Digital transformation. Mobile optimization. Data analytics.
These terms are getting thrown around left and right these days and it can all seem a little daunting, overwhelming or even a bit confusing. You may be asking yourself:
What do all of these terms mean?
Why is it all so important?
How can I tap into all of this in a way that makes sense for my business?
What kind of resources and money might all of this entail?
What is the real benefit to my business?
Let me start by saying that digital transformation isn’t so much a massive, expensive project you have to take on all at once, as it is a way of evolving the way in which you are already doing business with your consumers.
Your consumers will continue to come to your business for the same reasons, but their expectations and desires for how they’d prefer to interact with your business have changed, so you need to meet them there or risk losing them to other organizations that can offer services to them in the way they’d prefer.
In other words, there is no expectation (nor a need) for your company to all of a sudden become a technology company. However, consumers - especially those among the financially active Millennial and Gen Z demographics – are expecting your business to meet their desire and expectations to expand the channels of business and communication into the digital realm.
The “Why” of it all is this: If you wait too long to begin making your digital transformation you risk damaging relationships with many of your most relished consumers, and you will very quickly begin losing them to your digitally-apt competitors.
There are essentially three major reasons why you need to hop on this moving “digital transformation train” before it’s too late.
1. Growing Competition
To keep your consumers, you need to compete with the growing number of organizations that are after your consumer base. The strongest among these competing organizations can be bucketed into two categories:
Traditional financial organizations that have already vastly expanded their digital capabilities to meet their consumers’ needs. Think: large banks and finance companies that offer person-to-person payment platforms and are building AI strategies.
Non-traditional Fintech organizations that are using real research and data to creat tools and services that they know consumers are yearning for, and these consumer-centric organizations are growing exponentially.
What all of these competitors have in common is that they have taken the time to figure out what their consumers want, and have given them exactly that.
So it’s not so much that you need to do exactly what these organizations are doing in the way of consumer technology offerings – in fact, that may not be the right move for your business at all. It is more doing like they did and providing services to your consumers that meet their particular needs and expectations, otherwise they will go somewhere where their needs are being addressed.
2. Consumer Engagement & Enablement
Communicating with your consumers on platforms they engage in everyday can be a huge money maker for your business!
Consider how you interact with your preferred retailers today, versus how you interacted with them just a few years ago. All that these businesses did – and continue to do - is learn how to utilize modern channels and technologies to make life easier for you and their other customers.
Try to do as they have done! Listen to what you consumers are asking for and needing from you, and do as much as you can to address those needs!
There are numerous communication channels you can utilize to transform and personalize relationships with your consumers, such as:
You don’t need to start using each one of these channels all at once, but you should dive into the channels that would result in the highest penetration and engagement among your consumers. Leveraging information you have on hand about your consumers can help you to identify which channels your consumers would likely value most.
3. Leveraging Data
This third element is not mutually exclusive from the other two mentioned above. In fact, it is more like the glue that binds your entire digital strategy together.
You may not be aware of it, but you have plenty of data on hand about your consumers, you just have to know where to look and how it can be utilized. If leveraged well you can uncover patterns in your consumers’ behaviors and interactions, which will enable you to identify your consumers’ preferences on a group or individual level.
In other words, properly used data can give you a 360 perspective on the behaviors of your consumers so you can evolve and optimize your business strategies to best serve their wants & needs so you do not run the risk of losing them to the growing competition. This is the reason why there are specialized vendors cropping all over the place to assist with proper collection and utilization of data.
The be-all, end-all of all of this is that you need to get on this moving train now or run the risk of it being too late. What might your business look like just one to two years from now if you start implementing a data-driven digital strategy, versus if you do not?
Do you want to be like Amazon or Borders? Netflix or Blockbuster? Kodak or Instagram?
The choice is yours, but I advise you make the smart (necessary!) one.