Corporate culture is not digitally friendly

Forget perfection and control, the way forward with digital is moving fast and taking risks says Luke Atkinson in an opinion piece that first appeared in Encore.

No doubt your business is already embracing digital; large investment into digital infrastructure, evolved business models, channel expansion, the use of social media. An occasional victory, the odd competitive advantage have probably been achieved.

But you probably also still feel digitally hamstrung, or even threatened. Adoption hasn’t created a big, sustained win. Change keeps out-pacing you. Adjacent categories look threatening. Technology start-ups are the competitors that worry you most.

One of the major causes of this limitation or threat is your internal corporate culture. Corporate culture and your people have long thrived on experience, knowledge and risk management; control. All predicated on people doing business using familiar models, channels, technologies. These are not digital-friendly predications.