No one could have predicted the greater consumer power and increased competition in the digital world. Companies must act now to build a digital strategic advantage to leave their counterparts wondering what will happen next.
A new paradigm has emerged which presents an imperative for digital innovation and engagement. The answer is simple; the digitization of everything. Businesses have already realized that they must use all the necessary digital channels to engage with all their consumers and key stakeholders and maintain relevance with the ever-growing fast pace digital advancement.
Facing the Implications of the Digital Age
However, the real imperative is to pursue innovation and disrupt the traditional business model before the competition does. Without innovative strategies, companies will lose their competitive advantage in an increasing commoditized world. As changes in the digital age accelerates exponentially, the new digital platforms and devices are emerging and its hard to keep up with the expectations of the new generation Y – which means that companies must keep up with the pace of change or lose relevance and perish.
Developing End-To-End Digital Platforms and Responses
Companies must start off by developing a structural approach to assess their digital maturity by understanding the new dynamics and seeing the big picture of what digital engagement means to the business. A comprehensive digital strategy must be developed to rethink business models and cross-channel connectivity to enable continuous engagement with customers, suppliers, employees, stakeholders and investors.
The Use of Digital Channels to Create Seamless and Consistent Engagement
Companies must make use of every digital element to create value for their customers and deliver a valuable experience. For example; a fashion retailer store has to integrate the convenience of web browsing in their physical stores by adding internet enabled kiosks on-site and get the best of both worlds.
Apple stores use mobile point of sale terminals to add the convenience of click to pay to their physical shopping experiences and provide customers with an email receipt to keep track of their shopping. Organizations must focus on delivering a seamless and meaningful cross-channel engagement which means to incorporate the latest technology and adopt a test and learn approach.
Keeping Up with the Pace of the New Digitally Driven Generation
With the proliferation of digital channels, platforms and smart devices, the present generation is more plugged in and serves as the new digital customers with the emergence of the new digital world where their impact is impossible to ignore.
Their aspirations and expectations are formed by the technologies they surround themselves with. They adaptive lifestyles teach them not to accept those brands that dont keep up with the fast paced digital technological innovations.
This generation constitutes a new category of consumers where they are digitally, globally and constantly connected.