The modern business world has gone digital in its quest to reach new audiences and achieve increased societal impact. It is no surprise that today's biggest enterprises are adopting a digital strategy.
The gains of using a digital strategy are many. It makes work easier, faster, and more efficient. This article discusses digital strategy and its place in the modern workplace.
What is it?
A digital strategy is a roadmap that seeks to integrate digital solutions in the workplace. It is designed to computerize regular workflows and create a technology-driven workplace. When affected, it'll create new workplace capabilities and competitive advantages. Its ultimate goal is to make work more efficient, convenient, faster, and more productive.
Your digital strategy may be executed in certain operational areas of your business or all across the board. Some companies may design their production operations using a digital strategy. Others may need it for their marketing campaigns or for bookkeeping. Whether it is used in assembly lines, banking halls, or market stalls, its constant feature is the trail of data and other technology inputs.
When do we use it?
A digital strategy will be valuable to the cause of your business when you use it to:
Improve work performance
Your digital strategy can help you improve workplace performance in many ways. It can provide new ways of performance optimization and assessment. It can also make your work more efficient, faster, and safer.
Speed up product development
Using a digital strategy, you can reinvent how your products are designed and improve your user experience index. You can get crucial buy-in from the consumer and other industry players on key product aspects. You can also create standardized or customized products to suit different tastes and pockets.
Increase production capacity
Going digital can make a big difference if your work demands large production volumes. You can introduce automation, manage repetitive tasks, and set up bigger assembly configurations.
Introduce workplace innovations
A digitized workplace will adopt creative and novel ways of doing things. It can help you reimagine how you carry out tasks that were once monotonous, crude, and difficult. The products turn out with much-improved features.
What business questions is it helping us to answer?
A digital strategy serves several purposes in the workplace. And the following questions provide insight into these purposes.
Who are your customers?
Customer segmentation makes the job of sales and marketing much easier. It'll also reduce wastage and improve your stock turnovers. A digital strategy can help you achieve this goal by identifying your products' target market.
What do the customers want?
Since the advent of social media, companies have come to engage their customers more. They can observe market trends, get feedback, and get crucial buy-in on product developments.
How do you attract new customers?
You're not the only seller in the market, so you must find a way to put your products in top consideration. Your digital strategy can involve compelling marketing campaigns that build hype around your products. And you can take it up from there.
How do you keep the customers?
What can you do to keep your customers from patronizing your competition? What new ideas and strategies can you effect to keep them interested in your products? The answers to these questions lie in your digital strategy.
How do we use it?
Before opting for a digital strategy, it is important to answer the following questions.
Will digital technology positively impact the business you're involved in? Will it add more value to your operations and improve results?
Will your target audience appreciate the value proposition offered by digital technology?
Will it create any competitive advantage for you? Will it make your work more efficient, safer, and productive?
If the answer to these questions is yes, you can proceed to draft the strategy. Below are a few points to note while drafting a digital strategy in your workplace.
Identify the business objectives, goals, and outcomes you aim to achieve using the digital strategy.
Gather the relevant resources—man, machine, computers, and other digital infrastructure needed to effect the strategy.
Account for all the changes to your work structure and culture covered by the digital strategy. Communicate these changes to staff and other relevant stakeholders.
Set aside a modest timeframe to adopt and execute the strategy.
Practical Example
A fashion showroom seeks to effect a digital strategy for its marketing campaign. Its strategy targets social media marketing to create awareness about its upcoming releases. It engages popular influencers, and places targeted ads on popular platforms. Thus, it can create a ready market when it rolls out the clothing line.
Advantages
It can create more competitive businesses
Technology has become the driving force behind many of the most competitive businesses. It has created endless possibilities in the way that it makes work efficient, flexible, and productive. And it is all down to the use of a digital strategy.
It creates opportunities for sales and marketing
A digital strategy leverages endless possibilities in the internet—the global marketplace. Social media sites like Facebook and Instagram and e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Walmart have become the go-to market for everything. And a digital strategy can help you plug into this large market.
It makes communication easier
Digitalization has changed the way that people communicate. With a few clicks on your device, you can relay tons of information to as many people as possible. You can send group memos, create awareness for new releases, and engage with the customers; the list is endless.
It leads to improved workplace convenience
Think of all the big moves you can make with technology without getting off your seat. Today's digital strategies have adopted automation, robotics, remote work, and other initiatives that have made work easier.
Disadvantages
It can disrupt your existing workplace experience
People process change in different ways. And if your digital strategy reshapes your workplace, it may cause certain disruptions. It is better to carry out these changes in stages rather than dump them on your staff—and leave them struggling to adapt.
It may take considerable time to effect
Your digital strategy will need to take shape in the minds of all your workers before you can see results. And if your strategy calls for innovative and drastic changes, rushing it may pose severe consequences. You'll need time to see it through, and time is quite a luxury for some businesses.
It poses data security concerns
With hackers on the prowl for sensitive data, the need for heightened security around digital platforms increases. You'll put your customers at risk if you fail to invest in the right security infrastructure.
It may come with high costs
Effecting a digital strategy might come with some steep capital costs for many businesses. They may need to invest in redesigning the workplace to fit the needed hardware and software. Employees may also need training. And this can sum up to present significant cost implications.
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