Convincing Leadership of the Need for Digital Spend

Businesses around the world are finding themselves caught between two worlds right now.

The global COVID-19 crisis, followed soon after by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent spike in inflation and cost of living, have left supply chains in tatters and prices – particularly fuel and energy – at some of the highest levels in living memory.

This means companies are desperately trying to save money, while simultaneously striving to remain competitive in an increasingly digital world. This means digital transformation teams have an uphill battle in store to convince leadership of the need to spend on digital technology when their main concern is keeping the lights on and people in their jobs.

However, digital is no longer an extravagant extra when it comes to the modern B2B business and spending on new technology can mean the difference between success and failure, which means leadership needs to be brought around to the idea.

The Psychology of Indecision

According to the Harvard Business Review, while six out of ten companies claim to be confident when it comes to implementing technology, only three out of ten agreed that their organization would be worse of if digital spend was postponed.

"It’s no surprise that factors such as cost, and the availability of skilled workers, can stall the pursuit of digital strategies," writes HBR. "More surprising, however, was the observed inertia around technology (especially at times that necessitate digitalization to remain agile), which can be explained by psychological factors holding business leaders back."

Change is one of the most difficult concepts for human beings to deal with and business leaders are no different. We like to image the C-suite as being full of logical beings, making decisions based purely on the facts with emotion playing no role, but nothing could be further from the truth.

And the world has seen so much change in the last few years that it’s hardly surprising, business leaders are tightening the purse strings and becoming more apathetic regarding the need for digital transformation. During the worst days of the pandemic, businesses around the world shifted into survival mode, only focused on getting through the next few months. The goal for digital transformation advocates therefore is to break through this mindset and get leadership back to thinking long term once again.

This is no easy task and will require a concentrated effort and the building of a strong and evidence-based case to renew investment into digital transformation.

Making the Case

In order to change the outlook of your company’s leadership, you will need to produce case studies and real-world examples where digital technology is making a real difference to the bottom line. It’s no good throwing terms like "customer experience" (for example) around and expecting them to listen.

The truth is that your leadership doesn’t care about customer experience as a concept. They are almost entirely focused on the impact customer experience has on revenue. Therefore, you need to make the case that a piece of technology will boost customer experience and that will in turn increase revenue, which means the lights stay on and people can keep their jobs.

You need to start small. Understand that convincing leadership to invest in a complete overhaul of every system in the company is going to be a tall order right now. However, investment in a smaller piece of technology which can easily bolt on to existing infrastructure is a much easier sell. Then, when that innovation yields results, it becomes far easier to convince them to take another step.

Death by a thousand cuts if you will.

"For business owners and leaders tasked with driving digital strategy, it is their perception of risk that is more impactful on success than anything else," concludes HBR. "Deciding to incorporate digital tools or infrastructure can be daunting because of the unknown it represents but shying away from the process can be a far riskier path."

Final Thoughts

In order to convince leadership to get back on board the digital transformation train, advocates need to address the change in thinking which has occurred thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and other crises.

Making the case for the profitability of digital transformation and recommending small integer steps in the process will make your recommendations far easier to swallow and increase the chances of further adoption down the line.

Patience and a good grasp of the evidence is going to be key for digital transformation advocates who want to make sure their voices are heard.

Digital transformation is certain to be part of the conversation at B2B Online Orlando 2022, taking place in November at the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa, FL.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.