“Skills will be the new currency across the globe in the post pandemic world”

We saw the pandemic accelerate the digital transition process of businesses last year. A year later, the implications of this transition have been significant and wide-ranging – from creating consumer experiences & engagements, to e-commerce, online education, e-payments, online medical consultations – almost all off-line activity is now done in the digital space.

Digital spends have gone up manifold, and brand strategies now incorporate reaching out to consumers in the online space. With this, there has also been the need for upskilling the workforce to tackle the business operational requirements in the new normal.

In the run-up to DIGIXX MEDIA SUMMIT 2021, Adgully will be bringing a series of interactions with India’s leading Digital evangelists as part of our series on DIGITAL DIALOGUE.

Keeping a sharp eye on all the Digital developments and disruptions is Adgully’s industry leading premier property – DIGIXX. Like in the previous years, DIGIXX MEDIA SUMMIT 2021 is all geared to discuss, analyse, crystal-gaze and explore the world of Digital trends in a day-long event comprising Panel Discussions, Master Classes, Keynote Addresses and Fireside Chats.

In conversation with Adgully, Sapna Arora, Chief Marketing Officer (India), OLX Autos, speaks about how the pandemic crisis has helped businesses explore unconventional tangents in addition to the traditional processes. She also talks about how digitisation has expanded the landscape of business and affirms that a digital ready culture is the key to success.

With the accelerated transition to digital due to the pandemic crisis, how has this helped businesses scale up their operations? How do you see this shift to digital panning out over the next 5 years?

There is no gainsaying that digital platforms have helped many businesses amplify themselves during the year gone by. The crisis helped businesses explore unconventional tangents in addition to the traditional processes. Today, businesses of all sizes and shapes, and across the spectrum, are looking to improvise their bandwidth with the effectiveness of their digital operations. Not only are these digital platforms helping to redefine brand marketing, they are also expanding and experiencing a new wave of functioning. Digitisation has expanded the landscape of business and a digital ready culture is the key to success. Democratisation of innovation, composable enterprise, API security, data divide and data analytics are some popping trends that help businesses in scaling up their operations. These trends form the building blocks of digital transformation. The digital transformation will help to revolutionise the company culture, replace the legacy monolith with advanced tech and pump the business model.

Consequently, the next 5 years is all about transformation. The replacement of pencil-and-paper style of business to a landscape of digitisation is the predicted future. According to Darwin’s theory, survival of the fittest is significant for evolution; similarly, the adaptation of this digital era is the key to survival and growth. For their growth and to remain in competition, all levels of businesses must comprehend how to reap the benefits of the bounty that digitisation has to offer.

Digital and performance go hand in hand. How are brands evaluating and measuring their performance on digital as a medium?

Businesses that gain greater visibility into audience growth, audience interactions and brand penetration, consistently find ways to measure their performance. Two metrics, hinging on user behaviour, highlight how people understand a brand: time on site and bounce rate; while later throwing light on brand awareness, brand familiarity, brand consideration, purchasing stages and advocacy. Companies with strong legacies like Apple, Samsung, Coca-Cola, and more, are consistently leveraging digital platforms to strengthen brand performances. With timely evaluation of digital performances, businesses find opportunities to grow.

Talent has always been a challenge when something new disrupts the media world. How are digital companies scaling their knowledge and imparting training to people?

According to a report by talent mobility provider Randstad RiseSmart, India is implementing programs for upskilling and/or reskilling in order to meet changing business needs. With digitalisation becoming a necessity for every organisation and business, Indian companies are leading worldwide in terms of offering training programmes to their employees.

Since skills will be the new currency across the globe in the post pandemic world, big tech companies like Microsoft are partnering with governments to help roll out training programs. Companies with blue collar staff have embraced digital training, even as digital skills continue to see an uptick for functional roles, knowledge of platforms like application tracking systems, invoicing through the use of RPA’s, collections through bots and more.

What kind of investments digital companies need to plan to face the future challenges both in terms of skill and technology?

Companies must learn to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology and ascertain what works best for them so they can identify the right products to invest in. Brands should direct investment toward training programs for employees that enable them to work hand in hand with the newly introduced technologies. The importance of digital marketing in expanding reach is well known, and a significant amount of investment must also be reserved for it to ensure that the right audience is targeted and to keep consumers engaged with the brand. Additionally, to ensure consumer satisfaction, companies should invest in scaling their customer service, and as they rely more on digital technologies, they must also invest in cybersecurity to protect their data.