Digital Transformation Playbook

Here’s the best advice gleaned from our year long series on digital transformation.

- Dan Tynan

1 BE DATA LED, NOT DATA DRIVEN

Any organization can cherry pick data to justify its strategies, says Forrester principal analyst Brendan Witcher. Smart organizations look at the data first and then decide what to do.

“Any organization can find data to support a strategy they already have,” he says. “Organizations need to dive in, look at the data and see what it’s telling them to do before they make any assumptions about what they need to do.”

2 LOOK OUTSIDE YOUR OWN INDUSTRY

Companies that have enjoyed the greatest success in transforming usually look for inspiration and innovation outside their core business, notes Altimeter Group principal analyst Brian Solis.

“The companies I’m most impressed by are those that have looked outside for innovation, like Starbucks and Domino’s,” he says. “Starbucks considers itself a mobile technology company; Domino’s wants to be the Amazon of pizza. They realize that they have to think like those kinds of companies to compete at that speed.”

3 WHEN A CRISIS HITS, BE TRANSPARENT AND DIRECT

When your brand is hit with a crisis, denying, minimizing or blaming others just makes everything worse. The best strategy is to own your mistakes, apologize to the affected parties, take steps to demonstrate how you’ll do better in the future, and move on, says Brandwatch CMO Will McInnes.

“It’s not if a crisis will happen, it’s when,” he says. “Brands need to accept that they are in a constant dialogue with their market. Campaigns will go wrong. Focus-group tested messages will fall flat. Employees will misbehave. But consumers will accept mistakes when the response feels appropriate.

4 BE GOOD—IT’S GOOD FOR BUSINESS