What makes you stand out as a ‘Digital Consultant’?
Despite the growing number of digital consultant platforms, I was surprised to see how little understanding there seems to be of what a digital consultant is or does.
Simplistically defined, a digital consultant helps clients to know how, where and why their businesses should exist digitally. But it is more complex than that.
I liked a Deloitte job description, which explained the role of a digital consultant is to "Develop disruptive solutions and state-of-the-art processes for clients in an environment where the worlds of business, creativity, and technology intersect."
It might be useful to clarify what we mean by digital, starting with the differences between digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation. It may seem purely semantic to distinguish between these terms. But understanding them will help you understand what digital consultants do. These concepts are obviously closely related, and one will quite often give rise to the next.
Digitization
What is digitization?
Digitization is the conversion of analog to digital, often called process transformation.
It is about the implementation of technology to optimize processes – e.g., work automation and reducing paper. The goal is to lower costs, reduce cycle times, or improve quality and customer experience. Online banking or shopping are good examples. Websites and Facebook pages have replaced traditional marketing. Blockchain has radically changed supply chain processes.
In essence, your business remains the same, but you have optimized sections of it through technology.
What digital consultant skills are needed?
Generally, the essential skills are technical. They should also clearly define their niche – for instance, procurement optimization, e-commerce, advertising strategies, growth strategies, and the like.
Typical educational qualifications will be in ICT, Commerce, Marketing, or Engineering.
The best-known role in digitization is that of digital marketing consultant. Many of the definitions of a digital consultant are really about digital marketing only. Digital marketing knows how best to connect a company's brand with customers through social media, web and mobile environments, and omnichannel commerce. An important skill is the use of data analytics to determine a company's marketing performance. Digital experts have a specialized areas of expertise.
Digitalization
What is digitalization?
Digitalization is "the use of digital technologies to change a business model and provide new revenue and value-producing opportunities. It is the process of moving to a digital business." (Gartner's glossary)
Two types of fundamental change can result: business model transformation and domain transformation. There is a place for digital experts in both, and this is where the "worlds of business, creativity, and technology intersect," as described in the Deloitte job description.
Business model transformation
Business model transformation happens when technology fundamentally changes how it can deliver value in an industry. For example, Kodak learned that customers preferred digital cameras to the old film versions. Netflix changed the way videos were distributed, and Uber and Airbnb transformed the taxi and hospitality industries.
Platforms are transforming business models. For example, the rise of freelance consulting platforms, digital consultant platforms, and the online consulting marketplace are disrupting tradition consulting.
Platforms have existed in the past – malls have linked consumers and merchants, and newspapers have connected advertisers and subscribers. But technology makes this much easier, and platforms introduce other players in an ecosystem of cooperative partners rather than a network. The most typical example is how developers have been able to link with the Apple platform via the App Store. The platform's primary purpose might have been to sell iPhones, but it has grown its sales and its customers by making the apps of its external partners an integral part of its model.
Domain transformation
An essential skill for digital consultants is realizing that they don't have to be the technical experts at everything. The digital consultants who will stand out are those who can create ecosystems of sources of technology and can reach and leverage this innovation to benefit their clients.
Digital Transformation
What is digital transformation?
Digital transformation is about people rather than technology. It is also called cultural or organizational transformation.
The economy has shifted due to digitalization, and companies now need to develop new capabilities and have new infrastructure in place. You need different mindsets and skills to support these changes. You also need hard and soft skills. (These skills are required by both company employees and any digital expert brought in from outside.)
The success of digital transformation is also leadership-driven – research shows that up to 50% of the variability in group or unit performance can be directly attributed to the individual leader. Successful technology transformation, therefore, requires top leadership talent. It also requires that digital consultants work with the top echelons within companies.
Data-driven decision-making is the new mantra for business and is a critical outcome of digitalization. However, merely bringing in exciting new technologies like AI, machine learning, deep learning, or natural language processing will not solve your business problems. It is not enough to have the best data scientists and technologies to collect data. Digital transformation is about harnessing data, translating it into meaningful insights, and acting on it.
What digital consultant skills are needed?
Digital transformation is about change management , but it should not be seen in isolation and should develop naturally as a result of the introduction of concrete digitization and digitalization initiatives. The skill is to ensure that the technology empowers employees and to introduce agile work processes and team structures to support technology change.
Consulting has always been about gathering data, analyzing it, and coming up with business solutions. The difference now is that digitization makes data freely and widely available. The consulting skill is to ensure that the correct technology is in place and that managers understand how to harness it and act on the insights it produces.
The consultants that stand out will help others understand and be enthused by the potential of digital to deal with an ever-changing business environment.
Digital Consultant Platforms
Clients are no longer looking just for pure strategy or business implementation – they want strategic technology. They want consultants who can build applications, implement technologies, manage and analyze data, and provide advanced insights and actionable outcomes. They are looking for consultants who embody the technological characteristics that they are hoping to achieve in their companies.
Traditional consulting firms have to play catch-up, convert their legacy systems, and set up digital practices. They are hiring fewer MBAs and more developers.
Digital Consultant Platforms deliver what clients want. They bring together digital experts and companies needing assistance on their digital journeys. Freelance digital consultants on these platforms can create technical ecosystems and collaborate in formal and informal ways to deliver full solutions, thus competing with the largest traditional firms.
The Future of Digital Consulting
Despite an enormous surge in the introduction of new technologies as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns, there is still a long way to go to transform companies into digital entities.
Digital experts tap into the vast amount of work that is undoubtedly on the horizon if they have honed their skills and become part of technical ecosystems by aligning themselves with digital consultant platforms.
