BOLD Leadership Overview

In today’s day and age, it’s nearly impossible to run a business that doesn’t include a digital component. Incorporating digital aspects to your business can look like so much more than just an online storefront. Many entrepreneurs may be missing out on huge opportunities to strengthen their business by not taking advantage of all technological possibilities.

That’s where Alberta Women Entrepreneurs’ BOLD Leadership program comes in.

Over the course of the program, entrepreneurs get a baseline of knowledge about what a digital transformation can look like for their business before creating a plan that fits their needs and abilities. “The Bold Leadership Program focuses on the critical components of building a digital strategy for a business.” Says Gabriela Touma; Bold Leadership Program Advisor. Covering a range of topics from digital marketing to improving the customer experience, the aim is of this program is to get participants thinking about all of the ways, big and small, that digitalization can save them time and money.

A lot of people feel overwhelmed because there is so much technology out there. AWE’s Bold Leadership program tries to give people enough of an idea of what the technologies are about and then how to start to incorporate that into their business.

Some entrepreneurs, like Danielle Cherewyk, focus on mapping out how to automate their business processes, saving their team dozens of hours a week. Others may focus on developing new revenue models so they can start scaling up. Beyond the tangible benefits that can come from putting new technologies into practice, the greatest win can be a shift in business culture.

We want to help leaders start creating a culture of innovation in their companies. Sometimes leaders will feel that all of the innovative ideas fall on them, but we help them build a framework so that they can actually draw on all the innovation and the talents in their team to help move the whole company forward.

“Within The Bold Leadership Program, business leaders will learn everything from how to build a digital strategy, how to effectively leverage current and emerging technologies, and how to understand the drivers of transformation, Touma says, but most importantly we are helping them navigate the digital space with other inspiring women leaders that are excited to learn, collaborate and add to the conversation.”

While teaching the skills is important, AWE recognizes that creating a network of support for businesses as they go through their digital transformation is what takes an idea from concept to execution. Participants have access to one-on-one time with expert digital advisors during and after the course so they can continue to receive advice that is relevant to their unique business.  

“The connections that happen in the program are remarkable. We’ve heard from many participants how much it has changed their businesses!”

Bold Leadership Feature: Janet Caryk

Janet Caryk is a psychologist and business owner based out of Edmonton, AB. She made the pivot to private practice after being a long-term employee at a hospital. Her private practice is called Centre for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. She’s been in private practice for about 22 years now. Janet’s services aid her clients in treating OCD, panic disorders, and more with cognitive behavioural therapy. Rethinking therapy, Janet’s clinic offers group therapy programs, free events, and more for her clients.

In the mid-90’s there was a prospect that healthcare was going to change relating to maternity leave. Although the healthcare changes never took place, it got her thinking, “I'm not going to wait around for my pink slip. I have to do something, and that's when I started talking to my colleagues about starting a clinic.”

After sitting with the idea of owning her own practice, she began to lean into it, transitioning out of her full-time job. “I told my boss at the hospital, I'm thinking of leaving and I'd like to go part-time here. He agreed to that. I think it was like about six months of working part-time I decided that I was going to go full-time with my private practice. Then I developed the clinic with my business partner.”

Initially, Janet participated in an AWE Program to assist her with opening a gym. AWE assisted Janet is examining the decision for every angle. After careful consideration, she decided franchising a gym wasn’t a good decision for her business at the time. “Now, you can imagine that deciding not to open the gym was the best decision I ever made as a businesswoman. It was about 18 months before COVID hit.”

When COVID hit, there’s was a large demand for her psychology services. The increase in demand and limitations in meeting clients in-person lead her to have to make a digital shift quickly. She leaned on the Bold Leadership Program to assist her in becoming more tech savvy. Now, she can host events and appointments remotely and is gaining confident in her technical ability. “I think the most important thing is that I've changed my mindset. I don't automatically say ‘I'm low tech, I can't do that’. I'm no longer low tech. That's not an accurate statement. I'm not high tech either, but I am learning.”

The Bold Leadership Program helped Janet streamline her back office, which consists of accounting, paperwork, payroll, etc. “I tried so hard to figure out the best way to organize everything and the most cost-efficient way. What AWE helped me do was sit down and really have a hard look at the numbers.” By looking in depth at all her accounting, she was better able to find areas for improvement and opportunity, all while being supported by AWE.

The next big project that her Bold Leadership coach is going to help with is leveraging different online platforms so that her clinic can be easily found, and to measure which platforms are performing best.

“My experience in the Bold Leadership Program was really amazing. Everybody's so helpful, supportive and nice. There is lots of communication, willingness to help answer any questions that you have, and lots of collaboration. I call it my mini-MBA”

Janet’s advice for entrepreneurs growing their business in the digital era:

“You can’t be as successful unless you're willing to embrace the digital components. If you resist these changes, you're just not going to be competitive. You're not going to be able to grow without embracing this kind of technology.”

Janet recently completed the Bold Leadership Program with AWE. The program is designed to support women entrepreneurs who are creating new strategies, and implementing technology and processes that will improve their business performance.

Improving the Customer Experience Through Technology

The past two decades have seen the birth of an unprecedented number of new markets and technologies such as cloud services, warehouse robotics, and smartphones. These new technologies have redefined entire industries, and business owners are being forced to change their business models and embrace digital transformation in order to stay competitive.

The integration of digital technologies into all areas of a business is changing how businesses operate, and also how they interact with and bring value to their customers. Digital technology has transformed consumer habits and caused a shift in customer expectations. These days, customers often rate organizations on their digital customer experience first.

Mobile devices, apps, machine learning, automation and much more allow customers to get what they want almost exactly at the moment they need it. As a result, modern customers expect consistent access to relevant content in relation to what they’re doing at any time, in any location and in the format and on the device of their choosing. In today’s market, businesses must embrace technologies in many forms to deliver an unmatched customer experience. But, for many small businesses the options can be overwhelming. 

Alberta Women Entrepreneurs offers a series of Digital Transformation courses that explore digital transformation topics with experts. Over three sessions, two hours each, participants receive strategic insights, ask questions and talk about technology options with experts. 

For Lori Schmidt, Instructor of the Enhancing Customer Experience Through Digital course, understanding how to digitally transform a business begins with an understanding of what digital competencies are needed to improve operational efficiency as well as the customer experience.

“Our approach has been helping the entrepreneur understand that it is about the integration of digital technologies into all areas of their business. So it is much more strategic perhaps rather than jumping into all the technologies,“ explained Lori. “The course was a primer for our larger Bold Leadership Program. A component of the course is to help women identify and build competencies using digital technologies to enhance the customer experience. It involves understanding what digital transformation is.”

Enhancing Customer Experience Through Digital was designed to be a course that would help businesses shift from pandemic survival strategies, to focusing on long-term implementation of digital technologies for continued growth in their markets. Participants were not only able to identify areas of digital competencies that they needed to acquire, but were also able to apply the technologies with a strategy and valuable feedback from other professionals.

“Everyone got what they needed out of the course in a different way, and the opportunity to work continuously with AWE is huge. It has completely transformed our business and our direction and where we are going, and that gave AWE a lot of value to us.” - Amaris Gamache, Course Participant.

An aspect of the Enhancing Customer Experience course was learning to prepare and execute a customer experience digital strategy by developing an implementation plan. For Jody Craig, mapping out her customers' journey was a valuable exercise. Since applying strategies learned in the course, she has been able to increase her exposure to new markets by using marketing techniques to let people know what she is working on, and inviting new collaborations.

Participants of the course learned how to identify their current level of digital maturity. The course also explored customer engagement through the use of social media, artificial intelligence, data analysis, and multiple digital channels from their first connection with your brand, to following up with customers well after the purchase of a product or service.

According to Jody Craig, “staying in touch with your customers is important.” How a company does that is an equally important part of the customer experience. “Feedback from clients is important to ensure that you are providing a service that is of value. Keeping the lines of communication open is essential to understanding what your clients changing needs are,” she explained.

Staying on top of communications is another area in which digital transformation can assist with improving efficiencies and quality of customer service. Implementing simple automations can help businesses stay in contact with their ever growing customer base. This includes marketing automation such as email, chat and sales support, as well as operations automation including fulfillment, shipping, tracking and bookkeeping. 

Introducing digital strategies means replacing cold calling with social selling. Customers are already active in social media and that’s where businesses need to be in order to engage. Instead of waiting for the customer to establish contact, businesses today need to reach out to them, build a relationship and help educate them about their product or service.

Customer service teams are no longer restricted to phone and email communications. Digital transformation is not just about being reactive, it’s about using a wide range of channels to provide support. Social media, reviews sites, forums, and communities are all now part of the customer service ecosystem. 

Regardless of what technologies businesses choose to implement, one thing is certain: the companies that do make the choice to transform to digital operations and processes are creating highly engaged customers.

Interviews:

Lori Schmidt - Business Advisor and Coach

Jody Craig, Viewpoint Executive Solutions

Amaris Gamache - The Chic Studio ( Chic and Company Inc., La Seda Silk, Magnifiquely Lashed)

Bold Leadership Feature: Diana Frost

Diana Frost is the owner of a colouring book company called Colouring It Forward. Diana is Algonquin Métis, an artist and a musician. Diana was an engineer for 20 years, then had a dream about creating a series of colouring books and decided to pursue her creative side. “It started with a series of coloring books that I made with artists and elders from different nations. The coloring books include real artwork, and also stories and teachings from the elders. It's a way for people to learn a little bit about the First Nations culture in a positive way.” Colouring It Forward was rapidly successful, with 2500 copies being sold in the first 6 weeks of launching. This captured the attention of CBC, radio, and print news sources. 

When the pandemic happened, retail bookstores were shutting down, which negatively impacted the B2B side of the company. However, Colouring It Forward already had a Shopify website, so Diana began to utilize more digital tools to focus more on selling directly to customers. The Bold Leadership Program assisted Diana greatly; she went into the program knowing she was going to implement what was needed to further her business. With AWE’s support, Diana has been able to optimize the website, merge her email so that everything was in one place, and launch her subscription box with assistance from Angus Gastle (AWE coach).

“I came up with the idea to make a gift box, like an Indigenous wellness box, called Equinox Box. While I was still doing the program, I think it was on March 1, I launched it.” The launch was successful with 30 purchases. Then after some media attention, it took one week for the subscription boxes to nearly sell out. “So, I opened up [sales] for another 50 boxes. And they sold out the next day. Again, I sold 50 boxes that day, and then the next day, they were completely sold out.” The Bold Leadership Program propelled Diana’s business forward in replacing the dependable income she had lost from bookstores closing due to COVID-19.

Diana had a very positive experience in the Bold Leadership Program and expressed great gratitude. “The coaching has been tremendous. Angus has done so much work on my platform and putting me in touch with people. They’ve helped with simplification of my platforms. I really appreciate knowing that there's someone there that I can ask for help. Anything that has to do with the digital platforms, I can ask Angus, and he'll help. Having people you can ask questions to, or to give you feedback is invaluable.”

“I feel like I have a better understanding now where my weaknesses are digitally, and my strengths. The Bold Leadership Program helped me with identifying goals and objectives specific to the digital platforms I was using. As a solopreneur, you don't have a lot of time. You end up putting fires out all the time and you don't have a lot of time to plan. Being part of the program gave me that time; it was forcing me to listen and answer important questions. I knew I had to grow digitally.”

When asked about advice for entrepreneurs growing their business in this digital era, Diana touched on the dilemma many small business owners face. “I think the most important thing is to make sure your messaging is consistent and to be patient. Interact with your prospected clients, or your customers. Try lots of new things but don't try too many platforms right at the beginning. Pick one or two and do it well. I remember at the beginning of my business I was trying to do so much for different platforms, plus doing B2B as well; it was too much.” Diana also highlighted the importance of consistency when using digital tools like social media. “Some people say you have to post every day, but I don't think so. I think what you need to do is be consistent. Make it quality over quantity. Make sure you check back on your posts because if people leave you some kind of comments, they'll want you to responded to it somehow.”

Poppy Barley's E-Commerce Journey

Poppy Barley started as an e-commerce company, but it now has several retail locations in Alberta. Kendall and Justine created Poppy Barley in 2012 to create a shoe with a better, more customized fit. They designed and created the shoes based on specific measurements. Now it’s evolved beyond that; Poppy Barley is now making environmentally friendly, comfortable shoes for people who want to wear them from season to season. Though you can still order customized footwear from Poppy Barley, their offerings have expanded.

Kendall and Justine are sisters, and growing up, their father worked on the railway. This meant that their family was constantly on the move. Kendall explains that she always wanted to be an entrepreneur because, “if I worked for myself, I could decide where I wanted to live and where I would move. I would have more control over my destiny.” Both Kendall and Justine studied business and creating Poppy Barley felt like a natural progression of their education and skills. On top of that, Justine has experience working in social development, which assisted them in making business decisions. “For us, a business is a platform that has responsibility. We play our part to shaping a better future for our world.”

Poppy Barley rethinks luxury for the planet and people.

Being a digitally native brand, they didn’t think they would ever transition into retail stores. Then customers inquired about touching, feeling, and trying on the shoes before purchasing. This lead Kendall and Justine to opening brick-and-mortar stores. Opening stores in Alberta offered Poppy Barley an additional sales channel.

Poppy Barley reached a pre-qualified audience by launching online initially. The retail locations have an excellent conversion rate because people are already familiar with the brand from its online presence.

One of the most important aspects of Poppy Barley as a digital business is the ability to measure everything with data. When you use data, you’re able to test theories and remove yourself from caring what others think. You can let the numbers speak for themselves, and then pivot your strategy accordingly. Additionally, visual assets have been vitally important. The way Poppy Barley presents its website, branding, and social media influences how people are being captivated by the brand.

The global events in the past year pushed many companies to transition digitally. Though the events affected Poppy Barley, the company’s digital aspects were already in place. Rather than changing the digital components, the company leaned further into them. The pandemic affected shipping and manufacturing for companies. To help mitigate this issue, Poppy Barley relied on pre-orders and emails for items back-in-stock.

To further their digital component, Poppy Barley is implementing a ‘try before you buy’ program in the near future. In this program, customers will pay a small deposit to be sent a variety of shoes, then the customer will pay for what they keep. This is a fantastic example of what companies can do in the current global climate to reimagine what bringing an in-store experience to customers is like.

Kendall’s advice to entrepreneurs growing their business in the digital era is to keep in mind how fast the digital world is moving. With so many new and upcoming media platforms, it’s important to create a foundation for your business. Kendall suggests to always be building your email list because you own your email list. Even if the digital world changes, you’ll still have a connection with your customer with an email list. Additionally, leveraging SMS messaging can assist companies with a direct line of communication with their customers. When using email and SMS, it’s a great addition to develop a loyalty program. A loyalty program helps your customers feel more connected with your brand and rewards them for that connection.

“The world is changing really fast, but what people want from their product has not changed. We still want product we can feel good about. Focus on the core of the product the rest is just the ‘how’ behind that.”

5 Habits of Successful Digital Leaders

Written by Lori Schmidt, AWE Bold Leadership Program Lead.

Leaders are the driving force behind their business’ digital transformation efforts. It’s important for you as a leader to have a forward-thinking mindset and adopt habits that allow you to adapt quickly to the changing times. It is never too late to pick up a new habit, especially when those habits lead to business success, including increased revenue and growth. Here are five habits that successful digital leaders should considering adopting:

1. Focusing on customers first and foremost

“The customer is always right” is an age-old business mantra that stresses the importance of good customer service. Technology is only amplifying this principle. Customers today not only have higher expectations, but also have access to a much wider range of products, services, companies, and brands to choose from. Good customer service is no longer a business differentiator – it is a business fundamental. This radical customer centricity is a core element of leading digital in your business.

It’s also no surprise that meeting customers’ changing demands is the number-one objective for companies that are transforming, even before other critical factors such as increasing revenue and meeting profit goals.

Customers dictate the speed at which organizations must move, and the customer journey must always prevail over established business processes. This is the definition of a human-centric approach, and leading companies put customer demands at the top of their list of priorities.

2. Driving innovation through ecosystems and partnerships

Customers today demand personalization, convenience and great experiences, and companies are realizing they can’t meet all of these demands alone. They will need to forge partnerships, but they must also challenge sector boundaries to become nimbler and more able to innovate at scale. We see this in online retailers partnering with brick-and-mortar stores to offer customers a more convenient experience. We also see this in global technology companies tapping into ecosystems of start-ups to fuel technology development. Leaders can outpace their competitors by partnering strategically.

3. Nurturing talent with new incentives and strategies

The skills gap is real and prevalent: 59% of companies surveyed last year believe there’s an industry-wide shortage of the type of skills that would help accelerate their digital transformation efforts. This starts with building up the skills of the leader and then identifying skills needed to move the digital business strategy forward and building out those skills within the organization. It also entails contracting the right skills to enhance the gaps of specific expertise while keeping your organization vision and mission in mind. Successful leaders invest in upskilling their people and are focused on creating cultures of innovation and continuous learning. After customer-centric, learner centric is the most important quality to have as a business leader.

4. Activating governance plans for emerging technology applications

Developing and deploying innovative digital technology at scale today is crucial to business success. It allows companies to be nimbler, to challenge sector boundaries, and deliver better customer outcomes. But even the best, most innovative technology won’t scale unless it’s governed properly and ethically. Trust is at the heart of ethical governance. If consumers and businesses don’t trust technology or companies, they simply won’t use them. So the concept of trust by design, which is a methodology that ensures that trust is considered and embedded into services and products from the outset – will be even more critical into the future. Leaders who look at every technological application through the trust and governance lens, build greater and trusted relationships with their customers.

5. Powering innovation by leveraging data and being agile

 Working at speed is a key priority for businesses, we regard rapidly deploying technology to better meet customer expectations as a core value driver. But while companies understand the need to be quicker and more agile, many are less certain about how that can be done – and they’re turning to data for answers. The most competitive companies use data to learn by the second, and they get smarter by the second. This has all kinds of implications in terms of efficiency, cost savings and customer experience. It’s the only way to move forward. In today’s world, you can’t really survive as a business without using data.

Consider how insurers use claims data to detect fraud and act earlier, manufacturers use data to detect and predict failure points to minimize costly downtime, and retailers use historical customer purchase and search data to target them more efficiently with relevant products. Almost all businesses can use data to optimize operations, and it has been found that almost three-quarters (71%) of businesses surveyed in the US are using insights from data and analytics to speed innovation.

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AWE’s Bold Leadership is designed to help women entrepreneurs create the digital strategy they need to keep their businesses relevant and profitable. Registration for our new course, Level-Up Your Digital Marketing Strategy and Brand, is now open. Learn more about the course and register today.

Disruptive Business Models: New Opportunities for Your Business

Written by Lori Schmidt, AWE Bold Leadership Program Lead.

The quote “Disrupt or be disrupted” has been said a lot over the past year. Everybody is constantly looking for an opportunity or niche to disrupt industries with new innovative business models, so it’s no wonder that there is a lot of talking going on in this field. But first, it’s important to note that there are usually never completely new business models involved. Existing business models are simply used for a new industry, a new product, or a new service.

As an example, one can see how certain industries have already had to deal with a disruptive business model. The classic taxi service was put under a lot of pressure by Uber, as they had a platform that connected the drivers and guests via the Internet, instead of dialing a new number in each city or looking for taxis.

Successful disruptive business models focus on the customer again. New technologies have changed customer behavior and this change also enables models that meet these needs. Many successful companies combine these business models and use different models for different parts of their companies. The right combination of innovative products and innovative business models can play a major role in your success as a business.

Here are eight business models that can be disruptive for industries. This list of is not exhaustive, but they are eight important business models that have been responsible for important innovations in many markets.

As you read through them think about how these technologies can disrupt or provide opportunities for your business.

8 Disruptive Business Models

1. Freemium Model

This is one of the most frequently used business models. The consumer receives a product or service free of charge and only basic functions are offered. For premium functions, the customer must then pay. This way you can quickly reach a broad customer base, scale your business into new markets and generate income when converting customers into paying ones.

This model is especially applicable for products or services that have low marginal costs (additional costs per additional customer) or where marketing and customer information have a higher value than the operating costs. The key for such models is also the conversion. You need to find a free solution that is attractive for a customer but also not perfectly satisfying so they are willing to pay for the premium.

Typical examples: Spotify, LinkedIn, Canva, MailChimp

2. Subscription Model

Products and services can usually also be offered as subscriptions. An amount that would normally only be paid once is now split or a new service is created that is billed periodically. The aim is to bind the customer in the long term. In contrast to the one-time purchase, the customer benefits from improvements and extensions of the service.

Non-divisible products can also be converted into a subscription here. Amazon has already provided an example with this system of how products such as detergents, cosmetics, etc. can also be delivered automatically on a regular basis. Subscriptions are very powerful as they allow you to generate income over time and grow your company without too many highs and lows.

Typical examples: Amazon, Netflix, Internet Providers

3. Free offerings

This is a model that has gained in popularity especially through Google. For many entrepreneurs, this is also the most incomprehensible business model, but it has great potential for some services. Since such business models usually evaluate customer data for advertising or personalized offers, they have access to lot of information about customers which is an important commodity in these times.

When you are considering an only free service, you also need to plan for a long ramp-up phase. This means you are investing for a long period of time before you reach the critical mass of users to have a profitable business.

Typical examples: Google, Facebook

4. Marketplace Model

For some industries, marketplaces already had or have great disruptive potential. The business model used here is usually a digital marketplace which connects seller and buyer on a common platform. Money is usually generated via brokerage fees, commissions, or fixed transaction costs. However, it is also possible to use membership fees on the platform or to generate money through advertising/premium positioning services.

Typical examples: Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, Shopify

5. Sharing Economy (or Access-over-Ownership Model or Renting & Leasing)

In the classic sense, the sharing economy is referred to as lending. Goods or services that can usually only be purchased are made available to another person for a limited period. In the example of car sharing, the car owned by the company is made available for a certain period of time and the customer is charged mileage along with other fees. In general, this model can be applied to all products, from private individuals or companies, real estate, or intangible assets.

Typical examples: AirBnB, RVShare, Coworking Spaces

6. User Experience Premium

This is a premium model that can be easily observed using Apple. A good customer experience adds value to an exchangeable product. Service, the brand and especially the experience of the customer are greatly improved so premium prices can be charged.

Typical examples: Tesla, Apple

7. Ecosystem – Create your own ecosystem

To bind customers to an ecosystem in the long term through a “lock-in” process in a service is a dream for every entrepreneur. For example, if you have a mobile phone from Apple or Android, you are probably included in this ecosystem. You buy hardware and use software that may only be compatible in the same system. This makes the change difficult and prevents new competition from gaining a foothold.

Typical examples: Apple, Google Suite

8. On-Demand Model

Time is money, that is the structure of this business model. Immediate access is the selling point of this model, the delivery, the product, or the service can be called up at a certain point in time. Video-on-demand, taxi-on-demand and many other systems are a good example. Companies with goods or time provide their services to customers who are willing to pay premium for it.

Typical examples: Amazon Prime, Uber, Upwork, Cloud Services

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AWE’s Bold Leadership program is designed to help women entrepreneurs create the digital strategy they need to keep their businesses relevant and profitable. Applications for the February 2021 cohort are now open. Learn more about how the program can kickstart your transformation journey.

How Digital Transformation Drives Value for Your Business

Written by Lori Schmidt, AWE Bold Leadership Program Lead.

With the pandemic, business owners around the world were pushed into adapting their businesses for the digital world as a means of survival. Building and implementing a digital strategy for your business is often seen as just updating technology and processes, but it is much more than that. It is about driving value for your business, your customers, and your bottom line. When done right, a comprehensive digital strategy can drive value for your business in the following ways:

1. Creating new sources of revenue

Digital ecosystems drive new revenue streams by looking at how organizations can track and analyze data flowing through the business and use it to create new products and services, as well as improve customer interactions and their access to your company’s offerings. These improvements can include enhancing delivery times, building price matching programs, advising customers instead of selling to them through consultations on how to use your products, and using data to create customer profiles to provide customized recommendations and assistance (like a personal shopper).

2. Lowering operational costs

Companies that have embraced digital transformation are finding measurable cost savings through improved business processes. Besides increasing workflow efficiency, end-to-end integration improves your working relationships with customers and partners and reduces operational costs due to automated data processes. It also makes it easier for your employees as they will now be supported by systems that help them be more efficient in their work functions.

3. Increasing the speed of technology adoption and potential for success

Building the right digital strategy for your business allows you to fully utilize and adopt new technology in ways that will help you grow your business. You will be able to achieve that by first evaluating the systems and data you already have in place, and then identifying the opportunities available to serve your customers more effectively and with more value. When done correctly, you will have implemented a strategy that works for your business the first time, rather than simply jumping into the latest technology on the market which may not give you the results you had hoped and may cause delays in your timeline.

When thinking about ways to drive value for your business, it is very important to start looking at it in terms of a digital strategy. It is just like any other business strategy you have built in the past, but you will instead be looking at it through a digital lens. Here are a few key things to keep in mind:

• What are your business and financial goals? Make sure you are looking at them in terms of how you are creating business value.

• Understand your customers. You should be able to define your value proposition and be able to map out your customer journey.

• Look at your internal processes and see how you might add value to your customers and meet your financial objectives. Build in measures to constantly look for areas of improvement and innovation.

• Ensure that you are setting up your people for success. Build digital champions within your business and foster a digital culture of continuous learning. Attract and retain people that are going to help you continue to build into the future and achieve your goals.

AWE’s newly launched Bold Leadership program is designed to help women entrepreneurs create the digital strategy they need to keep their businesses relevant and profitable. Applications for the January 2021 cohort are now open. Learn more about how the program can kickstart your transformation journey.

Why Digital Transformations Fail

Written by Lori Schmidt, AWE Bold Leadership Program Lead.

Leading digital transformation, especially in today’s environment requires top to bottom organizational change. It requires leaders who are willing and able to leverage digital to innovate, fail fast and drive value in an ambiguous context. There has been a push recently for businesses to implement digital transformation strategies and adapt quickly which has led to a lot of failures, with about 70% of digital transformation initiatives failing. While you embark on your digital transformation journey, it’s important to also consider why they fail. It often has to do with: 

• Lack of clarity in your business on impacts of digital transformation 

• Lack of definition of what digital transformation means to your business 

• Not setting proper goals around digital transformation

• Avoiding technology discussions in your teams 

• Forgetting to ask "what do customers want?" 

• Culture that negatively deals with failure, not promoting innovations or change

Tony Saldanha, a former P&G digital transformation leader and author of “Why Digital Transformations Fail”, put it this way: 

“The biggest challenge in today’s world is the language related to digital transformation. The term has been co-opted by every IT marketing person selling anything from an email upgrade to artificial intelligence.

Around the world, organizations are spending about a trillion dollars a year on digital transformation. Seventy percent of those transformations fail. I believe that this is happening because language prevents business owners from setting the right end goal. It also prevents them from following a very disciplined approach to getting there.”   

A report from CompleteSpectrum showed a confusing mix of definitions of digital transformation from senior leaders. These senior leaders only agreed on one thing — 94% reported that digital transformation was high on their list of priorities.   

It makes sense that digital transformation will vary for a bank versus a university versus a toothpaste brand, so it’s critical for teams within your business to have that clarity. Definition, clarity of business goals and strategy as well as fostering a culture of change, innovation and failing fast will impact whether you fail or succeed in your journey.

Now that we have totally scared you off of pursuing a digital transformation strategy – you need to know that there really are upsides and that digital transformation is a critical strategy for you to consider for your business. If a silver lining can be found, it might be that the barriers to using technologies, and improving and experimenting with technology for everyone, from your own teams to your customers, has led to the world becoming more open to trying new things. This shifting mindset can make it just a little bit easier to embark on a journey to transform your organization.

In this unique moment, companies can learn and progress more quickly than ever before. The ways they learn from and adjust to today’s crisis will deeply influence their performance in tomorrow’s changed world.  It provides the opportunity to retain greater agility as well as closer ties with customers, employees, and suppliers. And those that are successfully able to make these gains “stick” will be more successful during recovery and beyond. 

Now is the time to reassess digital initiatives, whether these initiatives are providing help to employees, connecting with customers or whether they are initiatives that position you for a post-crisis world. Some things may snap back to previous form, while others will be forever changed. Playing it safe now, which understandably you might want to do, is probably the worst option.  

Change can be daunting, but AWE is here to help. Alberta Women Entrepreneurs is hosting digital transformation webinars to help you gain the knowledge you need to adapt your organization in this increasingly digital world. Click here to learn more.

What is digital transformation and what does it mean for your business?

Written by Lori Schmidt, AWE Bold Leadership Program Lead.

For some business owners, digital is about technology. For others, digital is a new way of engaging with customers. And for many entrepreneurs, it represents an entirely new way of doing business. None of these definitions is necessarily incorrect, but such diverse approaches often trip up leaders as they reflect a lack of alignment and common vision about where the business needs to go. This often results in piecemeal initiatives or misguided efforts that lead to missed opportunities, sluggish performance, or false starts.

As women entrepreneurs push forward with their digital agendas, it’s worth pausing to clarify vocabulary and sharpen language.

Digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing your culture, how you operate and most importantly how you deliver value to customers.

A definition from The Agile Elephant emphasizes all the ways businesses may need to adjust their existing practices: it reads - “[Digital transformation] involves a change in leadership, different thinking, the encouragement of innovation and new business models, incorporating digitization of assets and an increased use of technology to improve the experience of your organization's employees, customers, suppliers, partners and stakeholders.”

Digital transformation is also a cultural change that requires organizations to continually challenge the status quo, experiment, be agile and get comfortable with failure as you try things out. An important element of digital transformation is, of course, technology, but often it's more about shedding outdated processes and legacy systems than it is about adopting new technology. It’s also about meeting customer needs and providing value in brand new and rapid response ways. It’s important for a business to build out a full strategy to execute digital transformation. Studies show businesses of all sizes that implement a digital transformation strategy, grow their businesses significantly – usually by a minimum of 20% - and can out pace their competitors if done quickly. 

“ Sometimes it takes a crisis to turn people’s mindsets around.”

— ITWC CIO Jim Love

COVID-19 is also setting the agenda and the priorities of where to focus digital transformation efforts, such as facilitating the needs of your new, remote workforce. But digital transformation stands for much more than suddenly working from home over Zoom, it’s about asking you and your business to rethink how you are delivering value to your customers in this digital world.

The key takeaway here is that business leaders must have a clear and common understanding of exactly what digital means to them and what it means for customers and how to convey that opportunity and vision to their people. It’s about transforming your entire business starting with defining your vision and then building out a digital strategy. But it is not an easy feat. It truly is a change process – a constant change process. And in all of this you, as a leader, need to be that CMO, Change Management Officer. 

Entire companies are thinking about this same question. What is it that we need to do as leaders to steady the business and build through all this disruption?

Here are six quick tips to consider as you lead digital change:

1. Adopt a new kind of mindset. Remind yourself that change is good. Be ready for organizational shifts. Be ready to change tasks frequently and help your people be more comfortable with that too. Remember that uncertainty is here to stay.

2. Follow your industry. Be aware of what is happening in your industry. What are the drivers and what creates pressure for change? Those pressures will ultimately also create pressure for you and your business to change too.

3. Try to constantly learn new things. Take any opportunity to learn and gain new expertise. Read the publications in your professional area. Attend webinars and other learning activities on topics that you think might be relevant for your work now or in the future. (A quick note here – please follow reputable sources. Be careful what you read as it can also lead to stress and fear. There are, however, lots of positive, credible sources of ideas and support for the path forward.)

4. Network with your peers. Networking is the best place to get information that might not be publicly available. What are others seeing and experiencing? How are they handling it?

5. Be ready to support your organization. Culture change is something that cannot be forced; it requires the support of every member of the organization. New business models are not effective if no one is working according to them. New organizational structures do not work if members are fighting against them. You need to be able to support your team through all of these adjustments.

6. Help your team see and buy into the unifying purpose of your organization. When the disruption is constant, businesses need to transform continuously and fast. That is why it is important to help your people be prepared - with a new mindset, new skills and motivation around a renewed purpose.

The pandemic has accelerated the timeline for everyone, and businesses that once mapped their digital strategy in one to three-year phases now have to scale their initiatives in a matter of days or weeks. Having the knowledge of what digital transformation is and what it can do for your business is more important now than ever.

Alberta Women Entrepreneurs is hosting webinars on different digital transformation topics, click here to learn more.