What do the best digital pioneers have in common? They have led and grown their businesses through developments that have digitally reformed industries as we once knew them.
.Not very long ago, Elon Musk said ‘Adapt or Die,’ and what he meant by that was that only businesses that use digital tools to reinvent themselves will be relevant and successful; others will be cleared out. Top digital pioneers in India and globally led this transformation through their commitment to disruption. They have ensured that this digital ethos permeates the entire organization, thereby normalizing creativity and innovation.
The digital transformation market worldwide is projected to touch $1,009.8 billion by 2025 from $469.8 billion in 2020.
This 16.5% CAGR digital success over five years will be achieved by thinking and acting like digital leaders. Here are a few lessons by industry leaders that have ensured digital success.
1. You don’t have to be original, just relevant
Sanjiv Bajaj, a famous Indian financial personality and Chairman and Managing Director of Bajaj Finserv, was a late entrant in the saturated financial services and insurance sector. Despite not being the first mover, he took his company to the realms of success by becoming relevant to the end consumer. He did not play by traditional rules and instead developed innovative business models and digitized internal and external processes to best suit customers.
Integrating traditional finance business with a technological edge he has been instrumental in infusing financial services deeper into India. According to Sanjiv Bajaj, one cannot just end at a ‘me too’ product. It needs to adapt to technologically advanced ideas and become agile and better equipped to market responses. The whole idea is to make your customers understand your business and do what you do better than the others in the same field—in short, refurbishing existing concepts to become more pertinent to the consumers.
2. Play the “what if” game
Top digital pioneers in India go beyond what is considered the norm. They effectively implement ideas that distinguish them from their competition while simultaneously ensuring industry change.
To get these potentially disruptive ideas, team members are encouraged to come forth with unique and innovative ideas that would either provide the company with a competitive advantage or lead it to realise its strategic goals. In this ‘what if’ session, the ideas are then brainstormed to make them more realistic while sticking to their disruptive nature.
3. Challenge fundamental “truths”
Just like the ‘what if’ brainstorming session, the best digital pioneers in India and across the world, use another similar exercise to boost critical and futuristic thinking. This approach involves challenging the “fundamental truth” declarations about products, customers, the market, and the internal culture.
Employees very rarely dispute that customers need your services and products. But making them imagine a scenario where they actually are not necessary can motivate them to think out of the box. Essentially, you are stimulating them to think in a fundamentally opposite scenario, bringing out some interesting thoughts.
4. Operate as a business first: Being digital is less important than your funding model
Don’t repeat the mishap of the1990s when digital commerce got busted because web-based organizations were yet to resolve their funding models. The best digital pioneers in India are the ones who do not get carried away by technologically laden buzzwords and only make the shift when they have clarity about it. Jumping on the bandwagon when you are not ready for it and cannot generate profit—it’s a lost cause.
5. Some of the best ideas come from fusing traditional know-how with digital applications
Before moving into digital, pioneers like PayTM, CRED, and iTunes Store had a solid understanding of their fields. A vast repertoire of knowledge, skills, and reference points is vital to carving a niche and attaining unparalleled digital success.
6. Prepare yourself to make decisions in real-time
KFC and Dove had two of the most productive online advertising campaigns. The reason for this was the real-time management of their publicity. Through its campaign for real beauty, Dove provided an opportunity for its users to engage with it and act in real-time, based on the users’ suggestions.
KFC’s campaign almost had to be stalled due to the negative publicity it received. However, how they handled the communication post the launch boosted the campaign and made it surpass its expected impact.
The common theme in the two is adaptability to evolving circumstances through real-time decision making.
7. Look at something that genuinely fulfills a need
In India, top digital pioneers advocate not rushing digital and new formats of working in places that don’t offer much. Creating extravagant formats for simple ideas without clearly addressing the problem-solving aspect of the concept does not work well. Technology comes second to the actual use of the service. Who is your service for and how will it help them are the questions that should be the essence of your strategy.
8. Measure your success using data
The amount of data available online to manage your digital success is unimaginable. There is a huge and magnificent opportunity that is not being fully capitalized on. One can take decisions and correct courses using the information available from search engines and social media campaigns. The Each action on the internet has a measurable reaction that should be studied and evaluated to plan your future course of success. The information in the form of accurate data is available; one just needs to interpret it and take better business calls.
If your work is not worth your while, you cannot pretend for too long.
Catchphrases do not enamor digital pioneers do not enamor digital pioneers do not enamor digital pioneers; they have not achieved digital success by merely adopting technologies like AR/VR, AI or ML just because it is ”’cool’ to do so. They actually understand the use case, application and benefits of these innovations and evaluate if they are a fit for their product offerings.
Top digital pioneers in India and globally have ensured that their businesses are redesigning the landscape of multiple industries, from financial services and logistics to transportation and manufacturing. These leaders strongly believe in leveraging the power of disruption to create something valuable for their end-user. While digital success is important, these finance leaders have first become well-versed with the fundamentals of their business and then applied technological know-how to differentiate their offerings.
They have made themselves relevant not by being first movers but by adapting and becoming agile to changing market environments. With certain lessons in place, they have shown the world that achieving digital success is not a distant dream.
