We’re going to be talking about digital transformation from the perspective of digital marketing and marketing teams.

This isn’t all of what is considered ‘digital transformation’, as the term is an umbrella concept for a much wider topic. For example, you could consider the emerging business opportunities for new business models as a result of technolgical and societal change to also fit within the broader spectrum of digital transformation. But that piece is for discussion on another day.

So what does digital transformation look like through the lens of digital marketing and marketing teams?

Digital transformation is the rapid transformation of business processes, platforms, competencies and models. Digital transformation presents opportunities for marketing teams to deliver better experiences for customers and better outcomes for businesses.

Digital maturity models and consulting is a service that Gallantway provides. We believe that digital transformation is a journey towards acquiring a set of capabilities, building processes, competencies, and models with the purpose to leverage digital opportunities and their impact on society in a strategic way that delivers business value.

What are some of the key factors driving this change in business?

Underpinning this change is two sets of factors. Technological and human.

Technology Factors:

• Cloud computing and its ability to improve mobility, collaboration & cost efficiency
• The benefits of big data to gain better insight into your customers, redevelop your products & deliver better 1-1 communications
• Increasing connectivity from the internet of things & digital augmentation of traditional marketing channels

Human Factors:

• Our every-day rate of technology adoption within society and the corresponding customer demands it creates
• Increased mobility, mobile device proliferation and usage of technology and emerging technologies
• The change in businesses away from data experts to a data-driven culture

With transformation driven by these factors and more, businesses need thoughtful leadership on how to execute within this system in order to leverage the opportunities it presents.

Digital transformation sits on a spectrum of adoption

Marketing teams are slowly adapting to the changes taking place. You can think of digital transformation as a spectrum. At the start of this spectrum is a lower level of maturity. This may look like a marketing team that has consistent development challenges in updating their website, are still to accurately measure all relevant metrics, are yet to adopt a standardised form of attribution modelling and are relatively unsophisticated in utilising automation.

This may look like a marketing team that has consistent development challenges in updating their website, are still to accurately measure all relevant metrics, are yet to adopt a standardised form of attribution modelling and are relatively unsophisticated in utilising automation.

Opposite to this end would be considered a high level of maturity. You may have a marketing team that is strategically integrated into web development allowing them to test at speed and scale a number of variables, you may have a clear set of shared goals tied to measurable actions and are using forms of process & automation to increase the ability to respond to changes in market.

You may have a marketing team that is strategically integrated into web development allowing them to test at speed and scale a number of variables, you may have a clear set of shared goals tied to measurable actions and are using forms of process & automation to increase the ability to respond to changes in market.

What is changing about the way that teams operate?

• Teams cultures are becoming more clearly customer-centric oriented in order to deliver better experiences for customers
• Marketing & IT teams are working closer together in order to best capture, store and manage data
• Marketing teams are becoming increasingly connected as digital opens up new opportunities in customer service, mobile and social channels
• Teams are becoming increasingly data-driven in their decision-making
• Team processes are changing to value individuals and interactions over tools, working software over heavy documentation, speed of movement and response to change
• Automation is being used to allow teams to more easily operate on multiple channels and to efficiently tackle repetitive tasks
• Innovation in marketing teams is being driven by a business requirement to quickly discover and create new revenue streams

What can businesses do to accelerate an organisation’s rate of digital adoption?

The way teams operate, orient and create action is increasingly important. It is important that marketing teams are able to expedite changes to digital properties, accelerate updates to website and mobile platforms, and increase the speed at which data is turned into an actionable insight.

The goal is to be able to move faster with more insight into what your customers seek and what innovation allows.

A mobile first mindset is required to accelerate the development of website, eCommerce and web platforms in order to best leverage the increasing mobile demand from customers.

Mobile presents new opportunities for businesses to better interact with customers and to create longer term and more profitable relationships.By developing a mobile first mindset, you are preparing yourself to better transition to an ecosystem made up from an Internet of Things.

Teams can better integrate social, website, eCommerce, customer service and investment allocation to create better customer experiences and superior products and services.

Whether by simplifying the way you measure success and developing shared cross department goals or by creating better ways to communicate across teams. It is important you respond to the demands of consumers who are increasingly using multiple channels to engage with your business.

How is digital transformation changing business models

Outside of marketing, digital transformation is changing the way businesses do business. McKinsey & Company have a great video which details a digital strategy framework.

How we can help

At Gallantway we believe that digital transformation is a journey towards acquiring a set of capabilities, building processes, competencies, and models. We believe the purpose is to leverage digital opportunities and their impact on society in a strategic way that delivers business value.

We offer consulting and analytics services to help you best understand the human and technology required to increase speed to market, accelerate the ability to respond to change and drive increased value from your customers. Contact us today for a free consultation.