Digital transformation: Mandatory votes needed
Are Swiss companies really equipped for digital business areas? The result of a cross-industry survey conducted by PwC Switzerland and the University of St. Gallen among more than 100 executives and more than 500 end customers shows: Only with an agile and flexible corporate culture are companies able to transform successfully.
Due to the sharp increase in customer expectations of digital solutions, the pressure to turn 'digital' into a successful strategy is increasing all the more," explains Holger Greif, Digital Transformation Leader at PwC Switzerland.
Corporate culture is the backbone of any digital transformation. Only with an agile and flexible culture are companies able to transform successfully. If these values are also reflected in the structure and lived cohesively by management, companies can benefit from digitization.
Four relevant implications could be derived from the study:
1. harmonization
Across all industries, there is a lack of common understanding of the increasingly rapid digital transformation. In order to come to the same denominator within the company, top management (strategy definition), middle management (strategy execution) and ultimately the customer - whose needs are to be satisfied - must all have the same idea of what is meant by digitization.
2. customer orientation
The ever faster evolving customer needs are often not satisfied by new digital products and services. In order to offer customers added value, it is necessary to place them at the center of everything we do.
3. external perspectives
Being innovative with existing resources is one of the greatest challenges. Accordingly, it is central to bring fresh perspectives and new talents with new approaches into the company.
4. self-disruption
Companies must be willing to rethink and embrace a culture of error. Only those who learn from their own mistakes can succeed quickly. Pursuing new business models and questioning one's own success is not only a way to challenge oneself, but also to drive digital transformation.
Implement digital strategies and turn them into measurable initiatives
It has never been so relevant to transform the mentioned factors into a digital strategy. "Only when management and customer expectations are aligned can companies generate added value in the digital domain. Due to the sharp increase in customer expectations of digital solutions, the pressure to turn 'digital' into a successful strategy is increasing all the more," explains Holger Greif, Digital Transformation Leader at PwC Switzerland.
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