This is part 3 of a three-part series: catch up on part 1 and part 2 before you start.
In a recent article by Gartner, Chris Howard discusses why now is the time for companies to accelerate their digital business. We asked Co-CEO Andrew Dean for his thoughts on how COVID influenced the digital landscape and businesses’ ability to implement change, and how DB Results has adapted in 2020.
What should be the focus points for digital enhancement for a “new norm”?
Firstly, customer interaction. You’ve got to make it far easier for your customer today – because guess what, it’s unlikely they can come and visit you – so your digital channels that you are using to communicate with them have got to be really intuitive and efficient. Then you’ve got to be able to deliver results faster for your customers because in the digital world, it’s a necessity, your competition won’t wait for you. I think also you’ve just got to become more efficient; it almost goes hand in hand with delivering things faster. Finally, you must guarantee results. You’ve got to make sure you deliver for customers, because otherwise they lose faith in how they’re interacting really quickly, and it’s easy for them to move somewhere else. So better, faster, more efficient, and effective results, and you’ve got to make sure you always deliver.
What does DB Results offer to help in this space?
Essentially, DB Results provides a number of fundamental things starting with our people, processes, and the technology that we provide. I think this drawn together with speed to innovation and our DB Digital methodology that really excels in a scenario like this. We begin by helping companies identify what problems they’ve got, then explore the solutions and associated benefits with delivering those solutions for the company. Then, by leveraging our DB Digital methodology, using pragmatic agile and design thinking, this enables you to deliver quickly what the customer needs and wants, and then you can improve through iteration.
On the technology standpoint, we’ve got a number of technologies that we use that can help to accelerate the development of solutions for companies, and then it means they can get those solutions and changes in place for themselves and their customers really quickly so that you can get the benefits fast as possible. At the end of the day, what we’re trying to do is say to our customers for their customers, are we want to make things better for you, do it faster, make it cheaper, so you can benefit from it very quickly.
Gartner’s article has recommendations for digital acceleration. What are yours?
I think the critical things that really come in through digital acceleration, it allows you to prioritise at speed. You need to find things where you can become more efficient and really accelerate what you do. This is where robotic process automation and products like UiPath come to the fore. There’s the speed of development with development platforms like OutSystems, that enables you to deliver digital solutions at speed. Your resources, when you’re really on the move – being able to work from any location around the globe, access all your tools, and still communicate. Leveraging your digital assets – don’t procrastinate, it makes sure you can prioritise what is urgent. You can pick your assets out that you need to leverage, that really let you move fast.
Gartner talked about things like “sweat your assets”, like your own cloud platforms, which was certainly one of the major things we saw across digital acceleration due to COVID. We had Office365, and we were making use of Teams, but the usage just exploded once COVID hit. All of a sudden you weren’t having face-to-face meetings or personal interaction, the office environment disappeared – the transformation to virtual office and WFH happened overnight!
Are there indeed opportunities in these times?
There are absolutely huge opportunities in these times. You look from a person, company, community and global standpoint, things must change. You know, we must innovate, digital must be at the forefront of that innovation, you can just see how many changes there have been in the last six months. It’s probably generated, or perhaps forced, more change than what’s happened in the last 20 or 50 years, when you look at day-to-day operations of businesses. Opportunities are absolutely everywhere. I think you could look at nearly every single industry and you will find a multitude of opportunities of how you can change that industry for the better, leveraging digital and making the most of new capabilities.
Where does a company start?
To me, where a company should start is by calling or contacting DB Results. We are the best way to help you start to head down the speed to innovation path. You’ve got to be better, faster, cheaper in today’s digital world. It’s the only way to survive. We can help you.
This is part 3 of a three-part series. Read part 1 and part 2.
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