Local female tech entrepreneurs are finding that strong digital foundations are helping companies not only adapt quickly to the coronavirus pandemic, but emerge as leaders in their respective industries.
Take Natalie Noel, founder of Tech Advocate Group, which specializes in digital marketing and website design. (She’s also CEO and co-founder of The Healing Sole, a patented flip flop designed to treat heel pain, and co-founder and chief marketing officer at Noel Family Distillery, a craft distillery in Donaldsonville.)
With experience in a variety of industries, Noel says about 10% of her budget at The Healing Sole, for instance, goes toward enhancing the startup’s digital infrastructure. But rather than simply throwing money at whatever the latest and greatest technology is, she’s strategic about where the dollars go.
“Just think, ‘How can I serve my existing customers in a new way, in a better, more efficient way, or in a more profitable way?'” Noel says. “Start there and that’s your true north.”
Almost overnight, the COVID-19 crisis widened a performance gap—between organizations that invested in technology innovation at scale before the pandemic and those that did not—into a chasm, Fortune reports. The challenge now is how to accelerate this kind of digital change during a crisis, even as many are slipping behind.
Many CEOs in Baton Rouge say they understand the destination, but they’re uncertain how to move forward with enough speed and confidence to maximize their digital transformations.
Here are Noel’s top five tips for how local companies can start their digital journeys with a new sense of urgency.
1. Determine your why. First, it’s best to identify either a specific problem the company wants to solve for its existing customer base, or figure out a new market they want to tap into. Whatever the goal, Noel says executives can never ask enough “why,” “what if” and “how” questions. “What if you’re solving the wrong problem?” she says.
2. Keep it customer-centric. Companies shouldn’t be scared to rethink their business models based on what would work best for the top 20% of their customer base. “Ask yourself, ‘What can we do to extend the lifetime value of those top 20% of customers?” Noel says. “Now that we’re in this pandemic, everything is so stressed, so it’s a good time to look at how you could serve a new customer base with some technology you don’t currently offer.”
3. Evaluate potential process transformations. With the democratization of AI, many technologies have become much more easily accessible for smaller companies. It’s something for executives to keep in mind as they’re sifting through a suite of new tools designed to improve business processes, whether it’s some form of product recommendation AI, data analytics, creating a digital ambassador program of paid social media influencers. When selecting a tool, Noel says it’s important to remember what the root of the problem is and what technology would offer the most effective and efficient solution.
4. Find the right technology partner. Noel recommends that companies do their due diligence when trying to secure the right partner to help them boost their digital operations. Before signing any dotted line, get your chosen vendor to prove they’ve done this before, she says, as no CEO wants to take on a digital transformation with someone who’s never done it before. It’s arguably the biggest challenge executives will encounter on their digital journeys.
5. Don’t do it just because. “Sometimes, you’ll see new technology and you’ll spend 10% of your budget on this software program you don’t even use,” Noel says. “Keep a focus on sales, revenues and customers; everyone always focuses on workplace culture, but other areas of your business can benefit from a digital transformation, too.”
Natalie Noel can be reached at natalie@techadvocategroup.com.Â
