You will need the right people. It may be difficult to compete against large technology companies and numerous start-ups but it is imperative to hire people with the requisite knowledge and skills primarily in the areas of technology and customer know-how.
An article by McKinsey tells the story of a travel company which realised calling and mailing printed brochures was no longer a very effective way of doing sales. Consultants helped the company to build a new team and in less than twelve months they had put together a group consisting of designers, developers and agile coaches. The new unit was seated in an old warehouse, separated from the rest of the company.
This team redesigned the company website and prepared user-friendly sales tools for agents. After the initial steps, the company was ready to roll out the change onto the rest of the company.
Building of digital business
Digital reinvention can refer to almost anything: it can be just adding a new digital channel or product line. But you may want to create a completely new standalone business. In reality, some companies start the reinvention by acquiring a digital business.
The conclusion is that in order to implement broader change, it is not enough to set up a new digital business unit. You need to scale it as well and be able to acquire customers and integrate the new digital unit into your core business strategy. To be able to do that, you need to change the company culture and also take on some new people.
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