One positive characteristic of crisis is it creates an environment for rapid innovation. Digital transformation of all business sectors has always been in progress before COVID-19, and the present crisis will do more to make business owners see the reasons to go digital.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to create new or modify existing business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. This reimagining of business in the digital age is Digital Transformation.
The accelerated pace of innovation during crisis, especially one like this is one concept a well calculated mindset should look out for and not take for granted as one must not to be left out of joining the innovation process. In a matter of weeks, we brought children home and put virtually all education online and religious activities. This kind of structural change typically takes decades or sometimes generations. Just imagine all the mind-numbing committee meetings. A crisis removes or overrides the natural resistance of humans to change. There is a “have-to” attitude. This definition of “strategic” is very simple: “doing things before you have to” because cultivating a “have-to” attitude is really challenging outside of a crisis.
We are in the midst of a public health crisis whose infectious nature is causing serious economic pain which, by all indicators, will result in a very new normal. “The scale of change and the speed at which it’s happening is shining a bright light on the fact that companies are facing a once-in-a-generation shift. And for all the uncertainty about what the future will look like it’s clear already that it will be digital,”. What will that new normal look like for the printing industry? We don’t know. What we do know is that print businesses that are far ahead their journey of digital transformation will perform far better in the new normal.
Do you have an online strategy for your print business? Recent customer behavior research shows that digital interaction with B2B customers is now two times more important than traditional channels with more than a 30% jump since before the COVID-19 crisis hit, meaning by now with the rush to go digital the statistics of business going online must be double the initial 30%
Remember, “Digital transformation is the process of using digital technologies to create new or modify existing business processes.” Nowhere does it say, “Wait until your customer asks for it.” The future is digital, which we know for sure; COVID-19 is a crisis that just accelerated what was already happening. Tech-ready companies are accelerating their transformations. Laggards are settling down and just trying to survive. Even if your product is physical, you have to deploy digital tools in order to optimize the business digitally. The very best staff in the world cannot compete with a digitally optimized competitor.
