Innovation. Transformation. Digital. Customer Centricity. We hear and read about these words every day. While they may seem overused, the reality is that less businesses are achieving these things than you’d think. Why? Because transforming an organisation to be innovative and digitally customer led isn’t straightforward. Especially when there’s been significant investment time, resource and capital into legacy platforms and systems, it’s not a simple manoeuvre to make way for the new and implement change while growth and momentum is at full flight.
But here’s the thing, there’s a race happening in today’s digital world. Through COVID and the need for digital, the behaviours, mindsets and expectations of your customers have shifted even further. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in or who your customers are, the world isn’t the same today and there’s no slowing down or going back. With the rate of change only accelerating every day, no business has the luxury of postponing transformation, waiting for their five-year plan or sitting back to see what happens before they make their move.
Going digital at pace in today’s agile world
There’s a reason why some businesses win while others don’t, and it has everything to do with execution and focusing on what will future proof your organisation. It’s not enough just to be ready for the present environment because today becomes obsolete in the blink of an eye. It’s about putting robust foundations in place that minimise the risk of failing and empowers your organisation to adapt quickly to an ever-changing future.
COVID certainly highlighted the need for a forward-looking digital and agile view. Almost overnight, business as we knew it needed to change. Traditional channels to market became irrelevant, delivery of products and services became contactless and the need for digital technology (which was already accelerating pre-COVID) skyrocketed. Now almost two years down the track, we are seeing businesses rapidly trying to transform, be more innovative and digitally led, but often still without the right foundations, data capability and technology to support their customer journeys.
Balancing the challenges COVID brings while trying to sustain business growth, monitoring competition and disruption, maintaining cyber security, managing increasing data and fluctuating internal personnel needs is a big undertaking. It’s a race to keep up with customer demands, but the businesses executing with excellence all have a few things in common:
They embraced cloud technology
Cloud technology has been on the rise for many years, but it truly came into its own in 2020 when COVID struck. With workers forced to stay home and swift operational changes taking place, the cloud has become a critical component to ensuring business success today.
One key benefit of cloud technology is its infinite scalability. Simply purchase the resources you need, as you need them and scale up or down as required. The agility of cloud means it can be deployed anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice, which is almost impossible to replicate with legacy systems. Cloud is also secure and future proofed. Given the ease of which updates can be deployed, cloud-based systems can be relied upon to utilise the most up to date and best practice technology and security methods. Furthermore, cloud is an excellent insulator from crisis and disaster because all your data resides on remote servers, making recovery of data and functioning infrastructure quick and effective while still maintaining the most robust security and locally hosted data to meet any regulatory requirements.
They use data to inform their decisions
With the increased pace of change has come the need for a faster more agile decision making. As businesses have experienced disruptions to operations, customer service, supply chain, team location, environment and more, the need to act and influence innovation with data and analytics has become paramount.
The key here is to shift to a data culture, where decision making is decentralised through the use of data that intersects people, processes and technology. When data is captured properly and integrated and shared across all aspects of the organisation, robust and informed decisions can be made by all, particularly those engaging with customers at the front line, creating a nimble business that adapts to fluctuating situations. Furthermore, it allows for proactive, outcome-focused strategic planning that maximises technology and resource investments and equips the business for whatever comes it’s way.
Their people have the right attitudes
While there’s no question that investing in modern technology and harnessing the power of data are must-dos for sustained success, having the right people in the right roles is equally as important. This is as much about having relevant skillsets as it is about behaviours and attitudes. A business is only as agile or customer centric as it’s people, so creating a culture that focuses on embracing new technology, customer centricity, and ongoing problem solving with agility and change is vital.
There’s a balance between being dynamic and having stability. Being nimble is important, but so too is having clarity around the strategy and plan. Operating an agile business means developing a mindset that doesn’t fear failure, but at the same time operates within boundaries of expected operational excellence. What this looks like business to business may be totally different but having people with the impetus to act and the desire to embrace change and new technology to deliver things better is the key here.
They partner with the best
No business is an expert at everything, but with the right partners in place, this should not be an impediment to truly succeeding. Indeed, the most successful businesses in the world all have the best partners that help them be great where they need to.
To truly change the game, you need partners that are aligned with digital innovation and customer centricity to challenge the status quo. Partners that bring dynamic, future proofed technology and are innovative to the core. Partners that are bold and robust in their thinking, swift and agile in how they operate, and aligned culturally to your business to deliver to your needs and solve your problems better than ever before.
Your customers won’t wait. If you aren’t strong in technology and digital experiences, are still working out your data strategy or have cultural barriers with people resistant to embracing change and trying new, more than ever you need to partner with the best in breed businesses that can bring these skills to your table.
Panic slowly but act swiftly
The fact is, tomorrow is already here. The pace of change isn’t going to slow down, indeed, it will only get faster as new technology comes to market and changes the game again, and again.
There’s no cause for panic however, transformation is still possible. Start with the right partners that share your vision and bring modern, forward-looking thinking and future proof solutions. Build and empower an internal team and culture that thrives on agility and change with the customer at the heart. Invest in the cloud and make data central to everything you do. And as you create your plan, keep the words of John F. Kennedy in mind – Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
About Valocity:
Valocity is a FinTech company transforming and digitising the property decisioning process globally with customers across Australia, New Zealand, India, and Asia.
Valocity digitises the entire property valuation process with its unique Microsoft Azure hosted, cloud-based valuation platform, with bespoke solutions for residential, commercial, and agricultural lending.
It combines the best of nationwide property data with global technology and advanced analytics expertise to create, customised insights, and valuation solutions that enable data driven decision making and more seamless customer experiences.
For more information, please visit valocityglobal.com or contact
Sara Pesic, Head of Marketing, Valocity