A featured contribution from Leadership Perspectives: a curated forum reserved for leaders nominated by our subscribers and vetted by the Construction Tech Review Advisory Board.
Chief Digital Technology Officer at Woolworths Group
Agility Is The Key To A Successful Digital Transformation
Nick Eshkenazi
Nick Eshkenazi operates as the Chief Digital Technology Officer at the Woolworths Group. With over two decades of experience in the digital technology space, he currently merges the powers of technology, data, and experiences by aiming to blur the lines between the physical and digital domains for customers and team. Moreover, his career to date exemplifies an enterprising spirit of being innovative, creative, and pioneering in creating award-winning products and solutions that have transformed several companies.
How do you see growing companies using the power of data, digital marketing, and eCommerce in this evolving space?
Many traditional companies across most industries have recognized that their customers’ expectations have changed. Creating frictionless digital experiences and personalized, convenient solutions focused on saving time and money for the consumers is no longer a luxury but a baseline. This means companies need to reinvent their data platforms for the benefit of AI/ML initiatives to power ever-evolving digital marketing strategies and experiences, and drive growth. They must also continue to explore ways to provide hyper-personalized experiences across their digital channels while also using data to optimize their operations as they scale for growth in the always-evolving digitally-driven context.
Many companies start on the journey of digital transformation, but only some of them realize the desired outcomes and benefits.
What defines those that succeed? Having a statistical look at the companies reveals a close connection between adopting an agile mindset and ways of working with the successful and sustainable execution of a digital transformation strategy.Consequently, the practice of continuous improvement in ways of working comes as a major challenge for the digital transformation initiators. Starting a change is not hard; sustaining it with resilience is an ongoing challenge.
What digital transformation trends should companies look forward to in 2022?
Companies will continue to democratize data for internal teams as they adopt AI and ML-powered solutions to enable more customer-centric decision-making. They will also continue to iterate on the investments in digital transformation initiated in recent years as they seek to provide value to their customers and efficiencies in their operations. This is increasingly important as the pace of change accelerates in response to consumer behavior and expectations, and new technologies make constant improvement possible. In addition, consumers are adopting and continuing to practice new habits, which have pushed speed and frictionless expectations to new heights. 2022 will also be marked by the continuously increasing “war for talent” as companies seek to deploy creative solutions to attract and retain the best talent as they strive to sustain their digital transformation initiatives.
Creating frictionless, and personalized digital experiences, powered by solutions enabling convenience while saving time and money for the consumers is no longer a luxury but a baseline.
What would be your piece of advice for your fellow peers and leaders?
Organizations must prioritize investing in people and understand that “How” things are done is as important as “What” is being done. They need to develop an agile mindset and ways of working to arrive at sustainable outcomes of their digital transformation strategy.
