What
should we learn from the coronavirus pandemic? Being digital is a matter of survival and no longer a differential. In addition, the importance of practicing this mentality becomes even more evident in times of crisis. Faced with isolation to contain the spread of the virus, companies that operated only in the physical universe had to adapt quickly, either to serve their customers, offer new models for delivery of products or services, or to make systems available in the cloud, allowing their employees to work from home.

In this new era, adopting a digital mindset means being prepared for any unforeseen event.

In this post, I reflect on these different scenarios and share 5 tips to position yourself digitally.    

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Until recently, trade relations used to be one-sided, i.e. one party sold products or services and the other party purchased them. This scenario began to change with technological advances, mainly due to improved Internet access and the proliferation of smart phones, which reconfigured consumer behavior, providing the connectivity and space to share experiences, either positive or negative, especially on social networks.

This dynamic has led to a profound change in consumer relations, which are now customer-oriented. In this way, the company that understands and adapts to this new customer profile, who is native to the new digital economy, is able to succeed. But even if the transformation takes place at the consumer level, the changes must start at home. Below is a list of five tips for the digital transformation of companies that have not yet embarked on this journey.

1 – Change your mindset: The first step in starting your digital transformation journey must be to change the company’s internal culture. If we used to operate in an analog world, we are now switching to digital. Establish, then, a mindset oriented to this new scenario so as not to let your business die.

2 – Make your business Data-Driven: In a world where customers are the main players and the stage is the Internet, it is easy to realize that data is the new driving force behind your business strategy. And what would be the vehicle, then, that leads you to access customer data in a way that reveals patterns and preferences and, above all, creates long-term relationships?

Artificial Intelligence, in this scenario, is the main driving technology that will transform data into information to be used for companies’ decision-making.

3 – Establish a bimodal roadmap: What stage of the digital transformation is your business at and where do you want to go? How ‘digital’ is your company? Answering these questions is essential to identify which processes are analog and may be included in the digital transformation strategy. The maturity model must be guided, above all, by a bimodal perspective, whose approach creates a consistent strategy for discontinuing analog models simultaneously with the development of digital standards.

4 – Start with operational efficiency aligned with customer experience: After developing the digital roadmap, it is time to embark on the first step of this journey; that is, the implementation of the processes that will be automated to meet the new profile of the digital consumer who demands better experiences. Here we can list, for example, the replacement of repetitive tasks, such as phone assistance, by robots or chatbots. In this step of the journey, not only the customer wins by optimizing their time and obtaining more agility to solve problems, but the company also benefits by gaining operational efficiency and reducing costs.

5 – Develop new business models: Uber, the world’s largest transport company, doesn’t own a car, just as the largest accommodation network, Airbnb, doesn’t own a hotel. What is the disruption in the business model of these companies? They grew their business through value. Against ‘red ocean thinking’, which seeks to compare competitors through the best cost increases and/or quality, they got involved in ‘blue ocean thinking’, whose approach is to highlight unoccupied market positions, reflecting the real value of innovation. By providing this example of disruption to your company, it is possible to visualize new business models based on the exchange and monetization of data through APIs (Application Programming Interface).

With these guidelines, it became easier to understand that digital transformation is a journey that must be taken from the consumer’s perspective. The roadmap to access this new digital world begins within the company itself, by changing standards and mindsets. Only in this way will it be possible to move towards technological transformation and eventually achieve the desired business disruption.

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