The need for digital adoption, already a key strategic initiative has gained prominence in the wake of COVID-19. However, some companies still see digital transformation as expensive and complex.
Undoubtedly, the process will require a lot of time, patience, and investment. But the businesses that adopt and adapt fast are also the ones that will stay one step ahead. And those who can take advantage of technological trends and promote innovation by leveraging digital adoption platforms.
What is a digital adoption platform?
The right question at this juncture is, what is a digital adoption platform? A digital adoption platform is a software platform that enables users to quickly learn and take full advantage of new technologies (software products, apps, websites, etc.) and get the maximum benefit from a digital process or solution.
Here is a more detailed explanation of why without digital adoption, your business will severely struggle to meet up with its target.
Lack of competitive ability
When new businesses emerge and disrupt an industry, it’s important to keep up, and digital adoption is the best way to stay agile. A well-known example of this is the story of Blockbuster and Netflix.
Gone are the days of stepping into a blockbuster to rent a movie or video game. Blockbuster is one of the most terrible examples of a company unwilling to adapt to digitization. The ignorance of not adopting digitalization cost them an empire.
According to research, Reed Hastings approached the former Blockbuster CEO John Antioco in 2000 and asked him to pay $50 million for Netflix, the company he founded.
Back then, Netflix was a DVD messaging service that customers could order online. Antioco mistakenly believed this service was too specialized and would not become a successful business venture. The real problem was that just as Netflix envisioned a world of digital transactions and convenience, Antioco couldn’t imagine a world without getting into a rental store.
Antioco eventually turned down the offer, and Blockbuster later shut down. Netflix, currently, is valued at $130 billion.
Hinder business and revenue growth
The lack of digital adoption will make growth challenging. Take Kodak for example the decades-long decline of the film industry has ended in bankruptcy in the face of resistance to adopt technological trends. For the company, digital transformation had already been achieved in 1975.
And in 1981, Kodak researchers suggested that if the company embraced digital transformation, it still had a chance to stay relevant. The researchers predicted that the change would take around 10 years for a complete transformation of the company, but it was still possible.
The problem is that Kodak hasn’t changed much over the 10-year window. Even in 2007, a Kodak marketing video kept emphasizing “Kodak is back” despite the new digital landscape. The inability to adopt digitalization crippled the company’s ability to grow and in 2012, Kodak filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Lack of digital adoption leads to lower sales
By failing to leverage various analytic technologies and implement solutions designed to enrich the digital customer experience (regardless of industry), businesses will miss out on important insights and sales opportunities through social medial channels.
Analysis improves the efficiency of the company and becomes an important success factor.
Various technology solutions allow business owners to access insights and information that were previously unavailable. For example, customer behavior, buying habits, and target group segmentation. Businesses can use customer insights to personalize the sales process and identify areas of the sales funnel that need improvement.
Miss the opportunity to learn
Even if an organization chooses not to invest in new technology and innovation, that doesn’t mean its competitors aren’t doing so. In the global business, early adopters of emerging technology have a learning advantage.
They can adapt to changing trends and requirements faster than those not committed to digitization. In addition, early adopters will accept future innovations easier than those who have just entered the market.
In extreme situations, there can also come points where laggards’ growth is handicapped because they no longer have the means to adapt. The gap between them and their innovative competitors will be too great to be bridged.
Conclusion
Everyone knows that we live in the digital age. At a time when people expect to control their lives through their smartphones, competitive businesses have no choice but to embrace digital tools.
Technology can help businesses reduce costs, labor, and overhead. Digital transformation gives businesses a competitive advantage and opens doors to growth and higher revenues. However, these opportunities can only materialize if the mindset of the organization changes and the business is willing to embrace new solutions.
Businesses that do not react to innovation-induced market changes, either due to a fixed mindset or because they have not read the market well, tend to miss opportunities.
Digital adoption gives businesses competitive advantages and opens the doors to growth and increased sales.