Despite being a familiar term, there are still many doubts about digital innovation and how to put it into practice. Regardless of the company’s segment, size, market, or target audience, every business will benefit from digitally transforming itself.
Briefly, digital innovation is when there is an organizational change in the company to place technology at the center of the activities of all departments. Technology plays a fundamental role in the maintenance and evolution of the business, from customer relationships to strategic decision-making.
The consumer has already changed. Increasingly connected and better informed, he wants accurate information about brands, products and services, such as the origin of the raw material, and he wants good shopping experiences with a personalized relationship for his personal needs and tastes, all of this in the environment online and offline.
Companies today are chasing to understand this new behavior and serve the modern consumer, who is not restricted to just one age group. Those who do not change and need to understand the importance of digital innovation will not have space in the market and will put the future of the business at risk.
Digital Innovation Is Not Limited To Small Initiatives
Being present on social networks and having a good website and website are fundamental strategies, but they need to determine whether a company is innovating digitally. This is because it is not limited to isolated initiatives but rather a structural and, mainly, cultural change of the entire company.
Understanding how technology becomes a powerful tool to bring agility and personalization to customer service is necessary. As well as the possibility of reading a large volume of data and getting trends and insights into the business. Examples that could not be made just by people, at least not with the same assertiveness and speed.
What Is The New Consumer Looking For?
Experience Is Worth More Than Ownership
More and more people are putting aside the purchase for the sake of the asset itself and are looking for more experiences. That is why today many couples exchange the wedding party for a trip or the children, when giving gifts to their parents, prefer to invest in going out to a good restaurant. Even in physical stores and shopping malls, consumers expect a differentiated experience from a leisure space where they can take the family to purchase a product that needs to be worked on to provide something unique.
Agility
Nowadays, time is our most precious asset; therefore, the modern consumer values agility. It is no longer possible to hang on the phone to resolve something simple or need to go through a bureaucratic process to cancel a service.
In this sense, companies have invested in automating services and enabling consumers to serve themselves (self-service). For example, it is now common to enter websites and have an open chat, where the first contact is made with a chatbot, which can already answer recurring and basic questions. This speeds up service and relieves employees who can dedicate themselves to more complex issues.
Another example is what some fast-food chains have already done. Install self-service totems where customers can order their lunch and pay for it without speaking to an attendant.
Omnichannel
What is most talked about in retail today is omnichannel. The consumer does not relate to a store but to a brand, and he wants to have a good experience with it in all communication channels, whether in the physical store, e-commerce or social networks. There is no longer a distinction between online and offline.
Many may think that physical retail has its days numbered, but that couldn’t be more wrong. In the offline environment, there is the greatest opportunity to provide unique experiences and show the brand’s innovation, which is why many of them born in the online environment are opening their physical stores, such as Amazon and Alibaba.
There is still plenty of room for digital innovation. Every company that wants to stay alive in the market and competitive will need to go through this moment, so the sooner you invest, the sooner you will have the return, and you will be ahead of the others. Innovating digitally cannot be seen as a cost for the IT area, and it is an investment that will affect everyone in the company and all hierarchies.
The consumer has already changed digitally; now, he expects the market to follow his expectations and provide unique, agile, personalized experiences.
