Covid 19 has made digital transformation a must for all companies

In this new confined world, everyone and everything must change. As individuals we need to learn to shop differently, live separately while still be collaborative and helpful to our neighbors, eat differently, entertain differently, exercise differently and work differently. For companies it is the same. They must operate in a different way. The main responsibility of a company is to provide a safe work environment for its employees. As such, they must allow employees to either come to work but ensure they respect all safety rules (wash their hands regularly, respect social distance with co-workers, etc.) or they allow working from home. In this latter example, companies need to provide guidelines to ensure employees can still work efficiently. In some countries, working from home has a negative connotation culturally. Employers feel that employees could take advantage of the situation and relax rather than work. Very often, in a digital transformation project, I explain that for some professions working from home could be more beneficial and more efficient. Once, the CEO of a large company in France told me that as long as he was at the helm of the company, nobody would ever work from home. He was convinced that employees working from home would consider it as paid vacation. I bet he regrets his own words right now. As I have mentioned in the past, digital transformation is all about managing change, first for human resources and then for tools. You solve traditional problems with the use of new technology. Digital transformation is not about a revolution at work but an evolution due to new technology being available. Let’s have a look at what needs to change and why Covid 19 will help all of us to change faster.

With today’s pandemic situation, over a third of the world’s population is confined to ensure this virus is eradicated. We see already that many people have lost their jobs and many companies have stopped operating. Companies that are still alive are those that have rapidly adapted. How many examples of shops, services and large companies have we seen transforming their way of doing business by changing their customer journey, experience and their approach to business? In my small town in South West France, even my local cheese shop (a very important element of my French culture) has started to deliver food when even a month ago it was not even on the cards. I very often give the example of the Dodo. As read on Wikipedia, the dodo (Raphus cucullatus) is an extinct flightless bird that was endemic to the island of Mauritius, east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. It is presumed that the dodo became flightless because of the ready availability of abundant food sources and a relative absence of predators on Mauritius. Though the dodo has historically been considered fat and clumsy, it is now thought to have been well-adapted for its ecosystem. As it was flightless and terrestrial and there were no mammalian predators or other kinds of natural enemy on Mauritius the Dodo lived a peaceful and easy life. Like many animals that evolved in isolation from significant predators, the dodo was entirely fearless of humans. This fearlessness and its inability to fly made the dodo easy prey for sailors. The Dodo never evolved because it did not need to. It had all the food it needed and no risk for its life. A comfortable life that led to its extinction. The comparison is easy to understand. While all other species known on Mauritius survived, the Dodo did not. This could be the same with companies that do not take digital transformation projects seriously or think that it is not for them. The major changes we all experience today, will cause unprepared companies to disappear as their competitors will evolve and take all customers with them.

Digital transformation will allow change management and cultural transformation; change in customer journey and customer focus; digitization of the business, data security, privacy and ethics change; evolution of products, services and processes; integration of all data systems; logistics and supply chain improved efficiencies; organizational structure to support a seamless customer experience; personalization experience for customers; transformational leadership (to ensure millennials understand the vision of the company) and finally the end of all silos across the company. Most importantly, digital transformation will allow you and your company to survive in this uncertain world. Digital transformation will not only help companies but also employees to understand why customers have evolved and why it is a must to ensure they match customer needs and ways to purchase.

There is a joke survey currently running on social networks:

Who is leading the digital transformation of your company?

-         CEO

-         CTO

-         CIO

-         Covid 19

This is so true. What was perceived to be something unthinkable about a month ago is now upon us. We are forced to change. This does not mean it will easier, this means get on with it. As mentioned above even my cheese shop owner changed, why not you?

If you are looking for ideas to make a change and use new mind sets and technology to help you, feel free to contact me. I can be found on LinkedIn https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/nicolasbabin/ on Twitter https://twitter.com/Nicochan33 or via my website https://babin-business-consulting.com . Do not waste any more time, contact me!