"Dark clouds are coming" we often can think in circumstances where, as now, the recession is moving forward, prices are rising, and business activity is declining. Some companies take advantage of these times of stagflation to take risks and open markets; others, with a more conservative profile, make prudence their strategy to stay afloat by not giving up the hard-earned ground; finally, some businesses are forced, or so they believe, to cut and decrease. It is up to each corporation to sit still (like someone watching the rain falling behind the window) or take action, whatever their profile.

What differentiates these three company profiles? Undoubtedly, the degree of business resilience. In other words, the key to survival is not endurance, which is depleted as it endures adversity but is adaptability and flexibility.

Nowadays, it is clear that business resilience is closely associated with digital transformation. Let's see how!

Let's start by defining what business resilience is

Dean Robb defined business resilience in Building Resilient Organizations as follows:

"A Resilient Organization is able to sustain competitive advantage over time through its capability to do two things simultaneously:

1. deliver excellent performance against current goals.

2. effectively innovate and adapt to rapid, turbulent changes in markets and technologies."

The question is: how does a company get these two things done?

Dean Robb continues with the following resilient company skills:

"A Resilient Organization exhibits certain broad characteristics. It is able to:

─create structure, and to dissolve it;

─provide safety (not necessarily security or stability) in the midst of change;

─manage the emotional consequences of continuous transformation and change: anxiety and grief;

─learn, develop and grow."

So, how is a resilient company?

From all of the above, we deduce that:

1. First, a resilient company puts people at the center. People are the key to success.
   ─The employees because they are who make up the organization and who have to achieve the objectives with their work, skills and talents;
   ─The suppliers and other actors in the sector with whom partnerships and alliances are built;
   ─The customers and consumers, who are the main source of product information and the satisfaction degree of a service. Without generating economic benefits, a company does not exist, so the customer and the consumer are the protagonists of all the company's activity.

2. Secondly, flexibility to change quickly. For a company to be flexible it will need:
   ─Take advantage of its data to understand the past, transform the present and predict the various possible future scenarios. As strategies evolve at the pace of ongoing data analysis, the company gains responsiveness to market changes and unforeseen events. In addition, since these changes and unforeseen events may have been predicted as possibilities, the company has been able to plan ways to deal with them.
   ─Clear and fluid communication that unites the teams, which are aware of the objectives of the organization, enhancing trust, learning and development. Thus, people are prepared to assume the changes in an agile way, without grief or anxiety.

Everything does not depend on the company culture

The company culture is going to need tools to be able to meet its needs. If you do not have business management tools for operations that integrate the work of all teams, that facilitate communication and development, as well as the collection, management and analysis of data, the company culture will be reduced to a declaration of intentions.

A good example of how the right software facilitates business operations, internal and external communication, people development and data management, you will find it in this article on the implementation of the EDI System.

What role digital transformation plays in building business resilience

The turning point in the course of the digital transformation of companies occurred with the Covid19 Pandemic. Although it was progressing very slowly before the pandemic, with the crisis starting in 2020, all EU organizations warned about the need of digitalization for recovery and resilience, and from there the Next Generation EU Recovery Plan started.

According to data from the Government of Spain, in 2021 "62% of Spanish SMEs have at least a basic level of digital intensity and 24% have embraced e-commerce, but there are few companies that take advantage of technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data or cloud services. The answer to improve this situation is the SME Digitalization Plan 2021-2025, which has five lines of action: basic digitalization for SMEs; support for the management of digital change; promotion of disruptive innovation and digital entrepreneurship; support for sectoral digitalization (with a focus on industry, tourism and commerce); and coordination and efficiency. (Source: How is digital transformation evolving in Spain?, datos.gob.es).

It is urgent that companies go digital to be resilient immediately and in the future. It's not the time to stare out the window as it rains. Above all, enter the process of digital transformation, being clear that the goal is not digitalization, that the goal is resilience.

Digital transformation is not the goal but the means

Digital transformation is a means that makes it easier for companies to achieve their objectives of productivity, security, analytics, finance, quality, etc. Digital transformation is also an accelerator for achieving goals. It is not enough to have a website and even an e-commerce. Digital transformation encompasses all operational processes of the company.

What tool is the foundation for digital transformation and business resilience?

Undoubtedly, the tool for digital transformation and business resilience is ERP.

The ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is the software that integrates all the operational processes of the company:

1. Purchases and sales

2. Logistics and transport

3. Production control

4. Project Management

5. Invoicing and accounting

6. Finance

7. Data Analytics

8. CRM

9. Integrated e-commerce

In addition, the ERP is modular, this means that you can start by installing a module that corresponds to an operational area, and gradually expand the ERP with the other modules.

However, not all ERP are equally flexible, adaptable and scalable. That's why at NaN-tic we work with Tryton, a robust and adaptable open source ERP, which our team of consultants and developers are expert implementers.

I want to know more!

 

If you want to know more about how NaN-tic can help you transform into a digitalized and resilient company, call us and don't wait any longer!