Ever since technology knocked on the doors of the business world about 25-30 years ago, things have never looked the same. Technology or Digitization has been influencing the way businesses operate, promote, and progress. While most businesses in the world have been impacted by digitization, not all have adequately embraced technology comprehensively, in other words – they haven’t unlocked the complete power of the Digital.

Not embracing digital is likely to leave businesses stranded in their bid to transform themselves for the better, for the future. Under current circumstances where markets exhibit changing dynamics and customer expectations change by the day, it becomes even more compelling for businesses to embrace emerging technologies that will aid them to deal with both changing expectations and market dynamics.

So, the question now is: How do businesses unlock the full power of the digital?

Customer first, always: In the race to embrace technologies or to beat competition no business can afford to forget the most powerful of all business maxims – Customer is King. It is essential to focus on the customer and their expectations, behavior, changing needs, and perception of the business entity. Every digital strategy will need to be based on the strong foundation of customers’ needs and expectations; any other way will not work out in the long run.

Carefully studying and understanding of customer behavior, preferences, and purchase patterns will give a comprehensive outlook of the customer to the organization. It is on this outlook that organizations will have to define their digital strategy and unlock their potential. Any digital approach that does not have customer central to it will result in a considerable waste of efforts and money and also end up delivering below par results.

Technologies change and upgrade: An essential thing about technologies – they inadvertently change. What worked 20 years ago may not work now and what will work now may not work a few years later. Organizations will do well to learn from the past on how customers and markets redefined and changed technological needs and how technologies have evolved to suit current requirements. In a similar vein, organizations will also have to assess what technologies to embrace now and how these need to be upgraded in the years to come.

Studying markets, observing competition and anticipating future needs will help the organization redefine their technological requirements for the future and will also help them unlock these technologies to the fullest.

Power of data: Data has always been with us in different formats and under various guises. The importance of data has never been so critical and so essential as now. One of the best ways to ultimately harness the power of digital is to exploit the potential of data to the fullest. Data Analytics and Predictive Analytics are two well-accepted technological trends that can help organization unlock the power of digitization to the fullest. What data does to organizations is that it provides them with valuable insights helping them make very informed decisions leading to better business outcomes.

Mobile is the future: The world is going mobile and there is no doubt that the future of communication and information will be mobile phones. Organizations will do well to weave their digital strategies keeping in mind the growing importance and significance of mobile and actively embrace mobile technologies. From BYOD to MDM (Mobile Device Management) to Contactless payments, mobile is influencing the way people go about their personal and professional lives.

People and Process: An essential thing, which is second to none, to keep in mind is that no process and no technology can be embraced or executed without people. Often organizations commit the big mistake of going in full by investing heavily in technology and leaving the people and process part of it unsolved or unattended even. Digital adoption is of no use if it does not excite the people who need to use it or deploy it.

History has shown that organizations that take only the technical perspective and avoid the people’s aspect struggle to implement digital and eventually fizzle out on it. In fact, this puts organizations in a somewhat complicated situation – they neither gain on investment nor on digital transformation. Successful digital transformation happens only when technology, people, and process are aligned towards common objectives and work in tandem.

The business ecosystem of today is multiple times more dynamic and unpredictable than it was three decades ago. Government policies, business regulations, hectic competition, need for cost optimization and efficiency are all driving businesses to the wall. The future will look even more competitive and less forgiving for businesses unless they unlock the full power of digital. Digitization or technological adoption will help enterprises to wade through the circumstances mentioned above to a considerable extent while ensuring higher levels of efficiency and competitiveness. Businesses need to be future-ready, a future that will come with multiple challenges and opportunities that can be tapped by embracing relevant technologies that will ultimately result in unlocking the full power of digital.

Author: Manish Mehrotra, SVP, Sales-Digital