(Expansion) – It is not questioned whether the last year has meant a great change and impact for everyone, either as individuals or organizations. With great difference to other relevant and extraordinary events that we have gone through, without distinction of country, community, sector or area in which we are and operate, the current situation has affected everyone, both politically, socially, environmentally and of course, economically.
On a personal and family level, we have been concerned and busy being well, taking care of our health, conserving our source of income, caring for and caring for the family, among other priorities.
As far as companies are concerned, as it has always been, the management team has been in charge of achieving the business objectives that the organization has set for itself. And as has already been widely commented, it is through the acceleration of the digital transformation that changes and improvements to the business model have been sought and adopted to survive in the face of this extraordinary situation and at the same time prepare for future relevant eventualities.
On this rapid (compared to previous years) adoption of technology, more out of necessity than planning and strategic vision, many managers think that by acquiring the most modern and sophisticated technological tools, their organization is automatically entering the digital transformation.
Erroneous claim, technology has always been there. In this process of adoption, technology is only one component to which we must add strategic capacity, the human factor, to adapt the strategy of your area or business in general to a new reality.
A very clear and simple example of this is online sales; The technology for this method of marketing products already existed, but now the contingency has forced more companies to adopt or improve this model to continue bringing their products and services closer to their customers because physical or face-to-face sales have been limited, when they could have done long ago and without it having been forced.
Another case is the tools that allow remote meetings (or online) between collaborators; These applications have been around for years, but they were not as widely used as they are now and have proven to be highly effective for collaborative continuity among company members.
That is, technology was already present but was not considered, adapted and consequently, used by many companies in an optimal way to improve their models and strategies that until recently it was not urgent to do so in an accelerated way to survive.
To this we add the perception, also wrong, that it is the sole responsibility of the CEO and his team to adopt new tools that promote digital transformation in companies; They must understand that the role of the information technology team is to put technology on the table, including the already existing, although not recent, as an enabler of the business. In addition to considering that all areas of the company must be aligned with the same purpose.
The implementation and use of technological platforms in organizations is and will continue to be an important measure for, among other things, knowing the market, its external and internal customers in which these are the center and of the latter, for example, monitoring their wellness, which is not something new, but it has certainly taken on more relevance in recent months.
It is not only about the technological tools (hardware or software) that are acquired, but how they interact with each other and how they feed the business strategy and therefore help companies to achieve their objectives, that is the digital transformation.
Resilience will continue, perhaps to a lesser extent, but it will still be necessary; Regarding 2020, the challenges will not be the same, but they will continue to exist. The tools have always been there, it is the companies and their leaders that in most cases have not taken full advantage of them.
Innovative companies will be part of a next wave of growth in which the adoption of technology, to its maximum use, will be a key element for success.
Editor’s note: Fernanda Zenizo has a degree in Communication Sciences from the Universidad del Valle de México. She currently works as General Director of Intelab. He is currently Vice President of Technical Committee Management at the Mexican Institute of Finance Executives. Follow her on. The opinions published in this column belong exclusively to the author.
