Replace the old website.
Replace the old website.
Replace the old processes.
Replace the old technology.
Replace the old brand language.
Replace the old way of selling.
By adding some AI, automation and a completely new visual identity to modernise!
But businesses can lose something important in that process.
They can lose themselves.
Dolly Parton is of interest to businesses because she has managed to evolve to reach new audiences across generations while continually reinventing her output, presentations and productions.
Her career has spanned generations, formats, technologies and massive cultural change.
The presentation evolves.
The production evolves.
The audiences evolve.
The businesses around the name evolve.
But the identity remains unmistakable.
You rarely have to ask who you are looking at.
That is not accidental.
Consistency does not have to mean standing still.
This core identity actually provides a great deal of flexibility to test out new ideas and evolve in directions that are of interest to management, as long as they strengthen the core identity rather than diluting it.
The same principle applies to digital businesses.
A company might introduce AI into customer service.
It might automate fulfilment.
It might rebuild its commerce platform.
It might replace spreadsheets with an operational intelligence system.
It might redesign the customer journey.
All of those things can be worthwhile.
Strengthen what you are good at!
A family business must not change to a generic technology corporation by introducing AI to its communication with customers.
A premium retailer's customer experience should not be destroyed by attempts to automate it.
A specialist consultancy's generated content must not dilute their unique, decades-strong expertise to a generic style of copy.
The technology should adapt to the business.
The business should not have to become generic in order to use the technology.
This will become even more the case as more and more AI tools become widely available.
In the near future, most companies will have access to the same set of tools to generate competent copy, images, analysis, campaigns and even software.
Access to the tools will not be the differentiator.
Identity will.
Judgement will.
Customer understanding will.
Execution will.
These companies will be the technologically advanced yet recognizable entities of the future.
That means asking a different question during transformation.
Not simply:
What can we change?
But:
What should never disappear?
At Microcorem, we believe good digital transformation should modernise the business's machinery whilst retaining its character.
Integrations can change.
Platforms can change.
Processes can change.
AI can change how work gets done.
However, the elements that your customers value most (e.g. your company's personality, your staff's expertise, your customers' experience with your company, your core values and what makes you different from your competitors) should be reinforced during your company's transformation.
Reinvention does not require becoming someone else.
Often the best transformation is to develop yourself even further to become an even better version of yourself.
