Blog Article
Four hard facts: Companies that fail to digitize will lose money and reputation
Companies that fail to keep pace with digitalization lose revenue year after year. It’s time to rethink their approach and take advantage of the benefits.
Digital maturity determines the future of your company
According to a study by the German Digital Economy Association (BVDW)[1], the majority of German companies have not yet made significant progress with their digital transformation. One in ten has not even engaged with digitalization to any notable extent and has developed neither initial structures nor expertise. Just 16% have already successfully embarked on the journey and are considered digitized.
These figures are from 2016. That is quite alarming, considering how fast markets, customers, and innovations have evolved. Yet, especially in smaller companies, the question keeps coming up: what’s the point of all this fuss about digitalization and mobile apps?
After all, they’re making a living, their regular customers have been there for years, and with the new customers coming in, they’re ultimately fully booked. And anyway: Where are they supposed to find the time to do that too?
Anyone who thinks this way won’t be able to keep it up forever, because the world keeps turning—and with it, digitalization and everything that has come before. This change is unstoppable, so if you don’t want to be left behind, you should go along with it—and stay successful.
Save time—and invest in digital infrastructure
In this context, the well-known proverb always comes to mind: “Save time, and you’ll have it when you need it.” If you start planning your digital journey early, the need won’t even arise.
Early means: Do it now, because time is of the essence. Even if you don’t see any obvious urgency to change anything in your company, your industry, or among your customers: Don’t forget that many forward-thinking competitors around you are moving forward.
Think of taxi companies and the crisis that transportation services like Uber brought to the industry. Regardless of the prices, these services have won over many customers with their digital offerings—because it was so simple:
A few clicks in the app—and the customer could see where the nearest driver was, when they’d arrive, how quickly they’d reach their destination, and how much the ride would cost. Perfect. At the time, taxis still didn’t have a practical system to offer customers all of that quickly and easily.
Nevertheless, it’s not just about modern IT infrastructure and smart apps. It’s also about agile methods, excellent real-time service, data-driven thinking, and a digital corporate culture. Together, these aspects help give a business the necessary momentum to keep satisfying its customers and delivering real value to them in the future.
On this topic, we’d like to present a few facts below that are designed to give you a boost of motivation and encourage you to rethink your approach.
Facts about digitalization that will convince you.
A. Habits are changing
People have been changing their habits for years—and are shifting more and more activities to the internet. For some time now, they have been doing this primarily on the go via smartphones, which are easy to use anytime, anywhere. Impulsive searches[2]in everyday life, in particular, demand quick answers, and the desire for prompt processing of appointments, orders, and deliveries, for example, is just as prevalent.
Searching the Yellow Pages is a thing of the past, and recommendations are now mostly made on social media. If you and your business aren’t easily accessible there, you’ll disappear from the view of your existing and potential customers. Over time, people will unconsciously and passively favor other providers over you.
B. Streamlining Processes
When used correctly, new technological possibilities offer you cost advantages in the processing of orders, inquiries, and many other processes. Whether fully automated or partially and as a support:
you can save a lot of money—and time, which makes your products or services even more affordable. Being there for the customer at the right moment and cleverly passing on these savings is, in itself, a decisive competitive advantage.
C. Keeping opportunity costs low
Thanks to digital capabilities, your potential customers now feel the urge to request a service or product and take the next logical step at any time of day or night. With a (partially) automated process, you can support them even during unusual late-night hours.
This is how you bring first-class service into play right from the start. Whether you offer, for example, immediate appointment confirmations, pre-orders, or information about similar products: customers love being able to take such steps spontaneously. If they can’t, most will look for alternatives.
D. Staying Top of Mind
Upsells, or post-sales follow-ups, are becoming increasingly effective thanks to digitized processes. Digitization allows you to learn more about your customers faster and in a more standardized way. This makes it easier to offer customers relevant, personalized add-on products.
Whether via real-time push notifications or data-driven emails, whether directly during use, shortly afterward, or after a year or the warranty expires: using the collected data, this can be fully automated—and mean a significant increase in revenue for you with minimal effort.
Grow with the times and secure your future success
The facts mentioned here represent only a small fraction of the relevant points that speak in favor of digitizing as soon as possible. If you don’t digitize your business, you’re missing out on revenue. More and more, and on an ever-larger scale.
Digital transformation is not a one-time project and cannot be accomplished in three quick steps. It doesn’t have to lead to a perfect end result right away, but it should become a constant companion to your success starting now.
Take the first small steps with minimal time or financial investment, and you’ll see: initial results and valuable feedback will start coming in after just a short time.
Let us be part of these steps—we welcome your comments and insights and wish you every success!
Links:
[1]http://www.bvdw.org/presseserver/DigitalReadiness/bvdw_digital_readiness_zusammenfassung.pdf
[2]https://www.appconfector.de/blog/2016/07/auf-den-kontaktpunkt-gebracht/