Amanda Bester, founder of Pragmattica, believes that there are plenty of lessons to be learnt from the world of digital media and digital-first SMME’s, for those businesses currently in the digital space in their fight for survival.
“Many companies are finding that the pandemic is driving their digital transformation more quickly and effectively than their CTO’s or CEO’s ever did,” says Bester. “That may seem flippant, but the lesson is that many businesses shouldn’t have had to wait for a massive global disruption to dictate a new strategy for them – the need to incorporate a more digital-focussed model has been there for years, and a lack of preparation has been shown up by recent global events”.
Bester says that she believes that strategy drives digital transformation, and she suggests five practical strategies that should be considered when approaching ways to adapt your business for the digital world:
Covid-19 hasn’t only forced businesses to look at new ways to communicate with and sell to their customers – it’s fundamentally changed the way they have had to function internally, too.
Remote working is now the norm under lockdown and all in-person business development meetings have been cancelled, resulting in a snowball effect on growing new business and revenue streams. The scramble to acclimatise to the new remote working order and factoring in the challenges this presents to their sustainability has forced many leadership teams to re-think the way they do things on every level – and how their teams meet deadlines.
Bester believes that the new order – or at least the order that is going to help many businesses survive the effects of the pandemic – is collaboration. “We see from our workspace at the Absa WorkInProgress hub that the power of collaboration within a relevant ecosystem can propel a business on to new heights, as much as it can lend support when things are faltering. Being surrounded by quick thinkers with diverse skill sets and talents is hugely helpful in finding solutions to problems that start-up teams encounter on a daily basis”.
She says it’s not a stretch to believe that the togetherness fostered between entire populations, and between countries around the world in supporting each other in the face of the virus can be translated to the business world, too.