Is your organization truly in a digital age?

Data is in abundance on consumers and their online engagement, be it content and/or eCommerce. What this means is that the marketers need to be more savvy about customer needs than applying “one size fits all” approach to talking to their customers. Digital competency is hence about harnessing this data and utilizing it to segment, target and serve the customers – need I say “real time!” 

To become a digital-savvy organization, we require an understanding of our marketing touch points and internal infrastructure that can support a multi-pronged approach to customer reach. Marketers need to ask the following questions in their organization:

1. What digital experience drives engagement and conversion in our company/industry?
2. What marketing channels are effective for what customer segments and why (data to support the claim)?
3. What data is captured in our systems and is it compatible across customer touch points?
4. Who owns the digital experience and are the right people empowered to make “consumer-centric” decisions?

If the answer is not a definitive yes to all of the above, I’d suggest there is some work that needs to be done in achieving true digital competence. The road map should hence, clearly identify deficiencies and investment needs to start utilizing the amazing power of our digital interaction with customers. Some of our more familiar metrics such as; customer acquisition rate, retention, marketing ROI, CLV, ARPU, etc., will then truly represent a view into our marketing success and provide deeper insights into how to optimize customer experience.

Communication - Key to Business Strategy

Right around the planning cycle for next year, one question starts to bother me - how often do we discuss the strategic direction that we are setting for our business, once the planning cycle is over? Why is that?

1. Is senior management not crafting/revisiting the strategic road-map that is well understood? 
   
2. Is middle management not in-tune with the strategic impact their roles are making on the company’s bottom-line? 
   
3. Or, is it a matter of not communicating the vision, that can be permeated through the organization?

I believe there is an element of all of the above. Here, I want to call out a certain lack of communication that is rampant in most organizations. Let's look at the business reviews, for instance, that are conducted weekly, monthly, etc. Are these backward looking or forward looking? Is there enough element of the latter for all to see? The answer in most cases is "no" or "not enough." 

• There are goals and plans in place for the current and the upcoming year, but how often are they reinforced? 
• How frequently, do we meet to take a stock of business progress and how it aligns with the plan we had set for ourselves? 
• What are the new projects, competitive landscape, consumer needs, operational efficiency improvements, etc., that need more attention than was envisaged at the planning stages?

If these are not addressed and collectively communicated to the teams, there will always be a certain degree of dissatisfaction and lack of coherence  among the troops. What we do during the year ought to be calibrated against the plan we built, but more importantly, the plan we revise as we go. Management cadre should take note!