Transforming technology while navigating disruption

Digital transformation is more continuum than destination, the further we go, the better prepared we are to adapt and thrive in the face of change and uncertainty. With technology, the future always starts now. Every minute counts. But digital transformation can be a daunting prospect for many organizations especially in the midst of a pandemic.

Local systems can, of course, be tweaked with comparatively little disruption, but there is no easy shortcut to the systemic digital transformation the operation really needs. Until the pandemic struck it had been tempting for many to see such an initiative as a long-horizon project stretching enduringly into the future. But that horizon has since accelerated into view faster than anyone could have imagined, exposing those organizations least prepared for it. Compound this with the disadvantage of not having the quick, responsive customer insight that better technology would have provided and some big names have reached unstable tipping points faster than anyone expected. Meanwhile, those with well-developed digital capabilities have been systematically future-proofing their organizations with faster, cheaper and more flexible ways of working, making them more alert and better co-ordinated in their ability to respond and thrive through adversity. Above all, the latest technologies are enabling them to sharpen their customer understanding and keep them in-tune with evolving needs, whatever the world throws at them. They are the ones that will continue to thrive with resilience though adversity.

Your organization must address three things on the journey towards digital transformation, we invite you to explore on the following tabs:

          1.Harnessing customer data

          2.Overcoming organizational inertia

          3.Focusing on your core strengths

The way to a customer’s heart is through their data

We all want to nurture closer, more trusted customer relationships, don’t we? Who hasn’t been impressed by the way Google transformed the world’s expectations of customer profiling by tracking and gathering detailed online behavior to create valuable and marketable profiles of not just their customers, but ours as well? While most organizations have ready access to customer profiling data (off-line as well as on), many have lacked the processing skills and technical capabilities to analyze and interpret online data the way Google does. Most have, therefore, simply tapped into Google’s accessible expertise.

But this is all about to change. From 2022, in response to rising consumer pressure for greater privacy, Google will stop third-party cookie tracking for advertising and browsing. This means that they will no longer track and store information about visitor behavior on our own websites (nor anyone else’s but their own); only we can do that now. So, just as Google will be ratcheting-up the tracking and interpreting of its own YouTube and Google Search site data, so the rest of the marketing world now has the challenge of tracking and analyzing their own site traffic and learning from it (without their rivals having the chance to second guess them via Google analytics). It goes without saying that those that can’t risk being outmaneuvered by those that can. So, the further an organization has traveled on its digital transformation journey, the better equipped it will be to use this intelligence for its own competitive advantage. It is a golden opportunity to enrich the close customer connection and insight that is needed now more than ever, to stay in-tune with customers in an increasingly dynamic and unpredictable world.

Deloitte Digital is a world leader in helping clients navigate the complexities of data technology to deliver the practical solutions that will enable any business to thrive and grow. This nearly always begins with finding the best possible way to develop and maintain tight, responsive customer relationships. Who said data wasn’t sexy?

Overcoming transformation inertia

One thing the pandemic has taught us is that we can’t sit still in the face of adversity. Fast responses are essential if we are to be a resilient organization with a sustainable business model that retains its distinctiveness and relevance as times and market conditions change.

Some of the most challenging obstacles to implementing digital transformation are internal. The good news is that this should (theoretically at least) make them easier to control and resolve. Perhaps it is the inertia of a slow-moving system that resists change, a hesitancy to invest, unwillingness to compromise, a perceived transfer of control, or one of many other, all too familiar, obstacles that stand in the way of progress. Contemplating the cost of not transforming often galvanizes opinion. After all, sitting still, against the context of a fast-moving world of technology, means going backwards and being left behind. Look again at the organizations that thrived most convincingly over the past year and you will see a close correlation between what they delivered and what their customers most needed and trusted them to provide all driven by responsive customer management systems that enabled them to listen attentively and respond with agility and precision. You will also see confident, successful operations fit for the future, poised and ready for the next challenge.

At Deloitte we speak ‘boardroom’. Our breadth of expertise at the highest level, in every discipline from finance to marketing, HR to PR, IT to QT, helps our clients to frame the challenge from every perspective and provide trusted solutions that everyone can believe in. Together we can give your organization the confidence in the future it needs to overcome the organizational inertia of the past.

Focus on your core strengths

The pandemic has seen global business swing towards certain technologies (favoring ecommerce and other online or app-based services, etc.). For some organizations this has provided a welcome tailwind, for others it has meant reconfiguring their operations to find new ways of delivering against fast-changing customer needs. The danger is that this can become a distraction from what they do best, throwing them into direct competition with rivals that have more experience, lower costs and technologies that have been optimized over time for these ways of working.

The solution lies in reviewing exactly where the organization plays in the value chain, defining where and how it adds most value, then determining how to focus on what it does best. Technology solutions can then be built around this and might, increasingly, favor the use of outside ecosystems and partnerships proven expertise, typically using cloud-based SaaS technologies, that can transform the business, leaving it free to focus on maintaining the competitive advantage it needs to thrive.

Deloitte can help with every step of the journey. From helping you shape your organization and brand strategies, defining what your future positioning should be through to helping architect the journey to where you want to be. Our breadth and depth of capabilities and our extensive network of specialist implementation partners mean that we can move quickly and confidently towards enabling your core strengths to add more value than ever.