Did you feel that? That’s the digital landscape shifting.

“An important part of our jobs is to evangelize automation.”

I’m an optimist. I can’t help it. With every vaccine jabbed and each restriction lifted – whether here in Canada or elsewhere in the word – I feel like we’ve come through the wall. We may be battered, but we’re here with our dukes up, ready to take on… what, exactly? 

Let’s have a look ahead.

#1 Business lesson learned

The biggest business lesson learned through the pandemic was one of preparedness. Organizations that were already set up with mobile access to storage and services fared well. For others, COVID was a wake-up call for business continuity and the push needed to finally commit to digitizing processes. For some, it was a matter of survival. For others, a competitive advantage. 

Convenience by any other name

Call it mobile. Call it remote. Call it on-demand. Whatever you call it, call it convenient. Now that we’ve digitized workflows, making it possible for constituents, customers, and employees to operate off-site, that demand won’t diminish. There will be continued pressure to automate operations to support remote transactions and anytime access. 

People will no longer tolerate queuing up to renew licenses. Work-from-home arrangements will persist with hub-based models long after economies fully reopen. Contracts won’t revert to printed pages, email attachments and couriers, waiting for parties to physically sign paper agreements. 

The modernization that social distancing brought is here to stay. Electronic signatures is a good example of one tech tool that became pivotal for business recovery. And where would we be without Zoom, Slack, cloud-based solutions like Salesforce and other communication and productivity tools that have played a key role in keeping operations running?

What we’re seeing now is a collective shift in thinking among business executives: the admission that digital transformation isn’t just a stopgap measure to weather crises, but an imperative to future-proof business and stay competitive. This new approach to digitization is planned and proactive. 

And that brings up the subject of digital readiness. 

Digital readiness

If a digital response to COVID was a knee-jerk reaction to keeping doors open, the next digital transformation projects will be intentional. With forethought. Part of broader, corporate modernization plans. Plans like these force companies to take stock of their own digital readiness. 

New research bodes well for Canada’s digital evolution. Two-thirds of Canadian companies are well on their path to digital transformation. What do these companies have in common? They score well on benchmarks for digital readiness like having strong, strategic leaders. Like fostering a culture of openness to change. Like being motivated to create great user experiences.

Deepening customer engagement

So how do we do better in this new landscape? The road ahead will not only require making the right choices for digital transformation projects, but truly socializing them as well. For the sake of survival, we asked everyone to be more flexible – accept new ways of working without questioning too much. But the bar has been officially raised. These next digital moves will take deeper customer engagement to achieve full impact.

With a fresh appetite for digitization and its growing importance for success, we owe it to our clients, staff, and citizens, to ensure they experience the value in new methods. Engagement is critical. An important part of our jobs is to evangelize automation. To capitalize on previous inroads made with remote access and simplified processes. To maximize new investments made in digital projects and strive for full adoption. 

In this transition year, as we emerge from lockdowns, let’s take lessons learned from necessity and use them to guide our transitions to digital processes that serve everyone well.