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March 2, 2021
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According to the Oxford Business Group Africa COVID-19 Survey 2020, almost half (48%) of chief executive officers say their organisation is currently investing significantly or very significantly in innovative tech solutions to allow operations to resume or continue to run smoothly. As companies increasingly adopt emerging technologies to build new business models, enhance customer experiences, and drive new efficiencies, they will need to be mindful of spearing ahead without a clear digital strategy in mind. Organisations must identify where to best take advantage of digitisation and invest in the activities that will have the most positive impact and accelerate their performance in the long term. The firms that will be successful in capturing value from their digital transformation investment will be those who took the time to understand what to digitise, what not to digitise and when to digitise. While applications have significant potential, only a few organisations are ready to take full advantage of them, which is fuelling a debate around the productivity impact of digital investments.
Ashley Singh, Chief Information Officer at Sanlam Corporate, notes that in the current South African financial services sector the focus is not on digitising components but rather on digitising the whole, meaning that it is all about giving the customer one digital experience instead of several split experiences. It is important therefore that businesses find what is “fit for the large economy”. This idea of giving the customer one digital experience fits with what is mentioned above about creating value and giving the customer an experience, so it is all about providing a quality service whilst taking the customer through an experience.
Digitisation allows businesses to use data to learn more about their customers and what customers think about their products and services, which in turn helps the business improve their products and services and overall customer experiences. Most importantly, digitisation encourages innovation for organisations and their employees who become more aware of new trends and possibilities offered by new technologies. While digitisation is not an easy process, if ignored, companies run the risk of not being around in the near future.
There are many ways in which organisations can digitise their business as a way to digitally transform themselves. Alvin Phiri, Digital Transformation consultant states that before businesses try to invest in technology, they should first reinvent their business model. This entails detecting digitisation viability, followed by identifying the right tech that will drive the business decision, using platforms that people are familiar with to enable interaction with customers, which could be for example WhatsApp.
COOi believes organisations need to focus on firming up their business or growth strategy. Managers will need to ask themselves some tough questions:
• What is the purpose of your business?
• What is your value proposition?
• What problem are you solving?
• Who are you solving it for?
• Where do you want to grow?
• How do you want to grow?
• What is the purpose of your business?
• What is your value proposition?
• What problem are you solving?
• Who are you solving it for?
• Where do you want to grow?
• How do you want to grow?
We encourage you to download our e-playbook titled Rethink.Reimagine.Innovate. as a starting point for this process. In addition to answering these questions, managers will then need to look at gaps in capability within the organisation that must be filled in order for the organisation to succeed in the above drawn strategy. Some managers might find that there are numerous gaps. In such instances, there is a science to how one may choose which gaps to start with. Begin by considering the question: If we solve this problem, which one would give us the most cost savings or revenue? And then ask yourself which of these would be the easiest to implement. We call these the low hanging fruits. Once you are settled on the problems or solutions to introduce, which ones to tackle first, we suggest you build prototypes for your top 5 or less and then get user or customer feedback. The most well received prototyped solution is the digitisation project you should implement.
Rapelang Rabana, Founder and Chair at Rekindle Learning, further states that when it comes to digitisation the first question should be “Is this business model viable in the long-term?” Rapelang states that businesses must include technology and innovation in their business strategy as it is the enabler that will get a business to strategic results. Organisations therefore should make technology and innovation part of their strategy and not as separate entities as these two variables will be what help organisations reach their end results.
Today, digitisation has been weaved into our business strategies voluntarily and involuntarily, is has become an key ingredient of business success, not only allowing businesses to future-proof themselves but increasing productivity and ensuring that organisations do not lag behind their competitors. COOi Studios encourages digitisation to advance the purpose of the organisation.
“There is no alternative to digital transformation. Visionary companies will carve out new strategic options for themselves — those that don’t adapt, will fail.”-Jeff Bezos, Amazon
Today, digitisation has been weaved into our business strategies voluntarily and involuntarily, is has become an key ingredient of business success, not only allowing businesses to future-proof themselves but increasing productivity and ensuring that organisations do not lag behind their competitors. COOi Studios encourages digitisation to advance the purpose of the organisation.
“There is no alternative to digital transformation. Visionary companies will carve out new strategic options for themselves — those that don’t adapt, will fail.”-Jeff Bezos, Amazon
