Digital transformation is underway and appears to be irreversible. This process has been in operation for some time now, at least at large-scale companies such as Millennium BCP, Galp and La Redoute, present at a conference on this topic organised by IDC, IDC FutureScape 21. The investment these companies have already made has helped them to react to the impact of the pandemic in Portugal, as it has enabled them to confine their personnel as quickly as possible and to diversify and establish closer relations with their clients.
The change will not involve replacing physical contact with digital contact, but a change to a hybrid situation, with room for both these channels in the future However, for this to actually happen, we need to establish a programme, a strategy illustrating the conviction that the organisation intends to transform itself, as the process also involves a change in the mentality of its personnel. This will require clear communication between the management and all the company´s employees with regard to the project for change, with the reasons for implementing it, the goals set and the manner in which they are to be achieved. In addition, plenty of training and good management and an assortment of talent ranging from youngsters to veterans, thereby guaranteeing no knowledge or potential for innovation is lost.
Digital technology has been a reality for several years at the companies attending the conference, La Redoute, Galp and Millennium BCP, not only due to the benefits in terms of the speed and efficiency of internal communications, but also due to the fact it constitutes a form of contact with clients, which enables companies to gain a better understanding of their needs and desires and their behaviour in the market. As such, they can adapt their provision of products and services to the variations of a world undergoing constant change in a more agile manner.
According to Paulo Pinto, managing director of La Redoute Portugal, the company began its digital transformation process in 2008 due to the need to change its traditional business model at the time, based on communication with clients through a printed catalogue, by adapting to technological advances that enable people to obtain information through different channels. “This entire process resulted in La Redoute turning into a web company, where all decisions are digitally influenced, said Paulo Pinto, the company's managing director in Portugal.
Rapid adaptation
On the day the first confinement measures were announced, Galp immediately set about adapting its customer service stores, citizen stores and others by making them digital. Moreover, the company´s call centre operators went home as part of a rapid adaptation process “thanks to the work conducted at the company over the years”, said Sofia Tenreiro, adding that the company decided to keep its filling stations open, mainly due to humanitarian and solidarity issues and was surprised by the response of consumers, who began visiting them in increasing numbers for small day-to-day purchases. This forced the company to rethink issues such as the range of products on offer at its stores, at which 1000 new items were launched to meet demand. There were more kinds of bread, brands of wine, types of coffee and canned goods, “products that weren´t on the shelves as we thought they made no sense before the confinement measures implemented as a result of the pandemic”, explained Sofia Tenreiro, adding that the provision of products has even been expanded to popcorn for people watching films at home. Of course, confinement, and the need to deliver products to people´s homes has forced Galp to enter into partnerships with the digital platforms Uber Eats and Glovo for ordering and delivering the services in question.
When the crisis arising from the pandemic has been overcome, the necessary social and economic recovery will force companies to redefine their business priorities and influence investment decisions. One thing seems clear: technology and digital are likely to play an even more important role in the future.
Speed and efficiency
Meanwhile, the global economy has further accelerated the digital transition process at companies and organisations, boosted by the global reaction to the changes caused by the pandemic. In such a way that IDC predicts that 65% of global GDP will be digitalised, or in other words, that most products and services will be based on a digital delivery model by as early as 2022. “This process will represent a global investment in technology of over 6 billion euros between 2020 and 2023”, according to IDC.
These changes have been undergoing preparation for quite some time at large-scale companies. “Hence, when Covid-19 arrived, we were able to react to the change in the market immediately,” said Sofia Tenreiro, COO Commercial Business at Galp, during the event, adding that that the company always strives to find out “in which scenarios clients live in order to continue delivering energy, in addition to other products that make life easier for people using Galp service stations”.
These preparations were also extremely important due to the speed and efficiency with which Millennium BCP responded to the sudden social and economic changes that occurred in the first phase of the confinement. The availability of equipment, digital technology, collaboration platforms and cybersecurity protocols enabled the bank to have thousands of people working from home in just one week. An “internal mini network of start-ups was also created, comprising a wide range of skills, including the most traditional ones, with the aim of reinventing the digital experience we provide”, said Maria José Campos, a Millennium BCP director. As a result, “there has been an accelerated growth in the use of digital means and the new application by clients, who have also become closer to the bank”, she added.