Is Digital Going to Disrupt The Traditional Business? We tell you how adapting to digital is not a luxury - it is necessary to ensure your relevance and survival

The exciting reality of today is that every business to survive has to constantly change to keep up with consumer behaviors and expectations. Disruption is the only constant and forecasting and adapting to it will be define both survival and success.

There was a void in digital female-focused content few years back. There were some magazines but they barely had any online presence. Most importantly, user behavior patterns were heavily over-indexed on spending time on their mobile devices. From being a communication facilitator, the phone was also becoming an entertainment and information hub.

The Modern Users and Their Needs

Today, the user is leading a digital life. The simple reason is that mobile phone access and usage has shot up. Data has become cheaper thanks and as a result - the user is spending a large chunk of the day scrolling on the phone, watching videos and consuming content. The mobile phone is almost a single access point to reach users. As a result, traditional forms of reaching the consumer - Television and Print ads are being complemented and in some cases even supplanted by digital advertising. This is a massive disruption in the media industry.

The impact can be felt across all businesses. Adapting to digital is not a luxury - it is necessary to ensure your relevance and survival. If you are a consumer-facing company - your digital strategy is key. Look at the simple act of shopping. Ecommerce has revolutionized the concept. Large retailers with many physical stores are adapting and providing a parallel digital offering. We are seeing it happen across all sectors - finance and payments, food delivery, health and more.

Digitisation and Organisations

What companies need to understand and accept is that a successful digital adaptation is a 360 degree challenge. Paying lip-service by simply launching a digital marketing campaign is not enough. Building your own digital assets - starting from a responsive website to an integrated social media strategy and thus having a cohesive plan that straddles both the online and offline world is only the starting point.

Successful companies today have to continuously ideate, evaluate, predict what their users want, what their clients want, and their business direction evolves as a result. And unlike traditional business practices, this isn't a strategy process that takes place once in isolation, it happens constantly. Micro-changes and adaptations are necessary. Being able to respond effectively and quickly to user demand is a requirement in today's digital world.

While many companies may still be hesitant to take the plunge, they may not have a choice very soon. People are used to shopping from the comfort of their own home, they're used to planning family holidays with the click of a button, and most of all, they're used to being clued into the goings-on of the world through their smartphones, and they're not going to settle for anything lesser in other aspects of their life too. With everything available to your customer, there will be someone else that might give them what you can't.