The importance of digital transformation

 By  Richard Spångberg

In this fast-changing world, digitalisation shapes customer behaviour and influences how we do business. It’s sink or swim and the ability to manage change effectively is more important than ever.

What drives change?

One of the driving forces behind the changes we see today is called digitalisation: the process of technologically-induced change. It consists of three levels which interact with each other and your business. These can be defined as:

• innovations
• new products and services
• new behaviours

When innovation takes root, complementary infrastructures of products and services usually follow. As people begin to use these products and services, they create new behaviours related to them.

Digitalisation influences the market

Digitalisation produces waves of change across the market. Some of these waves will be smaller, while others will be strong enough to break down old value networks and give way to new ones.

Another development of digitalisation is a rapidly-changing market, where long-term competitive advantages are more difficult to reach and maintain.

Fast changes calls for new strategies

The only constant is change. Instead of seeking long-term competitive advantages, the focus needs to be shifted. Redefine the long term and aim to find transient advantages continually, instead of relying on one for too long.

Adapting to a fast-changing market can be either a challenge or an opportunity. In any case, companies that are able to counter change with strategy and agility will be the winners of tomorrow.

Source: Andervin, M. & Jansson, J. (2016). Leading Digital Transformation.

Create business sustainability through digital transformation

Digital transformation should help you become better equipped to manage change. It’s all about sustainable reality adaptation – the ability to see change before it hits you and having the capacity to respond to it effectively.

At its core, digital transformation is an upgrade to your strategic thinking. The ambition of the transformation process is to create a shift in the underlying structures of your business and how they operate. You’re aiming to create a better strategic position from where you can handle accelerating change.

To do this, you need to be agile. Agility can be strengthened in various areas of your organization, through different approaches. These areas include practices proximate to customers, productivity, or employee management. Other examples are internal processes, technology, and strategy.

We help you handle change

We think digital transformation is the keystone for companies looking to stay sustainable and gain competitive advantages. It is better to look at the concept earnestly today than to make it a subject of the future.

All businesses face a unique starting point and opportunity in this journey. We are currently holding workshops on how you can handle change effectively, analyse and guide your data-driven decisions, as well as providing advisory on how you can best manage this transformation process.

Contact us to kickstart your digital transformation.