The present, with changes so fast-paced and difficult to predict, brings undeniable opportunities as well as great challenges. In this article, Adriana Noreña, Google's vice president for Latin America, offers 5 fundamental keys to generate results in the short term and be ready to win in the long term.
In the business world, we have a lot to learn from those resilience experts, athletes, who are always pushing their own limits. Italian athlete Gianmarco Tamberi, gold medalist at Tokyo 2020, starred in this Olympic championships in a story that shows what I am writing. Long before the recent Games, Tamberi was already one of the great candidates for gold in Rio de Janeiro 2016. However, an untimely ligament rupture left him out of that Olympic championship. Far from getting depressed, Tamberi quickly processed his frustration and vowed to get back to full fitness. On a cast he wore on his leg, he asked for the words "Road to Tokyo 2020" to be written.
Four years later, the Italian athlete reached the Olympic high jump final. As the result was taking a long time to be defined, Tamberi agreed with Qatar's Mutaz Barshim to stop competing and share the gold medal with him. It was a very moving moment because two athletes who had dreamed all their lives of winning the most important competition in this discipline decided to share the glory. At the moment of celebrating the gold, the Italian made a gesture that many did not understand at the time: he hugged that cast he had had on his leg four years earlier.
He knew very well that this old cast was the best explanation for the gold he was about to receive. For me, a passionate sports fan, this story shows how important it is to prepare for what is coming, to integrate the certain with the uncertain, and to work on what we can control, tolerating what we can't, without ever losing sight of the purpose.
We always say that the best channel is the one that works for the consumer.
Tamberi's torn ligaments may well resemble what was, for retail businesses, the coronavirus pandemic that we are still going through. We will always remember March 2020 as a turning point when we had to face the frustration of not being able to deliver as planned and had to make many changes in a very short time.
Among the big changes we saw, the use of technology increased in the last 18 months what otherwise would have taken 5 to 10 years. Online strategies also helped to increase sales in physical stores. Consumer habits have changed and continue to change. Customers not only want to choose what best suits their needs, but they have more options and can now choose from more channels.
That's why we always say that the best channel is the one that works for the consumer. And this goes beyond thinking in terms of websites versus physical stores. Consumers are going to use both, depending on which one works best for them. This explains why, in general, the winners in the last year and a half were those strategies that gave consumers the ability to choose what best suited their needs.
It is undeniable that this new, fast-paced and hard-to-predict present brings undeniable opportunities. But it also brings great challenges. In a scenario in which uncertainty will surely continue and the future is unpredictable, the question we must ask ourselves is: how can we prepare ourselves for what is to come?
Start walking to reach the podium
At Google, we believe there are 5 fundamental keys that can help us generate results in the short term and be ready to win in the long term.
The first has to do with respecting consumer privacy. Google chose this path with determination. Today it occupies a leading role in the digital ecosystem and accompanies its main players in the process of respecting users' privacy as much as possible.
Once we have earned the privilege of entering consumers' lives, we must also show that we are able to meet their changing demands. Therefore, the second key is to take into account the insights that allow us, every time we interact with people, to show that we understand and can help meet needs that are changing faster than ever.
The third key has to do with agility. Keeping up with changes in real time and meeting new demands on a large scale is a challenge that requires us to be extremely agile, and that is something we can only achieve through automation, which helps us to provide the right response to each and every consumer at the right time.
The third key has to do with agility. Keeping up with changes in real time and meeting new demands on a large scale is a challenge that requires enormous agility, and this is something we can only achieve through automation, which helps us to provide the right response to each consumer at the right time.
Agility, on the other hand, is only possible if business is data-driven, and if entrepreneurs can see and measure what is happening at any given moment. Therefore, the fourth key is to manage with data from internal processes and with information that customers agree to share. And finally, the fifth is to create teams that are digitally savvy and have the right skills and capabilities to both generate results today and prepare their businesses for the future.
Following these keys need not be overly complex or costly. In Google, companies can find a critical strategic ally to navigate this path and see real results almost immediately, while setting themselves up for long-term success as well. Our mission is to build an open ecosystem where businesses of all sizes, regardless of their situation and history, can grow and succeed in the future.
To return to the example of the Olympics, we dream that many entrepreneurs can climb to the top of the podium and reap a well-deserved reward for having prepared uncompromisingly, facing adversity and relying on it to face the challenges of the world ahead in pursuit of purpose. The digital transformation process I have just described could be seen as a long road. But as the Italian Tamberi showed, to get to the gold, the first thing to do is to set your mind to it and start walking.
Source: Google
