The moment of truth – will COVID-19 be the tipping point for digital transformation.
If “necessity is the mother of invention,” than COVID-19 has forced business leaders all around the world to rethink their digital transformation strategies.
At its core, coronavirus is disruption. What it really is, is a disruption frenzy, as nations try to slow the virus, this pandemic is impacting our political environment, our healthcare system, our economy, and the way we use technology. When disruption comes, businesses must adapt or die. And, not just adapt but adapt better and faster than competitors.
The truth is, even before COVID-19, the business world was changing at a pace that was hard to keep up. Those businesses that had already embraced a culture of change and realized their digital transformation goals might have been better prepared for this disruption than others. For others, it’s been a challenge. A recent survey by Gartner reports that only 12% of organizations are highly prepared for the impact of coronavirus. This does not mean you should hunker down and wait out COVID-19, it’s time to rev up your digital engine and position yourself for growth when the pandemic subsides.
Here are the areas you should be focusing on:
Cloud first
As COVID-19 pushes businesses to their limit, there has never been a better time to focus on cloud strategies. With the rapid response to the pandemic, millions of people have shifted remote work, pushing companies to adopt cloud-based solutions at an unprecedented rate. Rapid to deploy, cloud-based solutions are the reason organizations around the world remain productive during this time. If there was ever a good time to migrate to the cloud, this is it.
Boost process automation
Unexpected circumstances place an added burden on the workforce. Consider automating repetitive processes to free up teams and allow them to focus on more meaningful work. Extending automation throughout the enterprise can help mitigate disruption and offer stability in times of uncertainty.
Harness the power of data
Now more than ever, business leaders need to analyze risks and develop the best methods for mitigating them. They need to know the effectiveness of the current recovery processes. To do this, they need to use data effectively to guide business decisions and improve the well-being of the organization and its employees. Fostering a data-driven organization galvanizes the vision of faster, better-informed decisions to enable businesses to return to normalcy sooner.
Be champions of collaboration
No matter the industry, digital collaboration platforms are the foundation of work during the pandemic. The success of operations today highly relies on the ability to collaborate in real-time and from anywhere. Many businesses are recognizing the need to improve collaboration to ensure business continuity now and into the future.
Deliver valuable experiences
As the coronavirus crisis accelerates the transition to a digital future, the shift to digital customer experience also hits fast-forward. Empathic tools such as service design and design thinking seek to address customers’ acute needs and forge stronger ties with the market in the post-COVID-19 era. Reimagining customer experience to meet the changing needs should drive your next steps in your digital transformation journey.
The new era of business reinvention is upon us. For most industries, revenues will fall in 2020, that’s a given. But companies can emerge stronger, more innovative, and more purposeful. By creating a forward-thinking, customer-focused digital company, leadership teams can mitigate today’s threat and accelerate into an eventual recovery.