digital transformation – Veronica Stenberg

Digital transformation pain point: Hanging on to old organisational structures

Veronica — Mon, 28 Sep 2020 06:25:18 +0000

When you work with crafting digital experiences you need to build an organisation that supports that within your company. Even service providers such as digital agencies need to adapt and build teams in a new way around clients’ needs around their client’s needs. A concrete example of this is that you need to identify the best way to build teams around the experience you want to provide your customers with. They may be cross-functional or sometimes fluid teams. This, of course, put new demands on processes, competencies, communication, tools and a collaborative culture within your company.

The solution:

Explore different ways of working that creates the best end result.

A good example of a solution to this is Apple. Instead of having an iPad department, they have people being experts on one thing, for example, glass. That means that those who are can work with any Apple product, not just the iPad.

Photo by “My Life Through A Lens” on Unsplash

About when I got thrown out from Facebook and the future of social platforms

Veronica — Mon, 31 Aug 2020 09:27:51 +0000

I got thrown out from Facebook once. The reason was that I thought that it would be a great idea to have a Facebook profile for the retail company that I worked for at the time. The purpose would be to have a platform for a dialogue with the customers and get more customer insight at the time.

The formal explanation from Facebook at the time was that it was not permitted to have a Facebook account for an entity that was not a person.

Later on Facebook Pages for brands where launched.

I remember that when I returned back to Sweden in 2011, I held a talk on the subject of how brands could leverage Facebook for various pulses such as driving offline engagement in stores, gaining at the time free awareness, learn more about their customers and other such nifty things. The primary focus of the talk was on how to have a strategy for Facebook that merged customer behaviour and business goals, on the terms of the customer.

The representatives from the companies attending were quite sceptical.

I guess that having been brought up in a rural small town in Sweden, with my only window to the world that I was so curious about was though various IRC channels and later ICQ have granted me with a different point of view.

Later having seen various platforms such as MySpace, LiveJournal, YouTube, FlickR even start out as one thing and the ultimate progress into something else (MySpace was for everyone then it became mainly a source for bands to have band pages with music). It’s easy with that type of background to spot the possibilities early on with new platforms or the behaviours that will ultimately lead on to further progress of a platform. What can be done and how it can be used.

I’m not surprised that Twitch now offers streams on everything from painting to concerts.

It’s inevitable that platforms progress and with that, it’s inevitable to have a curious and open perspective. To dare to try new things as well as being curious about your own customer. Their behaviour, their perspective, life and point of view.

Photo by CJ Dayrit on Unsplash

A new era and new normal

Veronica — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 06:23:58 +0000

I don’t think that the world will look quite the same after Covid-19, if it will be an after in that regard. With that, I mean that we might even have to learn how to live with Covid-19 or other diseases in our lives going forward.

Being all philosophical over a strong cup of coffee, there are areas that I think we will, may or I hope that we will see an increased importance on going forward.

Increased speed of digitalization

This pandemic showed several flaws in our current system, digitalization was one of them. Certain companies or functions in our society is not up to par when it comes to digitalization, or having digital tools, workflows or services in place to be able to operate properly. They’ve been forced to perform a shift during a very challenging time.

When it comes to the business model, many companies used their creativity and identified ways to create digital experiences of their service offerings to stay afloat. Or part of them. With that, I foresee that this pandemic is a catalyst for increasing the speed of digitalization from every aspect of running a business or any other type of organisation.

Increased focus on sustainability

Once we have got Covid-19 under control there will be an increased focus on sustainability. With the planet becoming warmer, unacceptable treatment of animals (that has led to several diseases, not just Covid-19) the deforestation of the rainforest and so forth. I think and hope that these types of subjects get increased focus moving forward. Not only from the general public (aka the consumer), I think this is a key component and aspect of any business. Not only from a brand value perspective, but it’s also going to affect and must be part of everything from the manufacturing process, the environmental impact of packaging to how energy efficient your headquarters are. We will have to take sustainability into account in every detail of a business.

Compassion and community

I believe and hope that we will keep this increased compassion for our fellow humans and the increased focus on our community. That through this pandemic and the pain and strain that is has caused us as humans. That we will now understand how important compassion for one another is.

The increased importance of living your best life

I suspect we may see a shift in priorities. Do we really want to toil away our lives in the same way as before? I think that people want to find alternative ways of living that reduce stress and improves the way of living. With an increased focus in mental wellbeing, family and experiences that enrich our lives beyond money or possessions.

We might even see a shift in the urbanisation due to increased possibilities to work remotely. That less people want to move to the larger cities and that there is a wave to move out to more rural areas.

Behaviour changes and attitudes towards both digital and news

With an increased focus on sustainability, a shift in values I foresee that a wish to reduce time spent on devices, social media and other digital platforms will spread. It already started pre-Covid with the rise of initiatives such as the Light Phone and the expansion of groups opting out of social media.

I think we all want to spend our time (life) wisely and still expect seamless digital experiences and services when we do choose to engage in the digital world.

I also suspect that how we consume news and media will change after the incessant coverage of Covid-19 of various media outlets. It has done nothing for our mental well-being.

Photo by Kenrick Mills on Unsplash

Is the lack of diversity in the boardrooms contributing to widening the digital divide?

Veronica — Mon, 25 May 2020 06:21:44 +0000

Right now business is required to be nimble in order to change to the current circumstances. This is not going to change. There are only two things we can take for granted and that is that change and that the speed of digitalization will accelerate even more. Not only due to new technological advancements and innovative solutions that we cannot foresee, but totally unexpected occurrences as pandemics are also now added to the mix.

As someone who is a service provider within digital and digitalization, I’ve watched so many passionate employees working client side that have identified the requirement for a faster pace of the adaption to digital in some cases just give up. Being a digital advocate in larger more traditional companies can sometimes require a lot of time and energy focusing on argumentation and battling corporate red tape rather than being able to put that energy into progressing further and getting the results that are needed.

Half my job is sometimes to support my clients to navigate internal politics and governance that does not support digitalization or the actual focus of their role.

These employees are often highly committed to the company. And have identified how digital can increase operational efficiency, reduce costs, free up resources, deliver better customer service and experience. These opportunities are something that at the end of the day will affect the bottom line in a positive way. Even though they may in some instances require an initial investment.

What I question is why are some companies so slow to respond to this even though the rewards from any initial investments are quite obvious? I’ve even worked with companies where everyone knows that they are delivering a bad customer experience and that their operations could be done more efficiently – however, they just don’t. Because it’s easier to do things as they have always been done and leave it that way.

There is no more business as usual and I suspect that current circumstances has helped educate about the fact there is a need for speed when it comes to digitalization. However, the digital divide is becoming wider during this time. As some companies were surprised by the need to readjust their way of both working and operating due to the Coronavirus. Leaving companies that have worked years to try to adapt their business and operations to digital, to virtually having to do this overnight.

Not only that, now there is an added dimension for more “old school companies” that they have to take into account – a remote and virtual workforce. Putting new demands on technology, operations and communication that they now need to handle. For some companies that means that their challenge level for digitalization just went up a few notches.

It makes me wonder why some organisations do not have the support they need in terms of digitalization. It may be a gap between the competencies working within the organisation in day-to-day operations and the board? Is digitalization at all included on the agenda of those companies?

As digitalization puts new requirements on the board members skills, experiences and perspectives. Which makes me question if the boards on these types of companies are diverse enough to handle this topic?

Why one size marketing does not fit all

Veronica — Mon, 04 Sep 2017 04:16:51 +0000

There’s no one size fits all approach to marketing in several countries – at least not yet. Of course there are in some cases cultural similarities between for example the nordic countries, however that’s where it ends, similarities are not the same as equally “the same”.

That’s why, when you work with global marketing management, you need a framework, and an approach that is flexible enough to adapt the brand, marketing and communication to each country you have or aim to have a presence in.

And here is a short list of some key points that you need to consider, when it comes to local adaptions and why they are necessary.

Local adaptions are necessary for differences in:

Behaviour and expectations (from digital) – for example in China people use social media to search and put a “query” out there in their network to get information back from friends. Whereas westerners use a search engine to type their query and trust just about anybody.
Cultural differences between the countries in terms of what is custom in one
country, this is as we all know something that can be a great divide. Think Spanish people and Swede’s – a complete opposite against each other. But equally as lovely with their own customs and characteristics. Another aspect is in Sweden, as alcohol has limited availability through state owned stores, this can be a great incentive. But match that against Spain, where you can get alcohol anywhere – the power of alcohol as an incentive may not have the same persuasive power. My point is, an incentive in one country might just fall flat in another.
IT-capacity or structure – not all countries have the same capacity in terms of bandwidth both on mobile and through landlines.
Language differences – this is not just the actual languages are different but HOW you use the language. There are nuances and words embedded in each culture that no matter how good a translator, you can’t capture that. (But you can refine and fine tune). This also applies to the tone of voice of a brand – you need to adapt it so suit the culture it’s supposed to work in. A brand always has it’s core, but slight alterations may in some cases be necessary to make a cultural adjustments. Brands who does that, still are who they are, stand for what they are and tell their story – but adding a local twist to it – many of them are really successful as they become more relevant for the market. For example McDonald’s is doing this really well in Sweden, since McDonald’s have a nickname – “Donken”, and incorporate this to their advertisement as well as if you search on Donken in Google in Sweden, McDonalds appear, both in the listed search results and in the map.
Technology available and adaptation of it;
How technology is used – for example in the US 20% or all the searches done in Google is voice searches.
What technology is used – not all countries use Google and hence the biggest search engine may therefor be something entirely different if they use a search engine at all.
Laws and regulations – from how data is allowed to be used, to actual laws concerning marketing as well as your product, is something you need to consider as well as be aware of. Not only the impending GDPR.
Local competition. The market in a country may already be saturated by another company or product.
Local holidays and customs. Launching a new years campaign? How about China? Should they be included? or perhaps wait with that campaign a few more months to really be in tune and relevant with the country and their customs.

Image by: michelleschurman.com

Digital transformation – Tools and methods

Veronica — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 04:57:11 +0000

Time is money. And today there are many tools available which can automise a plethora of tedious manual labour. Especially in terms of reporting. Do that. Because chances are that you have some great and brilliant staff, that you can use to propel your business forward, rather than doing mundane tasks. You want your staff acting on the findings from the reports not wasting time making them. Reporting is just an example. Find what it is that is relevant for your business that can be automatized, then invest in getting whatever it may be automated.

Key questions:

What task can be automated?
What tools do we lack that could make our work more effective?
What system support could you add to remove manual task within your existing environment?

Image by: accorin.com

Digital transformation – Look at how your business is organised and at your company culture

Veronica — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 05:45:47 +0000

There is a reason agile methods have catched on. Time is scarce today and everyone seem to be in need for more of it as digital evolve. Even large corporations with plenty of staff have the same need for increased resources, which in some cases can be quite baffling with the sometimes huge amount of staff at hand.

Ineffective organisations can drain the energy from the most brilliant projects and initiatives. And if you want to get ahead in the digital world an effective, clearly defined organisation is key. Where everyone’s roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. Which can function across departments and bridge gaps. Clarity creates a calm and leaves room for creativity. You don’t need to tell people WHAT to do, it’s WHAT their responsibilities are. So they can own their area and help align this with any overarching strategy.

A safe and curious culture is also a key component, where your staff is not afraid of failure and where there is a mutual respect between colleagues but also the senior management – where you hire staff for their expertise and trust in their skills and abilities to get the job done. This is a strong foundation to build upon.

Remember that the increased speed of change and new innovation requires a foundation that is clearly defined so when you need to adapt to change, everyone knows what their responsibility and their KPIs are.

However – there is a huge difference between being flexible to align towards changed circumstances with your strategy and goals in mind, and being controlled by the events happening around you.

Key questions to ask:

Are our staffs roles and responsibilities clearly defined? Or do some roles overlap
Does everyone know who does what?
Are there new areas in our company that does not have someone responsible for owning them? And driving them forward that could contribute towards your success?
What type of company culture do we have? What lessons do we learn from our mistakes?
How does senior management react in terms of staff making mistakes?
What methods, processes and tools do we use and do they help us achieve our business goals or are they in the way, or an actual liability?

Image by Trendhunter.com

Digital transformation – educate and empower your staff

Veronica — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 05:40:42 +0000

If you are going to do things differently but with the same staff you need to educate them to expect a different result and ensure a different way of working.

If you never educate the staff along your digital transformation journey then you will still have staff that does the same thing they have always done.

To truly change the way you do things, it has to be done differently and that means your staff has to work in a different way and use and be open to new methods. Strong leadership is also a key component in this.

To empower your staff in this journey is to educate them, why you are doing all these changes, what it means to them and how they play a key part in actually making this transition successful.