Put clients at heart of change

The key to success for many businesses in the retail sector lies in putting their customers first in their digital transformation journey, said Sebastian Samuel, chief information officer at AW Rostamani.

“Today, we are living in the customers age,” he pointed out, speaking at the DigiTrans 2017 forum on new customer dynamics. “Consumers today are better informed, and they have all the information that they need to know about a product. A quick search on the Internet, or a quick check up on social media, tells them all they need to know, and you can be certain that the reviews that they read online have a lot to do with their purchasing decisions.”

When it comes to technology and how it is impacting retailers today, he noted that for retailers, technology is getting more complicated — not to use, but to deal with. The technology that customers are using to influence their decisions, puts a lot of pressure on retailers. Many will find it difficult to cater their offerings to specific demographics, yet, this needs to be done if a business wants to retain its customers.

Speaking about changing business models, he noted that the paradigm is shifting from an organisation as a machine, to the organisation as an ecosystem.

“What has changed today is that everything is digital and that anything can be offered as a service,” he said. “This has created new opportunities for B2B. What retailers need to be looking at is the development of products and services through a combination of new technology and innovations.”

— rohma@khaleejtimes.com