THE GIST of Editorial for UPSC Exams : 22 FEBRUARY 2019 (Strategizing in the age of digital transformation(Live Mint)

Strategizing in the age of digital transformation(Live Mint)

Mains Paper 3: Science and Technology
Prelims level: E-Governance
Mains level: Digital transformation strategy and loopholes

Context

•  In an age when digital transformation has become the C-suite agenda, many companies are still finding it difficult to understand how to begin the process.
•  Customer experience is a good starting point.
•  Aided by technology, there’s a clamour among both Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-Customer (B2C) companies in deepening customer engagement through hyper personalized experiences across multiple channels.

Frictionless digital experience

•  It’s imperative to not look at customer engagement from a short-term perspective.
•  The ‘journey’ does not end with the conclusion of a sale it merely signals the onset of a fresh cycle.
•  Importantly, a frictionless experience paves the long way towards brand advocacy and loyalty. It’s hard to earn these and, unsurprisingly, easy to lose them as well.
•  The customers are likely to explore multiple touch points.
•  Hence, for personalized services to be effective, the minutest details have to be captured and digitally synthesized.
•  Unsolicited and irrelevant communication does extensive damage and results in loss of mind-share, which is often irredeemable.
•  The e-mails in our junk folder indicate how many marketers have got it terribly wrong. '
•  A ‘frictionless’ customer experience also embodies uniformity at all levels.
•  We should remember that the chain of touch points across multiple platforms is only as strong as its weakest link.

Resurging digital transformation

•  The second area to focus on in the digital transformation journey is cloud.
•  Cloud spend has seen an exponential increase in recent years. For service providers, a cloud presence is almost a must-have as it also drives innovation.
•  Cloud technology is of particular value to chief financial officers (CFOs) since it can help them achieve digital transformation at a fraction of the cost that was prevalent a couple of years ago.
•  Digital transformation does not mean embedding deep tech as a panacea for poorly designed processes.
•  The digital tech setup remains inconsistent and fragmented across industries.
•  Hence, the proverbial early-mover advantage may still be applicable in parts.
•  Inspirational leadership is about taking decisions which are data-driven, even if it goes against ‘gut feeling.’
•  Transformation cannot happen overnight and this brings us to change management.
•  Re-skilling the workforce, running a two-speed organization, adopting the right technology and creating a culture of co-creation, are all within the realm of change management.
•  One can argue that it’s easier to lead standing on solid ground than on a shifting landscape.
•  While the latter is characterized by high risks, if handled well, it can also be the lever to gain great momentum.
•  Leadership in a dynamic environment is not only about building a learning organization, but enabling the unlearning process just as effectively.
•  In an earlier era, it was about managers becoming leaders. Now, it’s about leaders becoming innovators.

Conclusion

•  Organizations today have access to humongous amount of customer data and it is of critical importance that they don’t dilute the ‘trust’ factor.
•  While turnaround times and business cycles are all shrinking, being patient comes at a premium.
•  We often see the digital laggards adopting technology without analysing its potential value or impact on their businesses.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements regarding Wholesale Price Index (WPI):
1. Under WPI inflation, highest weight is assigned to primary articles.
2. WPI covers both goods and services.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer: D

Mains Questions:
Q.1) With an entire suite of emerging technologies to choose from, it does get confusing, doesn’t it? Comment.