Have you noticed that you are hearing the word Digital wherever you go? Many C level executives and IT folks keep talking about “DIGITAL” or otherwise “Digital Strategy”, but exactly what does “digital” mean?
Few companies describe digital as “SMAC” (Social, Mobile, Analytics, and Cloud). Today “Digital” really means offering a right mix of four elements namely, Technology, User Experience, Strategy and Expertise. To get the right mix of these four elements to your customer’s plate, SMAC acts as an enabler. We are into an era of consumerization of IT services and the greatest challenge is when it comes to the commercial realities of how to introduce it into the business.
“Digital” is more than mere technology. It is the abilities those technologies create.
Digital means connecting that technology with the right data science, devices, design and business strategy. It means putting a customer, device, organization or business process at the center of real change in how businesses do things and how customers experience them. It means creating value by uniting the physical world—seamlessly, efficiently, meaningfully—to the virtual one we’re building.
Digital means the experience and value you create to your customer or end user by leveraging the power of these technologies. Let me explain with few simple examples here:
If someone asks you the below questions:
- How do you connect with your friends?
- Is your top answer Facebook or WhatsApp? Or may be both.
- How do you pay your utility bills?
- I am sure 90% of answers will be online, net banking (or) payment gateway.
- How did you manage to book tickets for this new movie over the weekend?
- Is your answer Online / Mobile App?
- Hey how do I know how far I am from my destination just sitting in my cab?
- Maps / GPS
This is how technology has changed your life. You are using them seamlessly without even knowing what is happening behind the scenes and how you are getting used to it. A common man would not even know if a cloud is being used by him when he shares a twitter / facebook post in a social network. He doesn’t know if big data analytics is being used by the online payment gateway data that he uses. But he just never minds and uses it as part of his regular routine life seamlessly.
Today we are surrounded by a Digital ecosystem
As a result technology is already deep at the root of human life and it has already changed the way we live, speak, communicate, collaborate, play etc.
CONCLUSION
The important thing here is that “Digital” means something specific, and reasonably clear. It’s not an opaque buzzword. It’s a sociological change, rather than a technical one.
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