Leading in an omnichannel world

It takes a special leadership team to sustain success in uncharted territory. Leading in an omnichannel world requires a combination of skills we are still trying to define. 

We all know about the impact digital organisations are making. As Tom Goodwin of Havas Media puts it:

“Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. Something interesting is happening.”
The Battle Is For The Customer Interface, TechCrunch

But spare a thought for those traditional retail organisations trying to compete in the digital world.

Trying to build a competitive advantage by maintaining the bricks and mortar as their shop window.

And simultaneously trying to provide the customer with a seamless shopping experience across the physical and online channels.

The omnichannel world provides a clash of old and new worlds: different value chains coexist, and legacy ERP systems work alongside new digital technologies.

If it can be made to work, the consumer wins, but can the retailer win?

Traditional business models have different systems, governance, cultures, and approaches to doing business compared to digital firms. Digitalisation has transformed customer relationships.

The question remains: can any traditional firm combine what is best about their bricks-and-mortar model with an online world, where prices are being forced down and automated customer-centric processes replace human interaction?

Even returns and solving customer disputes are replaced by a no-quibble returns policy. Technology in the old world was about operating the business model more efficiently. Today it enables the relationship with the customer.

Moreover, a model that combines the ‘old world’ and ‘new world’ provides enormous challenges for those leading in an omnichannel world. 

I’m not about to solve all of these leadership challenges, but recognising them is a good start.

1. How many CEOs and Directors can create a unifying vision across traditional and digital channels? 
2. Managing the legacy business effectively whilst creating the conditions to meet the challenge of online operations requires a particular sort of leader. Do such leaders exist?
3. How do leaders measure performance across different channels?
4. What people processes are needed? How do we pay and incentivise? How is talent identified, allocated, developed and retained?
5. Collaborative models and partnership working are not traditional ways of working for large, self-sufficient organisations. Can they adapt and thrive in this new world?
6. Traditional organisations rarely lead the market. They follow, often by observing new trends and buying up new start-ups. But the respective mentalities are different. If they try to integrate a digital company in a way that demotivates the very people it relies on for innovation, staff will leave. The value of the acquisition will be lost.
7. Setting the strategic direction and aligning the organisation to the strategy will be a tough ask. Mobile phone companies, banks, and retailers all have a mountain to climb in moving to the goal of consistency across multiple channels to create a seamless experience.

I’m sorry I can’t provide more answers. More work needs to be done.

Meanwhile, we can either bury our heads in the sand, cross our fingers or search for new operating models and organisation designs that enable leaders to create a new dashboard.

More Tesla than Mondeo. Or perhaps one of the new breeds of hybrid.

For more about the leader’s changing role, please read our report: It’s time for a new kind of leader.