Companies, governments and individuals around the world today are fixated on the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. We all need to restore the global and national economies as we continue to protect the health of citizens. Some companies are laser-focused on averting failure and bankruptcy; others are looking ahead to and planning for the post-COVID ‘new normal.’ Individuals are trying to understand how to balance their health, social and economic well-being.
Staying afloat during the pandemic, getting back to some semblance of normality, and thriving as the world finds a new equilibrium all depend heavily on the utilization of digital technologies. This global catastrophe is unique in many respects, but in one important respect it is quite fortuitous that digital technologies are in place to help us through it.
All enterprises, large, mid-sized and small, have an urgent need to make critical adjustments and to reinvent themselves in order to not only survive but also to flourish in the post-COVID world. And so understanding the potential of Digital Transformation has become a very important prerequisite of corporate planning. Our research into how to realize the full value of Digital Transformation was conducted before the Corona virus emerged, but its lessons can help you navigate successfully through the tangle of issues you are facing.
The fundamental issue relates to the expected behavioral changes of people: the enterprise’s customers and workforce. These changes will determine the consumer expectations that the enterprise’s products and services must satisfy, as well as their ability to properly deploy the workforce to produce and deliver the products and services. There is no doubt that digital technologies – data analytics in particular – will be necessary to first understand these changes and then to respond effectively. New business models will also be necessary to reinvent operational processes as well as create innovative value propositions for customers. Digital technologies also empower enterprises as they expand their customer centricity, external partnerships and agility.
There is much to do, and now is the time to not only restore business operations but, more urgently, to deliver their strategy to thrive in the coming years. Digital Transformation will be at the core of these strategies and their implementation.
Dr. Charles Popper
Senior Fellow, Innovation and Digital Transformation
Institute, The Conference Board Founding Partner,
TPG Consulting May 19, 2020
