Disruption has always happened. But thanks to digital technologies, it’s now happening faster and on a greater scale than ever seen before. Across all industries, traditional players and new entrants are taking advantage of digital to differentiate their products and services. However, for every success story there is a business that has been replaced or made obsolete by the ability of others to deliver superior customer experiences more quickly and effectively.
All digitally contestable markets have several things in common, and Accenture has identified 10 implications that every business should take on board.
- Top your industry & beyond: Businesses investing in digital strategies need to make efforts to produce systems that top not just their industry, but across others. Competition can come from startups with tech foundations, industry incumbents with new investment allocations, but also any other business that may move to branch out into another industry.
- Customer first: Customer outcomes should be at the heart of new projects. Businesses need to redouble efforts to improve their proximity to customers especially in an age where consumer loyalty is at an all time low and switching providers is commonplace.
- Tailored response: This can be achieved through personalization. Through efficient data analysis and processing, each customer’s demands and problems can be met with a response that’s tailored to them. Companies working at scale may think this is a big ask, but the bigger the user base, the more data they have to achieve it.
- Keep up with technology: Technology will become more standardized as businesses hop on the digital train, and those who fail to keep up will be left behind. Businesses across industries will begin to look more similar ‘under the hood’, as new technologies will be able to serve multiple needs for a variety of businesses. Identifying these early will keep companies in the race.
- Human/digital mix: Businesses would also do well to look outside of digital to keep a competitive ‘analogue’ advantage. Matching human capital and organizational capabilities with digital improvements will be the difference between those with a focus solely on digital and those who can integrate it fully within their existing processes.
- Speed is of the essence: Data needs to be fast. There is little use getting quarterly updates of stock levels if your company is competing against fast fashion retailers with a fully automated supply chain.
- Innovate across the board: In the new digital world, every market leader needs to become an innovator. As well as excelling at executing programs, reducing cost and managing risk, businesses need to continually introduce new and compelling ways to achieve these tasks.
- Win customer loyalty: Businesses on the wrong side of consumer opinion won’t win. As incumbent-challengers such as Uber and Airbnb have proven, when regulation threatens to close them down loyal consumers have made their voices heard via social media and blogs to protect them.
- Partner to win: Collaboration is not the enemy of being competitive — rather, the opposite. Cross-sector working will especially be conducive to developing solutions that customers will appreciate.
- Behave like the new boys: Incumbents will have to act more like startups. Whether they like it or not, new businesses that leverage technology are succeeding in stealing market share from traditional companies. Imitation may prove not only the sincerest form of flattery but also the most secure route to sustained competitive advantage.
