Are we thinking about digital all wrong?
If Digital Is Just A Tool Link
If digital is just a tool in our business arsenal, then it fundamentally alters how we approach this new medium. It will even redefine what your job should be. If digital is just a tool, we might not even need Web professionals. I can tell you now that from a certain point of view they are right to criticize me.
In fact, yes, at their most fundamental level, digital technologies such as the Web and mobile are just tools like any other we work with. Like electricity or the printing press, we can use these tools to achieve a business objective. For example, to persuade prospective customers to buy a product, you might get a brochure printed. This would require both the power of electricity and a printing press. Alternatively, you could build a website, send an email or create a Facebook page. Digital is just another tool in your arsenal.
Many argue that viewing digital in this way will shape a person’s thinking about how digital can be used and referred to. Suddenly, having a digital strategy or even a digital team sounds ridiculous. You wouldn’t have a brochure strategy or a team dedicated to managing electricity. Why, then, do you need a digital strategy or a digital team?
They go on to argue the dangers associated with thinking of digital as more than a tool. If we treat digital as special in some way, then we risk isolating it from the broader business. The digital team ends up doing its own thing, rather than helping the entire company make use of the tool.
If we create a separate digital strategy, they argue, then the danger is that, rather than helping to achieve the overall business strategy, we would distract or confuse it. Surely, the argument goes, devising a business strategy that draws on digital when appropriate makes more sense.
These are all completely valid points, and I entirely understand their logic. However, I passionately argue that we do need separate digital strategies and that we also need empowered digital teams. I take this approach because I believe that digital is more than another tool in our business arsenal.
Digital Is More Than A Tool
I strongly believe that describing digital as a tool diminishes its profound impact on the world we live in. Digital has transformed society, government, culture, business, media and more. Barely an aspect of our lives has not been touched in some way.
Therefore, when I write about forming a digital strategy, I am not referring to a strategy for using a tool. I am talking about forming a strategy to adapt to the fundamental changes that digital has brought upon society.
Take, for example, the power that the Web has provided consumers to identify competitors, recommend products and services to friends, and share their dissatisfaction when things go wrong.
That single change in customer behavior has incredible ramifications on how we do business. When a “tool” has that kind of power, it warrants special attention.
This isn’t the first time a tool has so radically transformed society. The printing press is another good example. The printing press enabled the Lutherans to spread their message and to challenge the dominance of the Catholic Church. As a result, the Vatican took the printing press very seriously. They understood that the key aspect was the impact of the tool, not the tool itself.
Companies today need a digital strategy to help them adapt to the change that digital has brought to the world. They now operate in the context of this new world, and they need a clear vision of how to adapt to it.
As long as companies think of digital as just another tool, they will fail to embrace the full potential of the Web and mobile. Many organizations are still trying to wrap their heads around the changes that these innovations have brought. They are still unsure of how to deal with them properly.
We Are Still Learning How To Use Digital
For a long time, the industrial revolution was driven by the power of steam and water. That required building factories near rivers. The mass availability of electricity did away with that need, and yet over a decade later companies were still building their factories next to water. The full potential of electricity had just not sunk in.
We are in a similar situation today. Most organizations are carrying on with business as usual, even though the world has changed around them. For companies to adapt to this new world, somebody has to disrupt the status quo. Somebody has to demonstrate the full scope of how digital has changed business and show people how to harness this new technology.
This is a problem that the industrialists tackled by appointing Chief Electricity Officers. To our eyes, this might seem ridiculous because electricity is now so ubiquitous, but at the time it was crucial for helping organizations to adapt to this revolutionary technology.
For this same reason, we need digital teams and strong digital leaders today. Companies need expert help to adapt. They need fresh blood to disrupt the old ways of working and to encourage new thinking. In short, companies need digital leadership.
As I have written before, this shouldn’t last forever. The digital team should exist primarily to educate, empower and support other business units. Companies will eventually adapt, and digital will become as ubiquitous as electricity. But until that day, we need digital champions to stop us from blindly building our factories next to water.
This is not to say that senior managers believe they are building by the water. That brings me to my final point.
Source: Smashing Magazine
