The ongoing digital transformation is fast paced, with no intention of slowing down, Rather the opposite.
This creates difficulties for organisations to predict and keep up with what the needs of their customers, partners and employees with a horizon normally kept at a five year scenario. But with immense threats to organisations but also endless possibilities to change and disrupt ones business model, products or services.
From at strategy standpoint this means that companies need to adapt their strategy processes to become more iterative and flexible or fluent.
Long-term planning needs to become more adaptive for change and experimentation.
More and more companies put more emphasis an business ambition on their work with digital strategy - a first call to action. The digital possibilities to quickly launch and follow up new services are substantially more important than ever. Risk is depending on what side of the coin you flip but. Success and failure is almost instantaneous but if the organisation itself has changed it mindset it has even greater potential to redo och refocus and monitor the outcome in real time. Disruptors prevail, low ambitioners fail.
One who actually did it is the American retail giant Target that over the last couple of years have made this trip within a highly saturated business, where no one really stood out.
A couple of years ago they among many other big retailer with a huge network of stores in a market that was dominated online by the likes of Amazon and other e-commerce strongholds.
Images from Target.
Target detected the imminent threat of the e-commerce giants and stated that change was needed and that the only way to stay relevant in the eyes of the consumer was to leverage their core strengths, such as the plain knowledge of retail, leverage the value of the retail network and the in-store experience together with relevant digital services and flawless logistics. The initiative was formed from the C-suite and orchestrated among employees of the organisation. In this process they have pioneered what we today call Omni-channel. And a brilliant example of adaption and reaction to new times and potential threats. That at a first glimpse looked insuperable..
It requires new processes and established digital maturity on a general level of the organisation, but executed correctly and facilitated within the organisation it could potentially create great opportunities if it succeeds.
A successful iterative strategy process and how to work fluently with it may be a change maker for the entire company and its culture.
The “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” saying applies here!