The term, digital culture, is one that is bandied about, but very few understand what it means. Here we outline four ways an organisation can build a digital culture.
If you ask business leaders whether their organisations have a digital culture, though they might hesitate at first, many will reply “Yes”. To varying degrees, many organisations today have integrated technology into their operations – in the form of computer networks, smartphones and tablet computers. However, whilst those devices are important, they are just tools, upon which the individuals might rely. They, in and of themselves, do not represent the culture of an organisation – not the extent to which it could be considered a digital culture.
Consistent with the basic meaning of “culture”, and to understand what “digital culture” might mean, we need to try to identify beliefs, customs, behaviour or ways of doing things that point to that culture. Below we highlight four behaviours or practices that should be adopted in order for an organisations to have a digital culture.
1. Be lean and determined
Regardless of the size of the organisation, there ought to be sense that it is lean. It is not (overly) bureaucratic, complicated, or bloated, but rather efficiently run. Further, if limited resources are available, it would be prepared to bootstrap an idea or project to get it off the ground, or to test the concept..
In being determined, it also means that the organisation is clear about its purpose, and so is able to continually refine its strategies and tactics to achieve the desired goals and objectives. Additionally, and to that end, it is very amenable to harnessing the tools at its disposal – which is where technology comes in.
2. Be data-driven
In this day and age, data is king. Millions of gigabytes of data are generated daily, and over the past few years fields, such as big data and data analytics, have emerged. It is thus quite disconcerting extent to which Caribbean organisations, in particular, make critical business decisions based on anecdotal observations, or information from other countries, markets and regions that bear no resemblance to their own situations.
In a digital culture, the power of data is more fully embraced. Not only should major decisions be supported by proper data, but virtually at time, an organisation should be able to measure its performance on important metrics, in order. It therefore means that the organisation is prepared to invest in data collection and analysis, in order to have authoritative inputs to its decision-making processes.
3.. Be agile
Consistent with an attitude that is lean and determined (the first point), in a digitally attuned culture, an organisation should aim to be agile. Across both the private and public sectors, competition is stiff, be it for customers, quality labour, or even to deliver goods and services to the market. As a result, organisations need to be responsive to changes that are occurring: in customer behaviour, among their staff, and even within the market or environment in which they operate.
Again, an organisation cannot be agile if its systems and processes are unduly mired in bureaucracy. The objective ought to be to effect the changes agreed in the circumstances for which they are still relevant. Further, the organisation ought to be adequately informed in order to make sure-footed decisions, all of which ties back to it being efficiently and effectively managed.
4. Be engaging
The popularity of social networks highlight the need for us, as human beings, to interact with each other – even in a virtual space. For organisations, the ability to engage their clients, customers, and even the public at large, provides an invaluable opportunity and resource from which to learn. It is therefore not just about an organisation using its communication channels to push marketing, but to also secure feedback from the market in order to improve its operations, and ultimately, it value to his customers.
Image credit: viewdm 9flickr)
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