The world has changed and it requires strategic business change. 

We often read that in a digital age, strategy is dead. Now insofar as digital means company agility – as against a lethargic organisation unable to adapt – it is correct, but in every other respect, strategy matters. In fact, the very competence of agility implies strategy as a company needs to design itself to be agile and adaptive.

We know that company purpose is a key driver for growth. Purpose requires the aligning of business leadership and staff, as well as infrastructure, around this purpose. Hence purpose is pervasive. To benchmark – or replicate industry norms – is not a strategy, it is very easy to do. Prof Gary Hamel states that strategy is one of the most “intellectually challenging” things a company can do. Common sense tells us if not, it will be copied with ease – and fast. 

Digital enables an “explosion” of customer experience. Hence a dramatic leap in the customer value proposition. Doing things faster, better, cheaper or easier. That means the company designs itself around the customer. Adapting people, systems, processes, roles, structures, marketing, value propositions and skills. At the core is a designed user experience across touch points. Hence digital is not about digital channels of interface, it is about how digital impacts every aspect of customer interface, which covers everything a company does. So what happens in the Call Centre is as important as what happens online. It is that the experience on a website, is as fundamental as the quality of the product. It is about adapting the very product or service offered. 

For most companies, this is dramatic, it is not a simple adaptation of the way they work. It is also about far more than using data well, however complex that is in itself. Or buying the latest technology from the ever increasing numbers of vendors and “solutions”. Buying new technology without context will almost inevitably lead to wastage. 

Purpose also drives consistent revenue, profit margin and company equity growth, instead of “erratic moments of brilliance” almost all companies have at times. Large global multinationals are good investments because of the consistency of their performance. Consistency requires a purpose, even if that is intuitive and not “written down”. Performance is not a function of being average, it is a function of outperforming the best. 

Staff aligns behind purpose. If a staff member can tell you how his/ her role contributes to the customer experience, transformation is real.

So either a business is designed around the customer – or it is not. 

Consumer centricity means deep transformation for almost all companies. It requires executive commitment. It requires an understanding of what it actually means within the organisation. It may contradict the entire culture of an organisation. Unless it is owned at the highest level it simply won’t happen. Creating new structures alone will not achieve it, even if specialists are required to execute it. 

Because digital technology enables connections between and across issues, people, products, experiences and the business fundamentals, it requires deep transformation of all the aspects of the organisation. 

If digital is an “add-on” it will waste money without a concomitant increase in customer value. Hence, a company may increase costs without increasing customer experience that reduces costs or has margin value.   

Agility requires a framework. One has to know what to be nimble about. What to adapt to. Not all internal and external stimuli are meaningful. They need context to be acted upon. Fast and consistent filters are enabled through clear strategy. Fast decisions are enabled through the monitor of a simple set of variables. 

Collaboration, incremental value, seamless customer experiences, layers of engagement across brand touch points all require an ecosystem beyond the company itself. An ecosystem requires context. Without clarity, everything matters whether it does or does not. With clarity, decisions are fast and able to buy time. Saving time enables a competitive advantage. 

Hence, by its very nature, digital is about strategy. It requires deep transformation. It touches the integrity of brands – delivering what you promise. 

So the question is, how many companies are willing to do that? If history is anything to go by, few large companies have the intent, agility, corporate culture or leadership commitment, to change that fundamentally. It is also not true that large companies will be eroded fast, they will be eroded gradually by small upstart disrupters. 

For companies that do transform, they won’t only protect their current business against digital upstarts, they will drive future growth in a meaningful and consistent way.