There is still a long way to go. Follow these tips so you don't get left behind.
1. Social networks. Are you interested in being in all of them?
Today's world is social and business could not be less. However, not all social networks are equally effective for all businesses. Making the wrong choice can mean a significant waste of time and money.
"If what you want is to generate massive traffic to your website, landing page or product, the most suitable is Facebook, because it is the most mature and the one that allows you to better segment your audience. Instagram rewards the artistic side of your business, the visual, creative ... So if your product does not connect with these variables, then this network will not be the ideal one. Pinterest goes even further on the artistic side, so it is very effective in sectors such as fashion, photography, decoration. Twitter has proven very useful for instant communication with customers and for resolving reputational crises, but it is less effective as a platform for communication. branding. YouTube is the network par excellence of videos and it is very good at positioning your brand through valuable content and Linkedin is adequate to develop synergies and networking", Explain Daniel Dévai, CEO of Epsilon Technologies.
Now, assuming these premises, it is true that sometimes breaking the rules can create the surprise effect necessary to gain visibility. This is what happened to the Alise Devices company: “We operate in a very conservative sector such as the manufacture of banknotes and identity documents. When we started, we did not know the sector and using channels like YouTube to publicize our company and our technology allowed us to make a difference and make ourselves known because it was something innovative. We quickly become those new guys (outsiders) that, in addition to having a very spectacular technology, appear in the media and make videos that are posted on the net. It is becoming more and more true that if you are not in the networks you do not exist, even for sectors as confidential and as niches as ours ", he explains Beatriz Cerrolaza, CEO of the company.
2. Social networks. How to take advantage of them? How to gain visibility?
Once you have decided where you are going to throw the cartridges, keep these three points in mind to get more out of it.
# Generates content of value. “What he sells on social networks is authenticity and realism (content type backstage, Real cases); utility (video tutorials, video recipes, video tips); values (CSR actions, relationship with NGOs, empowerment of groups ...) and promotions and contests ”, Dévai insists. “I have the belief that visibility creates opportunity and adds tremendous return value. Every social interaction is an opportunity to help your customers find the right answers or build stronger relationships with your brand, ”he says. Koka Sexton, Hootsuite's Global Industry Principal.
# Use correct amplification strategies. It's about searching influencers, blogs and prescribers that fit your brand, search and promote user-generated content (prescriptions and opinions) and cobranding (team up with other brands). Fabio Danzé, CEO of Danzé Trade Consulting, proposes two strategies: "Generate traffic to our website through interaction with other secondary market players (magazines, universities, institutions, fairs ...) or traffic interaction. And be active in forums, blogs, sectoral pages ... or reaction traffic”.
#Y don't forget to monitor them and quantify your impact. "You must invest in advertising and in good tools, both monitoring (that allow you to analyze the spontaneous manifestations made by users and measure the effectiveness of your actions in an open environment), and analytics (measure the effectiveness of your actions in the environment of the brand: sector, competition, market ...). And as it says Bryan McEire, co-founder and CTO of Spotahome, "If you can't measure a campaign, don't launch it." Jose Maria Ruiz, Partner Director of Urban Marketing Projects, reminds us that "there are tools such as Hotsuite, Metricool or Welovroi, which help you automate your publications and get measurable results from them."
3. Social networks. How to sell in them?
Surely you have already seen the marketplace From Facebook. Selling through social networks is already a reality and it will not take long for Instagram Shopping to arrive. Assuming this point, Daniel Dévai's advice is: “Start selling as soon as possible. You must have all your products tagged so that they have a direct redirect to your e-commerce. The protocol in FB is very simple, but you must invest in advertising and generate good content ”.
For Koka Sexton, “Social media is being used to connect with decision makers, fans and existing customers. There are different tools that can help turn social activities into sales. The first thing is to empower the sales teams so that they acquire the habit of sharing ”.
4. Blogs: How to do them? Who are they for?
The term 'blog' comes from the abbreviation 'weblog' or registration on the web and, as its name suggests, it is a kind of logbook or a diary on the net. At the corporate level, they are very useful to create opinions, to inform about sector news, to talk about our products. They are very suitable for any type of business, but they require constant attention and an important quality of content.
To be useful and to really contribute to the objective of influencing the opinion of our potential users, it must always be updated (there is nothing worse than a blog where the last entry dates from several months ago, reveals disinterest and little professionalism), offer useful content (practical applications, industry data, tips, tutorials) and not become a store for our products, that's what the web is for. And don't forget, as Daniel Dévai points out, “tag or link all the products that appear on your blog so that they can be redirected to your online store ”.
5. Chatbots: What are they? What advantages do they have?
For some time now, the term 'bots' and especially that of 'chatbots' has been incorporated into the language of digital transformation. But what does it consist of? And, above all, is it valid for any company? Strictly speaking, it is the combination of two words: 'chat', conversation, and 'bot', robot, that is, as it explains Angel Hernandez, partner of Chatbot Chocolate, “is a software that automates a conversation ”. It assumes the optimization of customer service, since it uses artificial intelligence to relate user queries with the information stored on the web or in the app, so that it can resolve up to 70% of queries automatically.
“It is a fast and accurate service that allows you to optimize your campaigns, especially mobile marketing. In addition, it is a very simple technology to implement in companies because its technological learning curve is minimal. But, also, it improves the conversion ratios of the investment in advertising. In large companies it is almost essential, but in SMEs it is becoming a very interesting option. The impact of the new chatbot technology is brutal, ”emphasizes Hernández, who predicts that it will be an especially strong technology in sectors such as healthcare, banking, e-commerce, tourism and business management, which could lead to cost savings of 8,000 million dollars by 2022, according to Juniper data managed by Chatbot Chocolate. And this technology is expected to be integrated into WhatsApp in less than a year. At the moment it is having a lot of success on Facebook and on corporate internal messaging services, like Slack. "These chatbots can end up displacing the use of mobile apps, because you no longer need to download an app to get in touch with a brand from your mobile, or from social networks," he concludes.
6. Cybersecurity: How to avoid global viruses? What guidelines to follow?
It is undeniable that the more we digitize, the more susceptible we are to hackers, viruses and other cyber dangers. That is why it is essential not to neglect cybersecurity: both for the means of payment, as well as internal and external communications.
Jesus Forest, Head of Content at Softonic, points out some basic tips: “First, use services cloud. If you use cloud technology, you will have the documents accessible from any place or device and, in addition, they will be encrypted and protected with systems of backup and on platforms with high levels of security. Second, change keys often and use password managers that generate strong passwords. From Softonic we always recommend that the password is changed frequently. Third, and as basic as it sounds, when browsing or accessing sites that require some kind of verification, check that they contain https. It is normal today to receive emails that can be confused with official sites. Seeing https or a padlock next to the web address ensures that you are browsing safely and encrypted. And lastly, keep your operating system up to date. If anything was learned from the Wannacry virus cases, it is that if you keep your computer up-to-date with the latest security patches, you are on a protected 99% ”.
And it doesn't hurt, as he emphasizes Carlos Martinez, CEO of IMF Business School, "pass free audits that help you analyze the security of your systems."
7. Apps. Do business with them
As pointed out Pepe agell, founder and CTO of Chartboost, “it is no longer about having an app but about making that app a real business and, to achieve this, you must invest in it. You have to make sure that it serves more than to entertain. And one option is to include advertising in it. The key is return: if you pay an installation cost, you have to make sure that each client spends more than what you have invested in attracting it. That is, the Lifetime Value is greater than the Customer Acquisition Cost. Users are in apps for hours to years (for example, with video games) and producing value for the user is very complex, so it is important to create predictive models that use the big data and that they have a data analyst ”.
And pay attention to the APIs: applications interfaces that allow two applications to communicate with each other, let's say a CRM with Google Calendar. “There are fewer and fewer watertight applications: most systems are already prepared to have open APIs. And so, for example, when someone places an order online, you can keep track of both pre-sales and post-sales and you can integrate everything. We have developed integrations with more than 185 solutions: a e-commerce that can integrate the markeplace,CRM, accounting, POS in a single solution. In this way, everything is simpler, "he explains. Maria Abad, Marketing Director of Teamleader.
8. Financing: Crowdfunding, blockchain, mobile payment, digital currencies ...
There are alternative financing tools from the hand of the fintech that open up infinite opportunities for SMEs. One of them is the crowdfunding, which, "in addition to generating funds, becomes a very powerful instrument to create community, generate visibility and do marketing because it attracts customers, partners, ambassadors ”, he explains Jose Moncada, CEO of La Bolsa Social. "There are also new forms of financing through digital currencies," he adds. Joan Riera, ESADE professor: they have the danger that they are very volatile, but in return they allow us to operate in any market in the world and they are indecipherable. A good option to get them is to offer part of your services and products in them. And be fooled, it is not the only territory of the large, SMEs such as Telepienso or Expedia, for example, they are already doing it.
Digital currencies are related to technology blockchain that guarantees transactions. "blockchain it is to artificial intelligence what DNS is to the Internet: it is the task certification mechanism. It is a collective intelligence that allows to justify the tasks that different intelligences do. It is used to certify any type of sales contract ”, he says. Felipe Garcia, CEO of Knowdle Media Group. Now, with being a very useful tool, as Martínez insists, “it is more a tool for large companies than for small ones”. And don't forget to offer your users mobile payment. In addition to NFC technologies (which we will talk about later), there are applications, such as Bizum or Twyp, or payments through stamps, such as StampyDoo.
9. Intranet: What are internal wikis and what are they for?
One of the most useful tools internally is the Intranet or internal wikis. Well developed, it allows to store and make available to all company employees all relevant company information, both collectively and individually. The larger and more decentralized the company, the more useful and practical it is. “We have all the policies and intelligence of the company, the reports of the teams, the tutorials and materials about our products in an internal wiki. It is about documenting everything that happens in the company because this way you avoid inefficiencies. In addition, if the talent rotates, you can have all the knowledge that is generated in the internal cloud ”, comments Agell.
But, in addition, these internal wikis contribute to promoting and extending the digital transformation to the entire team: “From HR, the use of communication channels is essential to inspire departments. Having a social network of the company itself in which they can interact in a global or departmental way to provide knowledge, helps to improve among all. For new incorporations we have, for example, a onboarding guide interactive through a more visual and comfortable structure that invites its use ", he explains Pablo Fernandez, CEO of Clicars.
Something similar happens in Urban Marketing. "We have a welcome manual, a document in which we collect everything related to the rules and obligations of all employees, what their objectives are and what is expected of them," says Ruiz.
10. 'Marketplaces': An ally for sales
You must be on the platforms and in the marketplaces, recommends Nacho somalo, founder of Lonesome Digital: “E-commerce is changing a lot. Our own online store has less and less weight and the presence in marketplaces. Not being in them is putting yourself out of business. Sales are beginning to be concentrated in a very evident way in these spaces. The main references are eBay, Alibaba, AliExpress and, of course, Amazon. Understanding the keys to how these virtual sales spaces work is key to achieving visibility and sales ”.
An idea in which Carlos Martínez abounds: “There are many entrepreneurs who get into digital sales without having a clue and a good way to do it is by working with large platforms. Both the generalists and the sectoral ones are very useful ”.
11. 'BIG DATA': Not without analysis
According to the study The big digital fail, from Simon-Kucher & Partners, investing in tools to optimize prices through big data It is the one that has the most impact on the company's results and, however, only 11% of companies invested in them in 2016.
According to the aforementioned study, digitalization heroes They are 1.8 times more likely to use big data for customer segmentation and twice as likely to use it for pricing decisions.
And it is undeniable, if there is an ally of the digital transformation in which it is worth investing time and effort, it is big data: the set of tools that allow you to manage and analyze the huge amount of data that is generated with each transaction and digital interaction.
The big data It requires a technological implementation that allows the capture and management of data, but above all it requires human profiles who can understand the importance of a good analysis. "There is more and more data available to companies that arrive through public and economic channels and it is data that you must analyze and quantify to know if you are doing it well," he explains. Barber Angel, professor at EAE.
"Today, all digital transformation goes through obtaining data and the one who better analyzes them, the better they will be able to sell their products or services because they will know the habits of their customers / users," he insists Javier Batanero, CEO of DimeNetwork. The best way to take advantage of big data is applying artificial intelligence.
12. Artificial intelligence: Yes, but not always
Tech companies often get their mouths filled with concepts such as artificial intelligence or machine learningHowever, as Felipe García denounces, “it is not about adopting the latest technology for its own sake, but about getting the one that really works well for your business.
Artificial intelligence is not always necessary. If a problem is solved with a traditional algorithm, that is enough. Airbnb is a very good business model that was not used initially. Artificial intelligence has to do with complex systems with high degrees of uncertainty. " An example would be the user profile: it is not something fixed, because one does not always make the same decisions, but often those decisions depend on the context. It is also good at business models such as investments.
“We apply it to better understand the learning process. To see how the student learns. It allows us to obtain information on how to develop guidelines to improve the learning process. We use the big data to find out what their guidelines are and from there we apply artificial intelligence: we see where they get stuck and we can monitor their need for learning and give them guidelines, ”he explains. Antoni cahner, manager of the UOC and president of the foundation.
The machine learning or machine learning would be a kind of branch or subtype of artificial intelligence. It allows computers learn on your own thanks to a set of algorithms. It is behind some of the most disruptive technologies such as autonomous cars. It is an expensive technology that takes a lot of time and dedication because you have to continually feed the relevant information system.
The next evolution, as it reminds us Adolfo Ramirez, in his book Digitize or disappear, will be the deep learning, which replicates the way the brain learns or performs different activities. Shazura's technology for image recognition, for example, would go along that line.
According to a report by Chatbot Chocolate, which draws on data from PwC, "the world GDP will be 14% higher in 2030 thanks to the application of artificial intelligence in productivity and consumption."
13. Internal chats: What tools are there? Are they practical?
Digital transformation requires direct, clear, structured, instant, open, horizontal and transparent communication and must facilitate the management of multiple remote workers. There are several tools on the market that are perfect for managing this internal communication and collaborative work, the most common are Slack (the corporate messaging service system par excellence), Trello (a kind of digital whiteboard ideal for collaborative work); Basecamp (forums for large groups and to integrate clients into projects) and Asana (designed for projects in which more than one team is involved). “Slack is the backbone of our activity: it allows us to create technical support, establish conversations between people in the team or with customers and suppliers, set goals, carry out employee evaluations, congratulate publicly, put different collaborators in touch,” explains Pepe Agell .
“At Red Hat we use Memo-lists to foster dialogue throughout the company. It is an email list that any Red Hat associate can use to send a message to the entire company. Without restrictions. There are no guardians. Red Hat leaders value the note list as a tool to gauge Red Hatters' unfiltered reactions to new business initiatives or, more frequently, to revalue what I like to call 'half ideas' in search of critical feedback from employees. experts and passionate ”, affirms Jim whitehurst, President and CEO of Red Hat.
In order to Sergio Escoté, CEO of Optima Network, “we have to centralize communication. Tools like Slack or Asana allow us a very advanced management in the communication of everything we do and save us a lot of time. Segmenting communication into thematic channels, connecting external applications and even enjoying ourselves while we communicate are an advantage with these internal whatsapps ”.
14. Digital management: Agile and creative methodologies and RT systems
Digital transformation implies working in a more dynamic, agile and innovative way. This is digital management that involves working differently. “We use three methodologies: design thinking, Read Y agile. The environment has changed and the company must develop a culture of innovation, prototype in a more agile way to be more innovative and efficient ”, he explains Juan Luis Moreno, The Valley's director of academic and strategy. But what are these methodologies ?:
#'DESIGN THINKING '. It's the so-called mentality out the boxIt's about getting out of the box, breaking the mold to develop innovative products. “Daring to try new products, new methodologies, new processes will lead the organization to innovate. Favoring decision-making and not penalizing mistakes will make us move faster and faster ”, he details. Jose Sola, COO of Demium Startups.
#'LEAN '. Work with the minimum viable product and bet on trial / error. "Our corporate culture is very much oriented to test absolutely everything to see what the best practices are and what is really useful for each department", explains the CEO of Clicars. And, as Sola insists, "understand that this process often causes failure, fast failure and, above all, cheap failure."
#'AGILE '. It's about working in parallel to streamline releases and results and eliminate intermediate processes. "The reduction of processes, bureaucracy and any activity that does not add value to customers must be eradicated with the aim of becoming an agile organization that can adapt to an environment that changes a lot and very quickly", concludes Sola. It is worth remembering the advice of Manuel Casuso, CEO of Digital55: “Technologies must be light and work methodologies agile. If you develop digital products using heavy technologies, the response speed will be greatly reduced and you will lose market positions ”.
#HERRAMIENTAS RT. And try the RT tools, "small modules that combine Finance, HR and Sales, for example, and allow you to have everything parameterized to control where your business is going," insists Carlos Martínez.
15. Virtual and augmented reality: Do you need to bet on these experiences?
Both make references to different stages of immersive experiences: technologies that allow the user to interact with a fictional scenario (in the case of virtual reality) or a real one (augmented reality). The first requires special glasses that introduce the user to created scenarios and is more for the video game and entertainment industries. The second may require glasses, but in some cases it simply uses a mobile phone or a webcam. It is very useful for any service or business that requires a prior test. Seeing how a sofa looks in the living room of your house, what the walls of your living room would be painted in aqua green or how a pair of sneakers fit you is already a reality, but it is still a very expensive technology, available only to large companies or institutions.
However, according to Black book From IDC, these two technologies, together with those of the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, robotics and 3D printing, will experience a growth in investment of 17%, only in 2018, compared to 3% that investments in more conventional technologies will experience.
16. NFC and QR codes: Are they useful?
The development of these two technologies is closely linked to the rise of smartphones and the economy mobile. NFC technology literally means Near Field Communication. It is a short-distance communication that allows data to be sent wirelessly between two devices. It is bidirectional, so it is perfect to redirect users to the web page or to the product or to the message that wants to launch a brand or expand the information about what the user is seeing and it is also valid to allow payments. Hence, one of the most common applications is for transactions: mobile payments, purchase of products or tickets ...
QR codes (Quick Response Barcode) are a bit of the antecedent of NFC codes and even augmented reality. Physically they have the appearance of psychedelic barcodes and are somewhat more basic than other technologies, but it has the advantage that creating them is free and that all current mobile devices can read them.
17. 'ICloud': How to harness its potential ...
The cloud has become the great ally of digital transformation because it facilitates two of the qualities inherent to this process: cooperative work and omnichannel. When you have all the company's data in the cloud, anyone can access the necessary data for a project from any corner of the world and from any device.
“The cloud allows to work horizontally, tele-lock and share in a secure way. Maintaining the data and systems of your computers and your servers requires costs, infrastructure, the possibility of losing data, that it becomes corrupted. In the cloud this does not happen because there are superior security measures. Teamleader has everything on the Amazon Web Services servers ”, María Abad points out. For Gonzalo parejo, CSO and COO of Ontruck, “the models of cloud computing applied to logistics management help to build solutions that transform a large amount of data into supply and demand forecasting models, which allows companies that make use of these models a more efficient allocation of resources, cost reduction and higher quality of service perceived by the market thanks to the generation of optimized routes. All this translates into greater ease and speed of the services offered ”.
Adolfo Ramírez recalls that there are three types of infrastructure cloud: public (managed by third parties), private (for organizations and corporations, appropriate for entities subject to regulatory specifications) and hybrid (they have a private and a public part). SMEs are especially interested in the former. And this ties into the next tip.
18. Software as a Service (SaS) Why spend a lot on technology?
Are you one of those who still think that to be up-to-date in digitization you must invest a fortune? Well, cheat yourself. With open source and the cloud comes the SaS: a software that you pay per use, which ends up turning the technology into a real commodity, which you can also renew and adapt continuously. It is one more advantage of the cloud that we talked about in the previous section. “Right now there is a democratization of digital tools in almost all management areas: from CRM to analytical tools, data visualization or online consultations. They are getting better and more powerful, ”explains Barbero. Something in which Abad agrees: "The cloud allows prices to be lowered and high volume and SMEs can thus access state-of-the-art technology."
The SaS “greatly facilitates the use of new tools, because they usually incorporate advice on their operation and availability. In addition, it allows you to always be up to date, something that is no small thing in a world as changing as that of technology, where new tools and services are constantly appearing that reduce costs, so that if you are not alert you can incur losses absurd ”, indicates José Luis Zimmermann, CEO of Adigital. “The digital transformation is linked to a change in the concept of the provision of infrastructures. SaS and Opensource are essential in any large company that wants to reduce costs and improve the productivity of developers and programmers ”, he confirms Sebastian Martinez, Head of Business Development at SUSE.
19. User experience. Do you know how to digitize it? And make it profitable?
"The new digital client is mobile, omnichannel, is superinformed and must be able to find the same information on any device," insists Abad. “There are no excuses for not listening to what consumers are saying. Technology is at the service of customer satisfaction and they must make their user experience excellent, ”recommends Bryan McEire. And, assuming that, try to digitize that experience to the fullest. There are two tools for this:
#CRM. They are computerized customer management systems. “What is not written does not exist. Many times aisle decisions are made and it is important that everything relevant is trackeethen in the CRM, so that all interaction with the customer is collected ”, insists Agell. A good CRM can save you up to 70% of time in customer management.
#MARKETING AUTOMATION consists of sending them content related to what you have bought (the branded content). Helps collect relevant data.
#Y TO MAKE IT PROFITABLE? As Somalo recalls, “a digital transformation goes from valuing the company for cash flows to valuing it for the ability to obtain more value from customers. The viability and scalability of the business must be measured by the ability to obtain value from customers (Life Time Value) and by the cost required to achieve them (Customer Acquisition Cost) ”.
"You have to flee from the banal metrics that can give an erroneous growth impression (visits, likes, downloads ...) You must be able to create attribution models and investment optimization based on more important indicators, such as engagement and retention, for non-monetized products; and revenue per customer, for the monetized yes, "he explains Patricia de Loro, CPO of The Venture City.
20. Robotics, IOT, 3D printing: Are they necessary?
In order to Jose Lopez Garcia de Leaniz, CEO of Igeneris, "applying tools such as the Internet of Things or robotics can be essential to modernize and differentiate itself by offering a total experience". An experience in which those tools are inscribed that allow the user to virtually try on clothes or interconnect their car with their mobile ... Without discussing their usefulness, it is undeniable that, as Cahner affirms, “robotics and the Internet of things are of more easy application in industrial processes. At the UOC headquarters it is already being used to analyze the demands of the student who asks for information and, by scanning his image, to know what degree he is studying ”. Another technology that is destined "to undoubtedly change the way we distribute most products and goods", in Batanero's words, is 3D printing.
21. Human team: Is anyone worth it?
The blunt answer is no. Digital transformation implies a different way of working and requires skills that not everyone possesses, "not only do you need technical and digital knowledge but also specific skills in the digital environment: managing uncertainty, capacity for collaborative work, autonomy ..." , remembers Juan Luis Moreno.
“You must analyze if you have these profiles internally or have to recruit them outside. Internally, it is not about firing, but about training and helping the transformation ", he says. Nacho de Pinedo, CEO and founder of ISDI. And you have to create multidisciplinary teams: "organizations have to stop working in silos." Something that matches Fernando Bottle, CEO of Thing & Action, “new times require a leader redarchic, someone who helps promote collaborative work models and the circulation of talent in all directions ”. And if you have to look for talent abroad, take advantage of the new tools that allow you to detect this type of aptitude. In TeamViewer they have developed a tool that digitizes these selection processes "it is called Blizz and with it the geographical spectrum can be expanded, conducting and recording interviews remotely", he explains. Axel schmidtby TeamViewer.
22. Open innovation: What does it consist of?
As it explains Maria Benjumea, founder and president of Spain Startup and South Summit, “open innovation means that innovation has to be identified wherever it is. A good formula to support it is intrapreneurship ”. “It is necessary to involve the entire organization and stakeholders. The process is transversal and open to the market and requires a significant commitment from the management ”, he explains. Alberto Robles, General Manager of Iberia de Expert System. "It is about betting on horizontal and multifunctional structures, so that the entire organization is involved in decision-making by being more responsible and contributing to the project with all its capabilities," he corroborates Alberto Porciani, CEO of TopDoctors. In Whitehurst's view, "the leaders who can align the passions of their teams with the central mission will be the ones who achieve success."
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