How to create the perfect digital strategy?
People live more and more in the digital world. This is not only on a personal level on social media for example but also when it comes to doing business. There are more online channels available than ever. A consumer can buy their products via webshops, social media channels, and online marketplaces. If you don’t have these channels available, then you should really invest in creating a digital strategy to start your online business. Here you will find out how you can create the perfect online strategy.
What is a digital strategy?
It is clear that a digital strategy is a strategy and that it is for your digital business, but what is a digital strategy exactly? If we define a digital strategy, a digital strategy is a plan for maximizing the business benefits of data assets and technology-focused initiatives. A digital strategy is necessary for your digital transformation. With the strategy, you can create your strategic roadmap which shows where your business is today, where you need it to go, and ultimately, how to get there and which solutions or tools are needed for that. You have to see it as a map of captain on a ship, without a map there is no point of sailing over the world, with the map there is a goal that needs to be reached. The digital strategy is your map, without it, your business will have no clear goal in mind.
Why should you have a digital strategy?
Now you maybe think: “I know exactly where my business is going.” But do you have this written out on paper? If not, then you don’t have a digital strategy. The digital strategy focusses on a detailed plan for people, process and technology to achieve the objectives, including the development of the long-term roadmap. The digital strategy is a guideline for the entire company which you can use for years. Why this is important? In the image below you will see 10 reasons why you should have a digital strategy.
How to create the perfect digital strategy?
Now the question is how do you create the perfect digital strategy? First, you need to decide if you want to create a static or data-driven digital strategy. Both begin with the same step which is creating an actionable framework. This framework gives you the structure which is needed to make sure you don’t forget anything when planning the strategy. To make the framework actionable you need to:
1. Prioritization
2. Strategic areas
3. Actionable cycles
4. Delivery
5. Insights
If you ask us, which strategy to choose, we will say a data-driven digital strategy. A data-driven approach involves turning all of your post-it notes into data points; meaning you can add relationships, dependencies, timestamps and a host of other useful information to that piece of data. Resulting in the ability to visualize the digital strategy and make it dynamic with real-time relevance. No more out-of-date documents and fragmentation across the delivery, but before you talk visualization, you need to talk about structure. Delivering a successful strategy doesn’t mean you have to start from scratch. We’re all used to delivering activities and projects successfully, it’s now time to be strategic. With the right framework, which focuses on delivering short-term results for a long-term goal, you can build the right tactics and actions to deliver on the objectives. Using the best practice frameworks that deliver results, you build the tactics and actions to deliver the objectives in the strategy. Move away from focusing on the silo-projects that deliver scope-creep, change of functionality, divergence from the goal and let the strategy take control!
Do you want to know more about how to create the perfect digital strategy? In this whitepaper, you will find frameworks, roadmaps and more to create the perfect strategy. Download the whitepaper to learn more about how you can create an executable digital strategy and navigate your way to success.
