A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives, a curated forum for enterprise technology leaders, nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the CIOApplications Editorial Board.
Aesop
Digital Transformations For A Retail Brand
There is a common perception about digital transformation is a technology project. In reality, there are far more than only a technology considerations. It requires a clear vision of the company business model that identifying new revenue streams and optimize existing process for the digital era. Technology for sure still play an important role for providing right solutions to the revamped business needs. Employee also has to be equipped with change/growth mindset for embracing the transformation which relates to the company culture. Inevitably, there will be change in skillsets to operate the new business while its essential the company has to build the learning muscle and provide the learning opportunities. As it’s a transformation, it can be continuous process for many years instead of a once off success. Its not hard to imagine the challenge of transformation requires lots of re-integration, system redesign, workflow redesign, data reconciliation. A right KPI/OKR has to be in place to prevent a too early call off of the project just because there are no immediate results.
2. Why digital transformation is so critical for a retail business?
As a retail brand, its at the core of catching up the pulse of consumer appetite. With the increasing penetrations of smartphone and IoT, consumers expectation is changing ever faster. They are looking for a seamless, personalized and convenient shopping experience.
With the rising privacy concerns, brands have to rely more on the first party data and so acquiring the data via cross-channel touch points with a centralized depository is essential
3. How does good looks like for a successful digital transformation ?
It is a common challenge to visualize how much efforts has been spent in digital transformation as change just doesn’t happen overnight. It is not hard to getting buy in at the beginning but after months or years, stakeholders will start to question how big is the impact are being generated from the project. Without a proper indicator in place, project leader will find there is increasing resistance. Some suggestions below can be a quick win but actually can support the continuity of the project until everyone see a significant shift of business model. Define you vision with milestone, short term and long term goal to allow stakeholders to easily track the transformation progress. Shift of business to certain channel / segment / products is a direct indicator. Customer experience should be improved with customer feedback, CSAT, Retention Rates, U&A studies as an objectives measurement. Data availability, accessibility, accuracy should be another way to evaluate the digital transformations. Employee engagement and satisfaction will result in a positive trend as efficiency is improved. In conclude, part of the project is all about communications and don’t be shy to repeat the progress in all internal channel in order to get a wider company to support the transformations.
