Resistance to change is a natural reaction. It takes energy to change our mindset and create new habits, whether it is in the private or professional sphere. Hence, this is equally true for organizational transformations. The COVID-19 outbreak forced us to rapidly adapt all professional and social aspects of our lives. The extreme situation exposed our resilience and flexibility creating momentum and openness to leap forward and set up your organization for digital success. In this article, we share with you our approach and learnings from a decade of digital transformations across industries.

Organizational building blocks for successful digital transformations

Digital transformations help your business to better organize around the customer through cross-functional processes, relevant KPIs, and digital capability-building. We recognize four building blocks in doing so:

• Multidisciplinary team set-up
  At online retailer Wehkamp, we designed a multidisciplinary way-of-working to facilitate their transformation towards a truly digital organization. We piloted the new set-up with three teams and – after proven success – supported the extensive roll-out throughout the rest of the organization. Multidisciplinary teams are cross-functional and include amongst others sales, marketing, platform development, and BI specialists. The ultimate goal is to break down silos and ensure more efficient collaboration and communication. This ensures the availability of the right knowledge, and enables joint responsibility for a commercial goal.
• Cascading meeting rhythm
  We supported the commercial organization of an online marketplace in formalizing their meeting rhythm across over 20 country organizations by defining recurring operational, tactical, and strategic meetings with agenda guidelines, dashboards, and attendees. This exercise will create a level playing field across teams and countries, as well as ensure transparency on mandates and decision cycles. Each meeting needs a dedicated lead who prepares the agenda, aggregates data, and shares follow-ups.
• Shared KPIs and accountability
  We supported recruitment and custom workforce service provider Brunel in translating their strategy into concrete KPIs. To create a sense of shared responsibility, Brunel teams received full ownership in defining these indicators. The KPIs in your organization should always be defined based on shared business objectives like the “eCommerce equation” – traffic x conversion x margin – rather than on department-specific KPIs – for example, total traffic as independent indicator for marketing. To embed the KPIs of your organization in daily operations, these should be visualized and tracked on intuitive and visual dashboards that allow for quick identification of barriers.
• Change stories
  Designing a new organizational set-up is one thing, but ensuring buy-in from all your employees is key to success. At Nederlandse Loterij (NLO) – the leading player in the Dutch lottery market – we supported the board in creating cascading change stories to effectively communicate the need for change and its implications to the wider organization. To really make that change happen, we then provided the organization with on-the-ground coaching. This requires sufficient (virtual) face time, communication, education, and participation  to motivate employees to be a part of the change. With the great adaptability they’ve shown in these unprecedented times, the momentum is already there. To further stimulate the motivation and momentum, it’s important to celebrate successes together to create a shared sense of accomplishment!

We are here to help

For a decade, SparkOptimus has supported her clients to achieve concrete results in areas that are now more relevant than ever. This has resulted in our fourth #1 position in digital consultancy in the Netherlands. Especially in these days of turmoil, we are determined to help you navigate current and post-Corona times, setting up your (online) business for success. Feel free to reach out – we are here to help.

The huge – and probably permanent – shift towards digital brought about by the Corona measures has resulted in a surge in e-commerce sales across categories. Businesses had to act fast to adapt to new customer preferences in order to recover their revenues. For example, PepsiCo quickly pivoted to a “direct-to-consumer”-business model by setting up two webshops for their U.S. snacks business within 30 days. Clearly, there is a big advantage for businesses that already have access to the digital technology and resources to launch such a platform. But even if that’s not the case, we would like to share why you should start thinking about going direct-to-consumer (D2C) – especially now.

Value is migrating to who owns the end-user relationship and data

Owning the end-user relationship and data can result in a fundamental profitability advantage through higher margins and better-tailored products and services. SparkOptimus has supported leading businesses in designing, building, and further accelerating D2C propositions. In these – usually longer-term – engagements we work shoulder-to-shoulder with our clients, empowering them with the right skills and tools to further accelerate.
For HEINEKEN, we jointly designed and launched their Beerwulf D2C proposition within nine months. To do so, we used a three-step approach:

• Establish the core team and select strategic partners
• Build a flexible technology platform
• Prepare for launch through rolling out a marketing- and operations plan

Read the full Heineken’s Beerwulf case here

For Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE), we jointly accelerated their D2C strategy in a one-year journey to:

• Identify immediate quick wins and structural proposition improvements
• Develop a turnaround plan and new way-of-working to set the business up for growth
• Roll out the plan, with as an example, a new brand webshop in 10+ markets that accompanied a companywide new product launch

Read the full JDE case here

Our four tips to start boosting D2C sales today

Imaginably, the current Corona-crisis shifted your business’s priorities. Although it remains important to take time to establish a longer-term vision on D2C to ensure all initiatives come together as a whole, there are ways to start benefiting from incremental sales through D2C in the short term. We have four tips to get you started:

• Build engagement
  In case of limited online infrastructure, try to think of creative ways to establish a connection with end-users. Social media like Facebook Marketplace or WhatsApp offer easy ways to engage and investigate what consumers need. Additionally, social channels tend to aid word-of-mouth and help you build a community of ambassadors, that you can leverage when maturing digitally. Ensure that end-users stay connected to you for the long term, for example by piloting home delivery or online consults, or giving out vouchers.

• Advertise smartly
  Leveraging (basic) online listings (on a proprietary platform or marketplace) enables you to benefit from smart advertising strategies in these times. Online advertising has taken a big hit due to cost cutting. Lower demand lowers the price per advertisement, potentially opening up new advertising channels that you would normally not use. Another strategy is adding your listings to consumer-friendly comparison platforms to generate traffic. Google Shopping even announced free listings to support businesses in attracting traffic without having to pay advertising costs.

• Sell through e-tailers
  Starting or expanding sales through e-tailers like Amazon or Bol.com results in direct access to end-users without the necessity of a proprietary D2C infrastructure. However, you should carefully consider the strategic route you want to take in e-tailer collaboration. Decisions on in- or outsourcing fulfillment, price setting, and content creation will significantly affect your business case. As an example, Amazon halted their “Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)” operations for non-essential products to compensate for increased demand due to COVID-19. This left “non-essential sellers” without business.

• Create partnerships
  Partnering up with other players in the value chain, or even competitors, can decrease the financial and operational burden of launching a D2C channel. Are there creative ways for you to leverage the logistical operations of retailers for your products? Can you collaborate with competitors to launch an MVP digital platform, splitting the required resources and investments, and creating cross-promotions? Engage all relevant parties in this thought process from the beginning to develop a viable set-up as soon as possible.

We are here to help

For a decade, SparkOptimus has supported her clients to achieve concrete results in areas that are now more relevant than ever. This has resulted in our fourth #1 position in digital consultancy in the Netherlands. Especially in these days of turmoil, we are determined to help you navigate current- and post-Corona times, setting up your (online) business for success. Feel free to reach out, we are here to help.

Over the past decade, SparkOptimus has nurtured “disruptive thinking” to make disruption work. The crux of this thinking is to let go of daily routines and think out-of-the-box about how to better serve (existing or new) customers, putting their needs first rather than products or services. Interestingly, the COVID-19 outbreak forced us all to apply disruptive thinking, maybe without even noticing. Jobs that couldn’t be done from home suddenly could and supply chain gaps were filled by local sourcing. Digitization is further accelerated, with new challenges but also opportunities ahead, as we are moving towards a “1.5-meter-distance-society”.

The COVID-19 outbreak as incubator for designing the future of your business

Positive side-effects of the COVID-19 outbreak – such as eliminated reservations against digitization, opened minds, accelerated adaptability, and re-prioritized schedules – create a perfect environment to incubate disruptive thinking. In this thinking, we distinguish three levels to design your business’s future:

• Expanding your current proposition
  The rise of digital has changed customer relationships and enabled businesses to expand their proposition at scale. Consumers have rising expectations and require something in return for their loyalty. Businesses unlock new value through consumer interaction via digital channels and ownership of end-user data. SparkOptimus is currently supporting a pet food producer in extending their product proposition into a fully digital service proposition. Through a digital platform, the brand wants to engage customers from their very first day as pet owners and share the brand’s expertise throughout the full journey. This service is expected to be a profitable separate business, but could also prove instrumental in acquiring new customers for the existing product offering.

• Disrupting your current proposition
  Major trends like job automation, virtualization, and sustainability could affect your business’s future right of existence. The exercise of disrupting your own business helps you prepare for this as well as explore new ways to create value. SparkOptimus is currently supporting a food & beverage producer in re-evaluating their soft drinks business by launching a proposition solely based on healthy, functional, and natural ingredients. This proposition disrupts their current offering of sugary and plastic-packaged drinks. With this exercise, the producer wants to build a D2C platform to understand consumer preferences, thereby unlocking the potential of upcoming product categories.

• Designing a new (non-core) proposition
  A large share of today’s biggest global businesses might no longer exist in their current form in the future. Already today you should start thinking what parts of your business could be the fundament of a completely new proposition, or what new proposition is required to become future-proof. SparkOptimus supported in the proposition design and launch of Hely, a mobility-as-a-service platform initiated by NS (Dutch Railways). The idea was transformed into a pilot in only six months. Towards launch, the four-person founding team was scaled to fifteen people with Hely operating three locations (read more about it here).

When ‘Sparking’ disruptive thinking together with our clients, SparkOptimus uses several formats such as inspirational masterclasses, ideation sessions, workshops, and agile pilots. Driven by the current circumstances, we fully virtualized our approaches, leveraging digital collaboration and communication tools. Greatly appreciating the positive feedback we already received from clients, we keep challenging ourselves to exceed expectations and maximize the relevance and output of these virtual sessions! Read more about our tips for digital workshops here.

We are here to help

For a decade, SparkOptimus has supported her clients to achieve concrete results in areas that are now more relevant than ever. This has resulted in our fourth #1 position in digital consultancy in the Netherlands. Especially in these days of turmoil, we are determined to help you navigate current- and post-Corona times, setting up your (online) business for success. Feel free to reach out, we are here to help.

Let’s get in touch!