Digital Strategy versus Strategy Enabled by Digital

Amar Pandit , CFA , CFP

Amar Pandit

A respected entrepreneur with 25+ years of Experience, Amar Pandit is the Founder of several companies that are making a Happy difference in the lives of people. He is currently the Founder of Happyness Factory, a world-class online investment & goal-based financial planning platform through which he aims to help every Indian family save and invest wisely. He is very passionate about spreading financial literacy and is the author of 4 bestselling books (+ 2 more to release in 2020), 8 Sketch Books, Board Game and 700 + columns.

May 22, 2020 | 1 Minute Read

I hear a lot about digital strategy these days, so I thought of doing a small piece on this one.

Look at the above sketch.

Do you see any difference between both these points?

There is a huge difference and understanding the difference is the first step in implementing a successful digital initiative.

Yes, you can always explain Digital Strategy (and it sounds cool).  Think about it.

What comes first – Digital or Strategy?

The first thing that you need to nail is your Strategy. Yes, without an Amazing Strategy, any digital initiative can fail (rather will fail). Once you have got your Strategy right, then you should think about, how do I enable this Digitally?

Like I have said earlier, Strategy is not just about what you will do but more importantly about what you will not do.

Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Who is my Ideal Client and where is he?
  2. How many clients do I really need? How much time will I be spending with each client?
  3. What is my Value Proposition and How will I deliver this Value Proposition to him?
  4. What kind of Experience do I need to provide to my prospects and clients?
  5. What is the work that I can get my clients to do? Think of Uber. The client does most of the work right from booking the cab, to everything. This is just an example.

John Chambers, the legendary CEO of CISCO had said “At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years… if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.” This number can easily be 80% or more in our industry/profession given the pace of regulatory change, competition, and uncertainty in general.

This is time to formulate your strategy and then enable it with DIGITAL…