How to get fit for digital business

Progressive leaders know that in the modern world, their organisations need to embrace technology and all things digital to survive and thrive. But how should they go about it?

We talked to Rob Laurens, a Brighton-based business consultant, coach and trainer who has a new book out suggesting the way forward. In Get Fit for Digital Business, he describes six areas that leaders can work on to modernise their business approach.

Most organisations have already adopted digital communication channels and technologies. But, as Rob says, “simply adopting digital, trying to retrofit digital into old ways of working, is not the same as fully adapting to it”. He believes that to stay relevant, organisations must progress from “simply doing digital to being digital at their core, fundamentally changing the way they think and behave”.

According to Rob, the good news is that the odds are now stacked in favour of smaller enterprises. “Being smaller makes change easier and now SMEs have access to the kind of transformational technology previously only available to the biggest organisations. The Cloud has made new tools available that are great value, easier to set-up, use and maintain”.

But he believes that getting fit for digital is ultimately less about technology and more about people. “Too often technology is seen as the silver bullet. But getting fit for digital is more about leadership, employee enablement and first and foremost, a renewed focus on how customers research and buy products and services today”.

There’s no doubt that, like getting physically fit, getting an organisation into great shape for digital business takes some commitment, planning and prioritisation. But Rob maintains that it should also be an enjoyable, energising exercise of developing core strengths, speed and agility. He says “I wanted to create a practical and achievable digital fitness programme that helps organisations not only perform better but also actually feel better”.

Today, in an uncertain commercial world, he believes digital technology is the key to reducing stress, increasing productivity, and generating higher returns. Rob says the objective is to use digital more effectively to help organisations become “healthier as well as wealthier”, to evolve into modern enterprises that are “easier to lead, buy from and work within”.

The six “get fit for digital business” components:

1. Mindset: learn about the opportunities and new ways of working that digital tools and techniques enable (and require).
2. Core: ensure your enterprise’s purpose, values, customer focus and value propositions remain relevant in a digital world.
3. Power: configure your human and cloud-based tools to maximise your strength in the market place.
4. Skills: ensure you have the right skills to accelerate the achievement of your goals.
5. Data: use data better to continually improve marketing, customer experience, operational performance and productivity.
6. Agility: develop the ability to respond rapidly to changes in the business environment without losing momentum or focus.

Get Fit for Digital Business – A six step guide to getting your organisation in great shape to thrive in a connected commercial world is available from Amazon and all good bookshops.

Connect with Rob at www.KaisenDigital.co.uk on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Thanks to Rob Laurens.

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