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Digitalization presents many new opportunities for companies. It allows them to enter the market quickly. This can have a disruptive effect that some organizations find difficult to manage.
It has changed how businesses influence and interact with their customers, as well as position and promote their brand compared to competitors. What’s the answer?
Put in place the systems, structures, and processes necessary to encourage digital maturity and growth.
Here are five excellent examples of digitally transformed brands.
Prioritize Culture – SAP
Culture is critical to digital maturity. A fun, rewarding, and engaging work environment can boost employee happiness and increase productivity by about 12%.
It’s possible to alter processes, technologies, and infrastructure. However, the human side of a business requires a different approach. This means embracing a company’s most valuable asset, its employees.
SAP is a good example. Jonathan Becher, the current Chief Digital officer of SAP, quickly recognized that culture in the company is just as influential as technology and business transformation when it comes to digital transformation.
SAP identified several cultural issues, but two, in particular, stood out. First, the company needed to take a more hands-on approach to determine its future than rely on outside experts. SAP, instead of consulting, made internal changes. While it was time-consuming, the organization’s people had the tools they needed to learn, adapt, and enhance their skill sets.
Second, failure should not be viewed as something negative or taboo. SAP executives embarked on an initiative to change the company culture. SAP created an environment where people learn from their mistakes and grow by running small experiments.
Embrace & overhaul – DBS Bank
Fintech disruptors are putting increasing pressure on the financial sector. This disruption could be so severe that more than a third of full-service banks may lose out to new digital competitors. Fintech firms are more agile and know how to earn money online.
DBS Bank, an Asian bank, has risen to the challenge of digitalization and is embracing the changes around them. They have given fintech companies a run-for-their money.
In his new role, Paul Cobban looked at DBS’ corporate strategy. He quickly realized that the bank needed to do more to serve its customers. This led to its RED slogan: Respectful. Easy to Deal With. Dependable.
Cobban explained his thinking behind the new company mantra and tech-driven processes: “Peoples’ lives don’t revolve around banking after all.” When making a large purchase, like a fridge, the faster and smaller the banking part, the better. “To make banking fun, make the bank part invisible.”
Digital is a constantly changing world, so disruptions are inevitable. Use technology, data, and online channels to improve your offerings.
Hasbro – Harness Data
Hasbro, one of the most iconic toymakers in the world, realized that its marketing was geared toward children rather than parents, who are the ones who buy its products.
Hasbro adapted its marketing efforts by leveraging data segments and focusing on different marketing channels. It used social media to target ads while concentrating on expanding its reach. Hasbro drives sales using an ad-tech platform by advertising products – impulse purchases – at the end of the customer journey. Hasbro’s strategy of targeting parents when buying for their children has proven very successful.
The company increased its advertising spend by 1,100%, which led to incremental sales growth of up to $1 billion. It reached $5 Billion for the first time in its 93-year history.
Ginny McCormick said, “We started understanding where consumers are shopping.” Ginny McCormick is the VP of integrated marketing and promotions for Hasbro. We are now using analytics to create an experience that is frictionless and relevant for consumers.
Data is critical to ensuring success in digital transformation. And when you consider that in the last two years, more data was created than in the entire history of humanity, there’s no excuse.
Embrace Innovation – Pfizer
Accenture reports that 40 percent of US healthcare consumers use digital technology daily or are working to do so.
The healthcare industry needs to catch up to other sectors, such as retail and tourism, in digital innovation. A new IDC study suggests that digital initiatives in healthcare are responsible for 30 percent of all creations. This includes personalized medicine, M-Health, and telemedicine.
Both aware of the potential innovation that digital technologies can bring to the world of medicine, Pfizer and IBM launched a groundbreaking research project on Parkinson’s Disease.
IBM’s machine-learning capabilities will allow the pharmaceutical company to deploy a system of mobile devices and sensors to give doctors and researchers real-time access to critical disease symptoms. This information can make valuable connections between signs and other clinical data.
This will not only revolutionize the field but also show that digital technologies can improve the world if they are embraced.
Hire specialist staff – Subway
You can only achieve digital transformation after some time. With so many factors to consider, you will benefit from having specialists in certain areas of your business.
Although Subway’s CIO is still in its infancy in digital strategy, it still needs to catch up to the chance. Carman Wenkoff, the CIO of Subway, is responsible for overseeing core capabilities, such as its website, mobile applications, payment systems, and loyalty programs. She has recruited a team of marketing, technology, and operational experts.
These new employees will be responsible for redesigning the store, including the self-service kiosks.
Wenkoff, just about to launch his new digital recruitment venture, said the company would take time to achieve its strategic goals.
Subway has diverse new digital roles, including data analytics, campaign planning, and software development for digital, graphic design, and user design experts.
It is not only the restructuring of departments and the acquisition of digital specialists that will help drive future success but also those in your business who learn valuable skills and gain practical experience by working with recruits.
Digital is the new reality in our lives. Companies – like those mentioned above – who embrace the impact of digital on their customers’ personal and professional lives will thrive today, tomorrow, and for many years to come.
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