Disrupted or Transformed: The New Reality

The new digital world, while a land of promise and opportunity, can be difficult to navigate as it matures and as your audience becomes more demanding and discerning. Yet most organizations continue to embrace the status quo. Why is that? More importantly, what can be done to remedy this problem? Many companies are coming to a fork in the road. Choose the right direction and you will digitally transform into a industry leader that is thriving in the new world. But if you choose the wrong path, you run the risk of becoming another victim of digital disruption. That's what we will discuss today.

What's Wrong?

Low Digital Quotient: McKinsey has coined a new phrase to describe organizational maturity in the digital world. Companies have a digital quotient(DQ) and many of them need improvement says McKinsey. Digital performance today is critical to an organization's viability and a key determiner of success in the future. The sophistication of your digital strategy and the execution of your digital initiatives according to McKinsey is what separates the leaders from the laggards in 2016. The laggards are headed for disruption while the leaders are paving their way to Digital Transformation.

Stuck in Current Business Model: Will you be the next Blockbuster or Uber? Is the current way you go to market and make money sustainable? According to McKinsey, it is a 'broader range of customer needs" that organizations need to constantly monitor and address. This may require a pivot in the current business model. It's a tightrope walk between the status quo and possible disruption or transformation. Keep your eye on creating value for your customers and adjust as needed. It may require a tweak to your current approach. By contrast, it may require a rip and replace.

Changing Competitive Set: Likewise, the path which leads you to transformation may bring you into competition with new players. The new business model needs to account for current and future threats in the form of the competitive landscape.

Insufficient Organizational Alignment: The digital laggards today are not aligned internally and do not have executive buy in. In many cases, the organizational culture is the key factor behind the success or failure to be aligned. Is the culture open and fluid? Or is it stuck in the "didn't we used to have it all?" past.

Playbook for Change:

So how should companies navigate their way to transformation and not fall victim to disruption?
Redefine How You Serve Your Customers: A recent IBM study revealed that 75% of consumers expect businesses to understand their individual needs. Data is now your main source of leverage in the fight for survival and excellence in driving new levels of positive customer experience. The effective leveraging of data is critical to a marketing organization's ability to create omni-channel experiences for these more demanding consumers and business buyers. And according to Gartner, 69% of marketing decisions will be quantitatively driven by 2017.  Marketers are being called upon to not only ring the cash register, but also to analyze data and attribute value for their efforts. According to Gartner,  "using data to inform creativity to generate demand, converting demand to sale, and measuring and attributing value across channels and media" is the new virtuous circle of success.

  "Data Is The New Oil"-Kevin Plank, UnderArmour

Conquer complexity: 84% of marketers in a recent Salesforce.com study believe that thelevel of complexity in their business is going to spike over the next 5 years. (see the HuffPo article, High Performing CMO's...)
This complexity will likely take the form of adopting "new business models, ecosystems, and collaboration processes that cut out unnecessary layers and re- imagine how work can get done for better, faster, more cost-effective results."
The digital leaders will be skilled at predicting technological trends, and thinking on their feet. Companies in the new digital world need to plan for the long term but also be ready to make fast decisions as new channels, stakeholders and technologies rapidly appear. Change, my friends, is constant so expectations need to be adjusted accordingly.

Push for Executive Buy In(and more budget, too!): 83% of high performing marketers report having “their executive team’s complete commitment to their marketing strategy.”(Salesforce) Therefore, the marketing leader also needs to be a master salesperson. Yes, you got it right, salesperson. Not only does the marketing leader need to know how to sell the company's products and services, he/she needs to be able to effectively make the case for more resources and if necessary, major realignment. She needs to sell the BOD, and the rest of the senior team to commit the funds to fuel the required changes.

Innovation spending: Not many experts are pointing to this key ingredient in winning the battle for your digital future. Gartner recently found that companies spend on average 10% of their marketing budgets on innovation. This figure needs to be shifted upward and dramatically. A new digital value proposition is going to require more experimentation and creation of new technologies and solutions.


Win the War For Talent: And finally, but certainly not the least important is recruiting and building the team. Gartner says you must recruit in accordance with your level of digital maturity. Makes sense. Do you need a change agent to come in and crack some eggs? And where are these art+science marketers? Are new compensation plans required? Your ability to recruit the right players to help drive your digital competence is another key.


Phew, that was a lot to digest, but it is just the beginning. I am interested in what you are seeing in your organization. Let me know. Do you think your company is making the right moves? Good luck!