Digital Transformation is about Customer Ownership

Organizations today may have more data than ever before in the form of “big data.” And the tools t Automation is just the beginning, understanding your customer is the new imperative. Forrester Research’s report, The Digital Business Imperative, found that 31% of business executives surveyed believe that digital technologies are a major driver of business strategy. A more compelling 89% believe that digital will disrupt their business in the next year, because if they don’t, they risk losing customers, revenue and profits to more digitally savvy disruptors. In fact, PwC found in its  2017 Digital IQ Survey a connection between organizations that had more comprehensive digital strategies and strong financial performance. Top performers in its survey reported revenue growth and profit margin increases above 5%. However, investments in digital transformation have broader impact than revenue and profit margins. Executives mandated with digital initiatives need to understand that digitizing and automating processes is only a step towards achieving customer ownership.   Customer ownership means establishing direct contact between the company and the customer: Knowing how to track users by their purchases, friends, and actions before and after purchasing a product or a service. It also means knowing how to engage with them and influence their behavior, then using these insights to meet their ever-changing needs. This is impossible without digital technologies and business automation. But automation itself does not make you “own the customer.” The customer does not simply become yours when you implement an inventory management or POS system. Yes, these technologies make the internal workflows transparent, and reduce operational costs, but they are unable to increase capitalization by three to 10 times. Automation of internal business processes alone cannot increase customer attraction, retention, and engagement. It also will not help users make one-touch mobile payments instead of searching for cash or a banking card, give electronic gift coupons to their friends, or buy a cocktail for a friend at the nearby table. Customizing your approach to each customer based on knowing where they live, their interests, friends, and how they choose gifts for their children is important because every business ceases to be unique in the long run as its products and services turn into commodities. This happened for TV sets, washing machines, cameras, and mobile phones. Dozens of competitors with similar goods entered the market. The companies started to compete by reducing the product cost, but paid no attention to the changing needs of their customers.