from Nicole Kerber at
In the past, the majority of B2B companies' digitalisation activities concentrated on optimising internal processes and the existing IT infrastructure. The focus was (and still is for many) primarily on increasing internal process efficiency and the resulting cost reduction. Less attention has so far been paid to digital innovation in sales and the associated products, services, customer and employee journeys. Although the pandemic years have led to a surge in digitalisation here, we are still lagging far behind the consumer goods sector. This is precisely where I see great opportunities for growth and success for B2B companies.
This statement is also supported by McKinsey's annual B2B Pulse Study, which examines the influence of 5 digitalisation strategies on the business success of companies:
- Use of digital sales tools
- personalised marketing
- hybrid sales teams
- 3rd party marketplaces
- Own marketplaces
What does this mean for B2B SMEs?
Let's get straight to the point: At least strategies 1 - 4 above are relevant for all B2B companies - regardless of their size. It is important that the available resources are used in a more targeted manner and that you do not get lost in an uncoordinated project landscape.
For this blog post, I have picked out two topics relevant to B2B SMEs ("hybrid", omnichannel) from these strategies.
The hybrid sales organisation is the B2B model of the future - also for SMEs
This involves an intelligent combination of three sales approaches:
- the traditional, personal and analogue
- digital support for analogue activities and remote interactions
- digital self-service through to AI support
How these three approaches are sensibly combined is very individual - and therefore company-specific. Every B2B company is at a certain point in its digital transformation and the starting points and levers need to be analysed accordingly to ensure that investments are made in the right area.
Establishment and further expansion of the omnichannel approach in the B2B environment
The above example of a Swiss consumer goods manufacturer illustrates quite clearly that the number of sales and service channels used in the B2B environment has increased considerably in recent years and is approaching B2C requirements. The diversification of channels helps to expand existing business and reach new target customers and markets. In addition to the usual suspects such as e-commerce or self-service platforms, the attractiveness of marketplaces should not be underestimated, depending on the industry.
However, as the number of sales channels increases, so does the resulting complexity, the demands on the capabilities of the organisation, the consistency of the processes and their orchestration. These transformations therefore go beyond pure implementation projects and require appropriate support and lead time.
This leads us directly to the last post in our blog series - the organisation and why people are ultimately always behind a successful transformation - regardless of whether it is digitally driven or not.
