Yes, Your Company Is “Digitized.” But Are You Digitized To Win?

Every CEO and business owner today will say that of course their company uses digital technology. They’re using email and mobile daily; they keep the books digitally; they have a website. In those senses, they are walking the walk of the IT age. The trouble is that moving at a walk won’t ever put you at the front of the pack. You are in fact at risk of being left behind. The key question is: Are you deploying IT in ways that will differentiate you, and help you win business from the competition? Even more, are you able to expand the market you are in, or create blue oceans?

Recently my wife and I needed HVAC work done at our home. We invited three residential contractors to bid. All were small outfits, under 10 employees, with years of experience and good references. What made the difference, in terms of getting our business, was how fully and well they used digital technology to serve us.

• One company was a traditional mom-and-pop operation. The people were friendly and knew their stuff. The principals themselves came to look at the job and emailed a quote the next day.
• The second company had a somewhat higher level of digitized service. When the estimator ran a little late, he texted us to say “I’m getting there” — a thoughtful touch. The estimate he sent was obviously software-generated.
• The third company had a CRM system and knew how to use it. Before the estimator arrived, we were sent a photo of the man and his name, so there would be no concern about a stranger at the door. A heads-up message also told us what to expect during the visit and offered a contact link for any questions. Better yet, when the quote came, it gave us a range of options. For various prices we could have this or that equipment installed, depending on the functionality we wanted, with or without warranties or service agreements on the subsystems.

We chose the third company. Their approach made us feel we were in the driver’s seat, which indeed we were. Along with providing a transparent, notification-intensive view of the service process, they’d given us choices and control of the transaction. Based on how well the initial relationship was built, we felt confident that if any issues arose they would be resolved to our satisfaction. This eight-person local contracting firm won the job by delivering customer service equal to Amazon’s.

Every sector of every industry has its versions of the three HVAC contractors. In order to survive and thrive you’ll need to be like the one using digital tech to the max. And that may require a mental paradigm shift.

For years, business IT has been viewed as a way to gain efficiency and immediacy, and to scale up if so desired. Those advantages still pertain but are more like a baseline entry ticket. The real digital frontier today is in creating and enhancing the customer experience. It’s the ability to grow both the top line and bottom line by achieving “mass customization.”

This entails treating each prospect as a valued new acquaintance. It includes onboarding customers in a manner that gives each one the means to be in charge. And it optimizes customer retention by following through with service that’s perceived to be personal and individualized — even though it is enabled by digital automation

The technology that can give you the edge is affordable. The little crew we hired at our home has it. Why not you?