Extinction or Adaption?

For years, we’ve all heard of and seen the exciting changes and discoveries in the world of business and technology: what to start implementing, what to start doing to keep up with a world that was changing by storm… That is, until the tables turned and something happened to that world that changed us.

We are all probably tired of hearing about COVID-19 by now; and granted, it’s been around every corner. On social media, in the news, the devastating effects it had on our economies, our families, loved ones, friends and so much more. A harsh reality that shocked our worlds into a new way of thinking, a new way of connecting; a new way of life.

However, this is not the end for us or our businesses. As Albert Einstein said himself, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” With the difficulties of the past year and a half, it has become an eye-opening experience to countless individuals and businesses that something has to change. When our world was on lockdown and literally divided, we realized deep down that we need to reevaluate our approaches, our business models and processes. The world has changed, and so must we.

Looking back at history, world crises aren’t all doom and gloom: Disney was started amidst the Great Depression, FedEx became a reality at the end of the 1970’s recession and even Hewlett Packard came to life during the recession of 1930. In essence, there is hope and this time with more tools than ever before.

When the economic turmoil shocked many businesses in 2020, positioning your business in such a way that will make it more resilient and better equipped to navigate through unpredicted circumstances has become imperative to its survival. With millions of businesses needing to adapt to a world of remote work, manual business processes took a toll.

Companies have started looking at technology to pave the way for innovation and a new means to success. In the State of the Connected Customer, a report done by Salesforce, it was noted that due to the aftermath of COVID-19, almost 90% of business leaders expect companies to accelerate their digital initiatives. It’s important to understand that we’re never going “back to normal”; it’s time to create our “new normal”.

Extinction or Adaption?

Have you ever heard of the classic motivational business fable, “Who Moved My Cheese?” by Dr. Spencer Johnson?

In short, it’s a wonderful short story about four characters, two mice and two humans, who find themselves in a maze ultimately needing to adapt or perish in search of their cheese. What really stood out in the story though was a phrase written on the wall of Cheese Station 3 that said, “If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct”. Now more than ever, we must realize the fundamental truth in that statement in the world of business, especially.

Let’s Call a Spade a Spade

Digital transformation is bound to take place, whether your company is on the forefront of the technology revolution or your hand is forced due to the changing times, it’s going to happen sooner or later. It’s become vital in a world driven by technology.

Let’s break it down. What is digital transformation really? In reality, digital transformation will look different to each company. It’s much more than migrating your data to the mysterious “cloud”.

It’s about reevaluating old business processes and experimenting with new means of doing business within your model. It’s about preparing your company to not only “keep up with the times” but to stand out above your competitors and connect with your customers on a level that can make your brand unrivaled in its field. It’s about using the power of Artificial Intelligence to automate routine processes and tasks, educate your workforce and create the opportunity for your employees to become more valuable by developing incredibly powerful skills, share data across your organization and distribute intelligence within your company to improve processes deeper than the surface. It’s creating the opportunity to connect with your customers via tools like chatbots and improve customer service via Customer Relation Management systems, and so much more.

Understanding that digital transformation is what will help your company survive, and more importantly outlast an outcome that could be a very real reality down the line if a company fails to evolve. Whether we like it or not, technology is what drives the change in business and in order to stay ahead, companies need to merge technology with strategy if they wish to succeed.

Let’s look at a few statistics from an article written by Forbes:

55% of companies without a digital transformation believe they have less than a year before they start to lose market share.
60% of companies that have undergone a digital transformation have created new business models.
89% of all companies have already adopted a digital-first business strategy or plan to do so.
44% of companies have already started a digital-first approach to operations and customer engagement.
27% of companies say digital transformation is a matter of survival.
Of companies that haven’t started a digital transformation, 59% fear it might be too late.
56% of CEOs say digital improvements have led to increased revenue.
Digitally mature companies are 23% more profitable than their less mature peers.
Digital-first companies are 64% more likely to achieve their business goals than their peers.
Digital transformation and a focus on customer experience can generate a 20-30% increase in customer satisfaction and economic gains of 20-50%.
Employees at companies with less than 100 employees are nearly three times more likely to say their digital transformation was a success than employees at companies with more than 50,000 employees.
93% of companies consider innovative technologies as necessary to reaching their digital transformation goals.
68% of global business leaders believe the future of business involves humans and AI working together.
34% of marketing leaders believe AI will lead to the biggest improvement in customer experience.
86% of companies believe cloud technology is critical to digital transformation.
37% of companies say digital transformation helped them create new jobs.

When looking at these kinds of numbers, it becomes clear that the time is now to make these exciting changes. We know it may seem overwhelming, where do you even begin? That’s what we’re here for at SmartenUp. With a team highly experienced in the world of digital transformation backed by the world’s number one enterprise cloud platform, Salesforce, we can help you take full advantage of the intelligent tools available to make your company soar in our digital age.

For more information, please reach out. Let’s start the conversation with nothing to lose.

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Extinction or Adaption?

Extinction or Adaption?

Let’s Call a Spade a Spade

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