We’ve overcome the pandemic – although the virus is still here, and you’re still in business hopefully doing well.
So, all is good?
Now, that’s a matter of perspective because there’s a catch.
The challenge
The pandemic forced the whole world online and created the biggest migration in human history literally over-night, changing the way we do business forever. Because we’re not going back to how it was before the pandemic – the “normal” we knew.
Instead, we got the new, post-pandemic normal which is digital – whether we like it or not.
And some businesses might not like it at all, since surprisingly few businesses had taken the shift towards digital to heart and started preparing for a digital future during the years before the pandemic.
All too many businesses were sitting on the fence until the pandemic hit, leaving them no choice but to start hustling, and doing something to cope with the new digital reality.
Now, the shift towards digital had started long before the pandemic, but since so few took it seriously it obviously wasn’t “painful enough” for many businesses.
The pandemic changed all that.
Because digital is now an important part of doing business and growing a business.
And all business owners and CEOs – especially the ones that were sitting on the “digital fence” prior to the pandemic, really have to take this shift to heart, acknowledge it and start working on getting their businesses digitally up to speed.
That means first and foremost embracing the new digital normal, and that in this new digital normal digital transformation is critical for businesses not only to compete but also to survive.
Secondly, for digital transformation to happen, the CEO must take the lead - wanting to go digital with his business, changing it from using digital to becoming digital.
Thirdly, a successful digital transformation requires a CEO digital mindset as a basis for creating a digital vision, a digital strategy, and an action plan.
Fourthly, a good place to start digital transformation is by making the business' online presence an active and integrated part of the sales process, enhancing the digital competitiveness of the business, and creating and scaling business growth online.
So, why is getting your business digitally up to speed so important?
Well, in addition to survival, because not doing so is literally costing them money!
The divide
Now, there may be some business owners and CEOs that will protest and say something like “I don’t know what you’re talking about, we have changed and gone digital”.
The question is, however, what does that actually mean in relation to the digital leaders?
Because the research tells a very interesting story.
Accenture Research found that before the pandemic, the businesses that had started early preparing for a digital future – the digital leaders, were creating annual revenue growth twice as fast as the businesses in the other end of the spectrum – the digital laggards.
And it didn’t stop there, because the digital leaders were also performing much better than the rest during the pandemic, doubling down on their investments to further widen the gap.
As a result, the digital leaders were able to create annual revenue growth five times as fast as the digital laggards.
And since this is a trend that started in 2015, the gap in annual revenue growth will continue to grow.
Now, there’s several things to learn here.
First of all, that whether or not you truly have “gone digital” with your business, is a question of where your business is at on the scale from digital laggard to digital leader.
Secondly, that the potential loss of annual revenue growth will increase over time for businesses not prioritizing getting digitally up to speed.
That is, of course, if they don’t change!
And that change starts with the CEO, and is all about mindset and strategy.
If that’s you, you basically have two choices – to do something about it, or not.
And if you’re not going to do anything about it, or if you are going to wait, please let it be your decision. Don’t let circumstances, comfort zone or something else make that decision for you.
Also, make sure to put your decision down in writing in the digital section of your strategic plan for your business – along with your argument for that decision.
That way you'll have a starting point when you do want to start doing something about it.
The way
Either way, all CEOs should at the very least find out where their business is at compared to the digital leaders, because how would you otherwise know how well your business is actually doing digitally?
The same goes for all CEOs who want to do something about it and get their business digitally up to speed and fully unlock the digital potential, because that’s where they have to start.
Luckily, there’s an easy way to find that out where your business is at digitally, and that is by taking this assessment.
This 60-second assessment will help you understand where you are at, and what you need to do in order to take your business to the next level digitally.
Now, to ensure you get the most value possible from this assessment, here are some words of advice:
Be honest, brutally honest, when answering the questions – even if it hurts! That way, the potential gap between where you are right now, and where you want to be, will become clearer to you.
This will also help you see more clearly what you need to take action on in order to become more digitally competitive.
Also, don't be discouraged if you find it hard to answer the questions, or if you feel the questions really don't apply to you and where you're at with your business right now.
This test is designed for you to learn where you're digitally weak, and where you're digitally strong.
Therefore, every question you find yourself struggling with represents something you should at least consider taking action on, because it will have an impact on your digital business growth efforts.
So, take notice of each question and your answer to it.
Don’t wait, go take this assessment now.
Need help?
I you have any questions about this, or if you need help getting your business digitally up to speed, message me.
