It is already 2021. After almost a year of living with COVID-19, some companies and their leaders still hold the same doubts, expectations, and resistance when evaluating the use of technology to enable or enhance their sales, marketing, or customer service processes despite current circumstances. There are conservative mindsets that struggle with the need to alter in the slightest the programs, routines, or developments that succeeded before the pandemic and allowed the company to endure up to this point. These types of companies rely entirely on the evolution of measures imposed by different governments to address the pandemic. They will not survive if they do not commit to the management autonomy that technology offers.
Another type of company includes those that have already invested in technology, but these tools are not being used or leveraged in the slightest by their executives. Typically, this is due to resistance to change or fear among users questioning whether their knowledge and skills will remain useful now that solutions exist to deliver better visibility, traceability, and evaluation of tasks and complete processes. They will not survive if they do not align the personal goals of their team with the baseline business metrics required to leverage technology and remain competitive.
Technology Level
The question confronting executive leadership today more than ever is: How long will they be able to operate without a sustained use of digital platforms that enable them to continue selling, delivering their products and services, and handling the post-sales requirements specific to their industry?
The stark reality facing businesses in 2021 is that the decision to invest in technology is no longer optional, nor does it depend on company size, industry, or geographic location. That decision is a baseline imperative in 2021. Today's organizations no longer have the luxury of spending more time verifying whether they need technology to run their operations. This is not only due to the ongoing global pandemic, but also because most direct and indirect competitors have chosen to adopt technology as the engine driving their sales, marketing, and after-sales service processes. That reality is as absolute and demonstrable as the number of small, medium, and large enterprises that have disappeared since the onset of this crisis.
In this period of survival across every dimension, companies must determine which processes need to be equipped with technology and consequently establish the baseline investment levels to be executed immediately. (Technology levels, Chart 1.1)
