The Role of Culture in Digital Transformation

When we talk about the culture, especially the business culture of a digital marketing agency; then we mean that it is a blend of two very important elements, which are ‘People’ and ‘Technology.’ One very obvious thing to note is, technologies can indeed do wonders only when there are the right people to drive it. So, it is the workforce that gives it their all to adapt to all the transformational changes.

The prediction by the IDC FutureScape for Worldwide Digital Transformation says that 65% of global GDP will get digitized by 2022 and will drive over $6.8 trillion of direct DX investments from 2020 to 2023.

IDC also states that by 2025, 75% of business leaders (driven by volatile global conditions) will leverage digital platforms and ecosystem capabilities to adapt their value chains to new markets, ecosystems, and industries.

Infusing the digital culture:

Going through a transformation of the business culture is very similar to starting an organization right from the very first brick. There is no doubt that it is an intimidating job. However, digital transformation (DX) surely has the company’s heart and is primarily centered on re-inventing the processes and the behaviors. Once the digital transformation is embedded into the organization, it tactically gets aligned to the organization and everything related to it, such as its objectives, strategies. Thus, digital transformation plays a huge part in underpinning success. 

Here is what value digital culture can bring to the table:

  •         Helps in bringing mental agility into the organization.
  •         Organization gets more coordinated in terms of the workflow.
  •         Digital culture banishes hierarchy, by engaging the employees in the digital marketing process.
  •         It also pushes and includes inclusive growth of the employees.

 Here is how culture plays a huge role in the digital transformation: 

 A: Customer Alignment

For the digital marketing agency, it is important to stay true to their customers. Focus on technology in excess and these processes can end up losing sight of the target audience. Hence, it is essential to note that the digital transformation process is more like a customer-led organization by building the business in and around the customers. 

It is normal for organizations to get jolted into the whole process of digital transformation as they fear that they would get left behind in the rat race. 

Businesses should always start with the digital transformation process after understanding who their customers are and what they want. It is also important to understand that the digital culture is entirely customer-centric, and the sooner the organizations seep it in, the better for them. Therefore, irrespective of the channel, the focus should always be on the customer experience.

 B: Data-Driven 

Organizations need to make decisions that are based on data. The programs of digital transformation can easily stall due to unclear cases, which makes it easy for the leaders to cling to traditional sales. A culture that is ready for a change through a digital transformation agency is data-driven and commercially minded. First, ideas get tested, and then decisions are made based on the evidence which gets collected. 

 Data-driven decisions for a very big part of the whole digital transformation. It is now all about – 

 Moving away from those traditional cycle of deciding the future move during those annual meetings where all the planning takes place and then spending the entire year, stick to the plan 

-To

Building an organization where there is immense learning that is pretty adaptable and considers the external factors as well. 

It takes investment in the capabilities of the data and the talent, which the businesses five years ago would have surely taken as a luxury. In DX, it is the data that drives the decisions about the future, gives real-time insights and suggestions where talent is required.  

 C: Agile Designs

Many times, digital transformation efforts do get hindered due to stalled or slow decisions, which also get fuelled due to the internal politics of the different committees. The success of the digital transformations primarily depends on the speed and the ability of the individuals to navigate between the strategy, development, planning, and execution without actually spending time on the meetings. This finally comes down to the agility of the organization, which does take considerable time to build. Agility is one thing that cannot be surely switched on or paid for like any new piece of technology. 

 As per Deloitte’s research, organizations with a high level of digital maturity tend to be inclined towards distributed leadership. This is because they move towards taking baby steps to move from the vertical to project-based structures to move at the right pace and keep up with the speed of the changes which are taking place in the industry. 

Last Words 

One of the biggest tips to the organizations approaching digital transformation is to begin by making sure of the customer alignment levels. In the beginning, organizations need to invest in sustained efforts to help teams develop a deeper empathy with customers during the transformation process.

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