital strategy today. That’s a huge drop.

Accenture’s latest Oct 2014 study, “Love Me or Lose Me” further provides a prove point indicating that companies are making investments in digital but have largely failed to move the needle in terms of customer retention. (Aka the real impact to the bottom line).

Why are we falling behind?

You may ask, from practitioner’s perspective, if the need is there, understanding is there, than what is causing this delay. The answer, lack of clarity and understanding.

In understanding of the gaps, the needs and ultimately deciding on priorities to stay committed. You can’t do everything on day one. And oh yes — having a filter to reduce the noise and the ever popular shiny object syndrome.

“We’re focusing on people who want to work the way they live, and enable that work and living experience.

We really want to understand customer journeys and how people will buy products in the future. We want to be where they’re going to be.” CMO of a major tech firm. (IBM Study Reference)

To maintain focus, typically, organizations need to focus on 3 main areas of change.

1. Transforming customer experience
2. Transforming operational processes
3. Transforming business models

Within each of the realms, we need to look at how we are interacting with ourselves, our customers and our ecosystem partners / co-habitants. What is working? What is not working? What is a quick win? What is a long term goal?

In addition, before embarking on any of these changes, there are number of prerequisites to lay the right foundation for success.

1. The right talent that understands and remains passionate even when things look dark.
2. Cultural structure that allows agility to change, adapt and rehash yet allow focus.
3. Modular processes that can be quickly plugged and unplugged as needed.
4. Commitment and desire in creating real value for all stakeholders involved. Taking accountability for change, not just marking a check-list.
5. The right partners that bring the creativity, experience and the know-how.

Are you fully in?

Are you willing to invest in time, commitment and passion to fully see through this change management process? Not 60%, 20% but full 100%. That is the only secret to success here. Been around the block to know the tell-tale signs of lip-service, fluff and jargon speak. We need simplicity, not complexity to make sense of this.

I believe it’s time for companies to play to win, starting with being hyper-relevant — which essentially involves customizing interactions with customers across channels. And connecting all of the interactions together to provide context for the business to keep making informed decisions.

Companies that truly listen to their customers, understand their needs and preferences, and respond appropriately in a trusted and timely way, can create personal relationships with customers that help drive growth.

Thank you. If you like this, scroll down and click on recommend. I will truly appreciate your support and love. Connect along for the ride. Let’s discuss what is working for you. Share your learnings as well. It’s our journey.

My next few posts will focus on the key elements within digital transformation categories that I discussed earlier from a perspective of a practitioner — from the failures to wins to everything in middle. I will be posting them on Linkedin. Feel free to follow the thread there as well.