Culture that recognises the impact of technology and customer preference. Digital transformation continues to be the buzzword! As technology keeps enhancing often, it seems to be threatening most organizations in almost every industry.
Technological evolution has disrupted the ways brands communicate with their consumers. This disruption has provided tremendous opportunities for brands to adapt, innovate and evolve. The reality remains that society and technology evolve sooner than a brand’s ability to acclimate. Digital Darwinism is the phenomenon when the society and technology seem to progress much faster than an organization can adapt. Having said that, slow adapters are now facing the choice of either adapting to the environment or being extinct. However, brands who have been responsive to the change have managed to attract their current and potential customers.
Technological enhancements have brought ample of opportunities for various brands, however, some of them has failed to adapt the developments. One such example is of Kodak. The brand always thought that they could successfully run the film business forever, however, that didn’t happen. The advancement in technology and the demand from the customers made it difficult for the brand to run the show, the old way! On the other hand, brands such as Apple and Netflix have survived because they have been able to understand their audience and their changing preferences. Apple strongly believes in think differently, thus inspiring meaningful experiences, and establishing a sense of unparalleled belonging.
It is now more than critical to embrace the changes and have an open-minded approach to digital transformation. Here are some ways that brands can explore to transform themselves digitally and avoid extinction:
Recognising the needs of the customers as per technological revolution, is one of the most important factors for any company to consider, for its survival. Building a connection with consumers — with flexibility, research and innovation — should be the top priority for any company looking to stay in business. To stay ahead, brands must attune themselves to their customer’s needs and behaviour. For instance, noticing that most of their customer’s shop through smartphones, most of the luxury products brands have developed interactive apps to make mobile shopping easier.
Enhancing customer experience and transforming business, is one of the key ways to survive and prosper in the current digital age. In this digital world, we are overloaded with data and consumer intelligence. However, it is important to identify which metrics are actually relevant to your brand and campaign. Rather than focusing on likes or mentions, evaluate your initiatives based on value added to your customer’s experience.
It is easy to focus all your resources on a single platform that might get you the most responses from your customers. However, it might be worthwhile to explore other platforms as well, regardless of their scale. Recent studies have shown that consumers go through multiple platforms before making a purchase decision.
With millions of data points being generated every single second, it can get overwhelming to be crunch the data. In this process, valuable data might be lost or be wasted. Investing in Artificial Intelligence can help in identifying valuable data and implementing the key learnings without any involvement of human effort.
Artificial intelligence, data analytics and connectivity are changing the landscape of business at a rapid pace. Customers choose to connect with brands which provide them personalised services thus building a long-term relationship. While many brands might be tempted to think that a digital transformation can help them survive, it might not be the best solution for long term returns. A full-scale digital transformation means constantly evolving and growing. It includes empowering the employees so they can be flexible and developing leaders that are well versed in digital practices and are open to innovate.
