Winning the Digital Transformation Race in a Post-COVID World

In the first blog of this series, we discussed the sectors that have thrived during this highly disruptive period while others suffered great losses. Next, we will explore how accelerating digital transformation strategies is critical to expanding leadership positions in this new business environment.

Today’s unique business conditions offer CEOs a critical moment and opportunity for decision making. Unfortunately, numerous books on corporate strategies, such as by Michael Porter (Competitive Strategy), Peter Druker (Management Challenges for the 21st Century) and William H. Davison & Michael Malone (The Virtual Corporation), among others, have become nearly obsolete. In addition to geopolitical tensions and the timing of elections in the US, the situation of the perfect storm is created in a sum of uncertainties and doubts never seen before.

Winners will accelerate the speed of their digital transformation, levels of efficiency, productivity and competitiveness. They will continue the rapid conquest of new customers at lower costs and achieve continuous positive exponential growth against diverse competitors and while eventually expanding into new markets.

The dominant sectors will have favorable conditions for mergers and acquisitions with their increased economic power and market value. This will likely generate a greater concentration of large conglomerates acting as catalysts and creating multiple ecosystems of dependent satellite companies.

For sectors with a significant loss of market value, there is no alternative but to reassess their business models and implement their strategies for market recovery or repositioning. The gap has expanded very rapidly, and eventual positions of inertia in strategic decision making will further and further exclude any possibility of recovery.

Projects in gestation for years now need to be put into practice quickly for their own survival, keeping or likely expanding (according capital availability) investments in digital transformation and automation processes above average. The ultra-fast migration to cloud computing environments and automation of digital identities, is critical for productivity, efficiency and risk reduction of operations.

With predominantly virtual and geographically dispersed organizations, they must guarantee and maintain active and correct access for employees, third parties and suppliers, to only those applications for their specific work profile. Expanding this concept, we can visualize not too distant future think about identities also managing automated devices and intelligent objects (IoT).

Artificial intelligence, machine learning and hyper-automation technologies leave the field of science fiction and will be intrinsically associated with the adaptability of computational environments through the adoption of these new and sophisticated algorithms and techniques.

In this confusing, chaotic environment full of uncertainty the digital environment will continue to be prevalent, even when physical contact and events return to our daily lives. CIOs and CISOs need to think today about long-term technological infrastructures, data protection & privacy, systems and applications.

Denis Villeneuve’s movie “Arrival” closes with the sudden disappearance of the 12 ships without causing any apparent damage to the planet. It is doubtful the same will be said about COVID-19, but only time will tell what businesses and industry sectors can remain competitive and thrive in this time of disruption and digital transformation.