"My staff are not ready" is the most common problem faced by business owners when they want to launch their digital transformation journey. The inertia to change is real. It is not in our nature to move away from normal processes that have worked. For digital transformation to happen, your staff must learn and adapt to completely different workflows and practices. Some are naturally going to be reluctant to champion this type of change, and others may even outright resist.
Impact of Covid-19
Successful digital transformation is not just about technology; it's about transforming the way you do business from the ground up. You can't do that without your staff. Fortunately, COVID-19 has forced companies to change how they operate digitally. As a result, your team is now more open to adopting digital solutions as they are forced to work from home.
Gartner's Research
According to Gartner, staff between the ages of 18-24 are the most receptive of all age groups to adopt digital workplace products and services. Perhaps surprisingly, the oldest cohort of workers surveyed, those between the ages of 55-74, are the second most likely adopters. Staff ages 35-44 expressed the most apathy toward new technology and ways of working. So please take note of the demographics of your staff and their openness to adopting digital solutions.
Overcoming Resistance to Change
1. Close the skill gap (reskill and upskill)
One of the biggest concerns businesses have when implementing digital transformation is their staff's lack of digital skills. Start by sending them to digital skills courses to expose them to the digital world. Develop their digital skills through reskilling and upskilling. Many such courses are catering to different digital skills levels. Do remember that the time it takes to reskill staff can vary among organizations. So, factor in the time needed for reskilling your staff.
2. Communicate the benefits of digital transformation to eliminate fear
Your staff may not understand the real benefits of that change. This is especially true with digital transformation as your employees may think that technology could replace their work. Therefore, employers should transparently communicate all the benefits of digital transformation. They should explain that digital transformation doesn't eliminate jobs but creates new career opportunities and enables employees to develop new, highly demanded skills.
As business leaders, you are uniquely positioned to invest in helping your staff get started on the digital transformation journey instead of letting them be the excuse for not getting started.
Have any queries about how your wholesale organization can benefit from Zooloo's digital solutions? Contact us at sales@zooloo.asia.
Explore more
- Read about The Digital Transformation Journey
- Learn more about our “Digital Backbones”
- Learn more from our eBook series on Digital Transformation for Wholesale Trade
Tags:#digitaltransformation #B2B #digitaladoption #digitalintegration #covid19 #digitalsolutions #wholesaletradesector #wholesaletrade
