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A survey conducted on a community of procurement professionals recently deduced that only 5% believed digital transformation is not knocking on the doorsteps of their business. The rest 95% were solemn in belief that digital transformation would change the landscape in the next 5 years. Interestingly, only 66% of these participants were found strategizing to cope with the future, while the rest have faith that they are capable of braving the changes with their present capabilities.
To make matters more difficult the groups, who have overseen the survey process, were of the opinion that the numbers depicting brands with strategies are actually fudged, and that an even lesser percentage of teams actually have strategies at hand. In their opinion, direct assessment of these firms’ capabilities to cope with the digitalization has come up with poor results; they just do not seem prepared.
Procurement experts believe in order to embrace the change, the brands would have to undergo changes from the digital aspect. This may alter how these businesses conduct themselves, but in order to sustain a future-compatible business strategy and also to gather the resources for the same, these brands have to overcome the lack of vision. In order to cope with the future, businesses can abide the following five pointers to shape their business in the years to come:
1. Even if the business is not ready for the digital age, the business must be first aware of the leaps and bounds in the technology that are occurring in its industry. Companies that do not usually embrace technology as a means of delivering productivity must embrace the digital advancements in their respective fields or perish.
2. As reluctant as they are, businesses have to cultivate skill. There is no substitute for skill, and the sophistication of technology demands skill that can match steps with the technological advancements. For this, businesses have to train their human resources to unlearn the old ways and undergo training in new methods.
3. Businesses have to look at the bigger picture and upgrade the skillsets of entire departments rather than looking at the individual skillsets of their departmental constituents. The focus has to be on creating a synchronized team of resources as opposed to expecting a single individual to embrace the bulk of the scope of technological advancements.
4. Businesses have to be more flexible towards their resources. In order to make the most of their investment in inculcating skill in employees, they have to be patient with the training process. The tendency to dispense off underperformers has to go and businesses have to be more loyal towards their own employee assets.
5. Businesses have to be transparent to their teams with respect to the businesses vision of the future. Leadership has to step up and guide their resources in the direction of the changes. Digital transformation can be daunting but it eases the pangs of an unknown business environment if the employees have someone to keep them on the right track.