Digital transformation definition

Digitalization is generally understood to mean a digital conversion and representation or implementation of information and communication or the digital modification of instruments (Gabler Lexicon). “ The digital transformation is understood as the exponential and permanent change of society and companies based on technology “(Lindner and Leyh 2018). Petry (2016) sees the rapid technological development as the basis of digitization, which has become faster and faster in recent years and therefore speaks of the age of acceleration. Hoffmeister’s book also states that the basis of digitization is also a kind of domino effect: Existing technologies pave the way for further technologies.

The digital transformation describes change processes, due to digital technologies at high speed. Many sources cite changes in customer requirements as the driving force behind this digitization, which can only be served with digital technologies. A good example of this is the Spotify streaming service, which makes music accessible anytime, anywhere, anytime and inexpensively (to a certain extent even for free).

Overall, the academy differentiates between enablers and actors. “Enablers” are more or less “enablers” and include the following:

• to the first digital technologies (cloud computing, …),
• digital infrastructures (protocols, …) and
• Last but not least, digital applications (online banking, …).

On the basis of these “enablers”, new exploitation potentials arise in new areas. Companies are starting to explore these and try them out in initial pilot projects. Examples are: digital business models and digital value networks. Digital business models describe the change from analog to digital models. A good example here is the Deutsche Bahn online ticket. Digital value creation networks are, for example, virtual teams.

The digital transformation affects many People: Entrepreneurs, researchers and employees as well as numerous other citizens of the Federal Republic and beyond its borders. They can now communicate with each other in real time or share events from their lives with others in the live stream. Just yesterday I networked with my toothbrush. However, these new possibilities also have their downsides: A lack of data protection and information overload are just two of the negative consequences.

Are a different actor Companies . Here work is changing into so-called digital work – business models are also changing fundamentally. Are also affected Science and teaching in the form of new possibilities for archiving, publication and preparation of research as well as e-learning. Also offers the digitalization Numerous challenges for governments: The main task here will be to steer this transformation through laws and guidelines as well as the own transformation of official processes.

Driver of the digital transformation

But why are we talking about digital transformation now of all times – why is the speed fast enough right now? To answer this question (s) has Petry (2016) the following diagram as well as drivers for the digital transformation provided. At the beginning there is the exponential growth of companies with the core topics of networking, AI and Big data . The main consequences are changes in work itself, in customer behavior and in the general competitive situation.

But we’ve been digitizing for 50 years!

Currently, the greatest criticism of the thesis on digital transformation is that we have been digitizing ourselves for many years. That is correct and it hits the nail on the head. However, if you look at current literature or directly at the company, you will notice a major difference: While many years ago we were largely digitalising on the surface, companies are now moving towards more profound digitalisation. A good example is going to the hairdresser: Here I book my appointment using an app. This approach is definitely digital. However, the actual cutting process is still carried out in the same way. Classic people business is therefore not scalable, as one employee is required for each customer. Similar to consulting, in which many tools support the advisor, but the actual advice still takes place in analog form and the advisor has not yet been digitized. You can find more about this in the article about Consulting 4.0 . This shows two examples of classic people business. Of course, there are still no direct answers to these questions, but there is currently a clear trend towards deeper digitization with fundamental changes in behavior. Digital transformation is therefore a profound social change in people’s behavior through digital technologies. One example that already exists is remote work instead of traditional attendance.

Evolutionary stages of the digital transformation

In the blog of Social Collaboration Academy I also found a nice “statement” on the criticism that we have been in a digital transformation for ages: According to the article, there are 4 levels of digitization – but we have only been talking about a digital transformation since we tried it To network the real world and the digital world.

• The first evolutionary stage lasted from approx. 1990 – 2000 and dealt with the networking of computers.
• In the second evolutionary stage from approx. 2000 – approx. 2015 it was primarily about general acceptance and general everyday introduction and use of mobile devices.
• The one in front of us now third evolutionary stage The duration of which experts estimate will be around 2015-2030, focuses on topics such as the general maturity of systems and the Internet of Things.
• With the fourth evolutionary stage , which should start from around 2030, there could be a complete merging of the real and digitally networked world.

Transformation, change, evolution or revolution?

There are many terms for digital transformation and just as many opinions everywhere. Is it a digital transformation or not? A transformation has a beginning and an end. A change stands for a state that changes into another state. Evolution stands for the peaceful further development of something and revolution for a fundamental, often violent, innovation of a respective status quo. Also read my on this Article on the digital r (evolution) . Many also simply refer to the digital transformation as “digitization”. However, this would simply mean: something analog becomes digital. What do you think: which “label” should we give to digital change?

Digitization in German companies

Digitization is not a new topic in the German corporate landscape. Processes have been digitally supported or even fully automated for a long time. The main difference in the current discussion is the increased speed and complexity of the change processes, which can meanwhile result in profound process changes and even job losses (Lindner 2019).

I have already identified some examples in my PhD in Lindner (2019): Siemens to automate over 7000 jobs in administration by 2020 (Heise 2018). Deutsche Telekom is also testing the use of chatbots in customer service, which could change numerous jobs (Handelsblatt 2018) and DHL has been experimenting with the delivery of parcels with drones since 2014 (DHL Paketkopter T3N 2018). Another example is the efforts to create self-driving cars at Audi, VW and Daimler, which could fundamentally change all mobility in Germany (Manager Magazin 2018).

These few examples show that, according to the practical literature, digitization could bring about numerous far-reaching changes.

What is digital transformation?

Many companies have been driving the digitization of society for a long time. We are now talking about digital transformation because of the speed and profound digital changes. While digital technologies were previously often only used “on the surface”, there are now profound changes right through to the original business model. In summary, we are also talking about a digital change or a digital evolution or revolution. You can also read mine at this point Article on the digital (r) evolution – another recommendation is that Book by Petry .

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Digital readiness index

To determine digital readiness, the “Neuland” initiative created a digital readiness index. This measures the arrival of companies in the digital world on the basis of 150 criteria. The study speaks of a digital Darwinism which lets companies “die” if they miss the digital transformation. The large consulting houses also offer their own metrics and methods to measure this readiness. Sentences like “It is time to completely digitize processes in which the user is the focus” or “No question about it: this experience will also change the expectations of customers in terms of communication, services and product offers with and from companies fundamentally change. ” However, these studies do not currently provide an answer to this digital transformation. There are certainly numerous methods of counteracting the propagated digital Darwinism. In the following, the structural change from companies to agile companies will be examined under the heading “digital agility”.

Digital agility

There is already an article on the Tham digital agility on the blog. Technology must not be an end in itself, the new type of added value counts in the transformation. Only agile companies can, for example, adequately meet the challenges of faster markets and technology in the future. The markets and the technological possibilities require companies not only to be able to react agilely and evolutionarily to environmental changes, but also to react quickly and adequately. From pioneer to settler, as can be seen in the illustration of Brandes. There is also one for this Article about leading digital with more explanation. Digital and agile companies are currently very popular. Concepts around Holocracy, Democracy and Sociocracy determine the management world and promise to revive companies and free them from complexity. However, all of the concepts have not yet been applied to digital transformation and do not yet provide a clear answer. We are currently in the process of researching with companies exactly the feasibility for digital transformation.
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We understand “digital Darwinsmus” when technology and society change faster than companies are able to adapt to them (Kreutzer / Land).

Adapt or die

Survival of the fittest: Darwin’s theory can best be transferred to the digitization of companies. Because the struggle for survival also takes place there. The strongest is the one who manages to react quickly to technological changes, adapts his business model to customer expectations, uses knowledge profitably and outperforms his opponent (start-up scene).
So the success factor seems to be the speed of your own digitization. Kreutzer and Land speak of a change from CEO to CDO (see figure). According to the two authors, a modern CDO should aim to “destroy” what already exists in order to make room for the “new and digital”. I already have a further article on the subject Leading digital released.

Me, everything, everywhere, immediately … – digital business

The new “connected, informed and all powerful consumer” has clear expectations: “I, everything, instantly and everywhere” (Kreutzer / Land). These challenges and changes in customer requirements can be counteracted in a targeted manner by means of digitization. Customer wishes as a digital business. More examples can be found in my article too digital change.

Customer trust instead of customer touch

It is no longer enough to simply build relationships with prospects and customers, with each being enriched with more information from level to level. Rather, it is important to build up more trust from level to level in order to be able to make increasingly targeted and therefore more relevant offers, especially by providing suitable information and convincing services (Kreutzer / Land). These trust points are therefore a success factor for digital business.

Despite all the euphoria about the engagement in social media, Kreuzter and Land point out the 1: 9:90 rule. Studies show that – across borders – approx. 1% of Internet users are very active and, for example, Post your own contributions in blogs or online communities. 9% of Internet users react to such entries – while a “silent majority” of 90% are only active as reading, according to Kreutzer and Land.
That is why the two authors recommend that we particularly recognize the 1% of opinion leaders on the Internet and ideally win them over. As a blogger, I also notice that many users read very actively. According to various studies, users only read a blog between 3-12 months before they actually comment or react to it. However, many companies stop the “ agile marketing “due to the low response rate. However, in this case it is important to persevere. It is therefore important to give the readers a channel through content in order to trust the company or, in my case, the research project.

The will to become an agile company

The advancing digitization demands a structural change in companies towards agile and evolutionary companies. Evolutionary means here the adaptation to changes. The Laloux’s theses complement each other very well with those of Kreutzer / Land. According to both, companies have the task of constantly adapting to new markets and customer requirements. Agile includes topics like Work 4.0 , New Work and agile leadership . But the exact change and the interpretation are still highly controversial. Also note my other book suggestions for the digital transformation.
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• Technically this means the preparation of information for storage in a digital technical system.
• in the Overall context It means the technologicalization of entire industries in a profound sense, so strategy, organization and socioculture are also affected. For a further definition, read the soon as well Article on digital transformation.

On the one hand, these changes are profound and, on the other hand, they have been developing for years. In this sense, many speak of a digital (r) evolution. For this reason, the aim of this article is to examine arguments for the digital revolution as well as for the digital evolution.

Digital revolution

A revolution means a radical change in “one step”. The term revolution is even often associated with armed violence or a brutal coup. Representatives of this thesis include the aforementioned authors on digital Darwinism. “Adapt or die” say the authors in their numerous keynotes and call for radical changes to ensure the survival of companies. Many companies such as Kodak have already felt this revolution. Established manufacturers in the automotive market are also being attacked with Apple and Google. Here, too, there is a “head to head” race to digitize the automobile.

Digital evolution

On the other hand, digitization has been emerging for a long time. Companies such as Apple and Google have been dedicated to the digitization of our society for years and are making progress with it. So isn’t it a direct revolution but simply the “next step” in the evolution of companies? So are companies just slowly transforming into so-called “digital corporations”?

Digital (r) evolution

Regardless of whether it is a digital evolution or a digital revolution, one thing is certain: companies have to act. In his book on Digital Leadership, Petry uses the Chinese proverb: “When the wind of change blows, some build protective walls and others build windmills”. The digital transformation is coming to German companies and is forcing them to digital change. In the course of the research project, the special influence on the structure of companies towards agile and evolutionary companies is examined.

Medium-sized companies in the digital (r) evolution

I think the main themes of digital transformation are like Consulting 4.0 , Work 4.0 and Industry 4.0 are still in the formulation phase. Most of my practice partners are currently in the phase of testing the first digital and agile lighthouse projects or trying out frameworks in individual teams. This is due to the fact that medium-sized companies are slowly noticing that employee turnover is increasing and customers are no longer as easy to win as they used to be.

Corporations in the digital (r) evolution

Can you compare the pressure on medium-sized companies with corporations? Absolutely! The only difference is that companies get more or less time depending on their size. In a small company, missed trends quickly become noticeable and immediately put it on the wrong side, while a large corporation can often generate business successfully for years afterwards. But this also poses a great danger: How can a company, for example, precisely measure fluctuation? There may be a constant number of employees, but we have to ask ourselves: Are they the best people who switch to innovative startups or medium-sized companies because there are better and digital working conditions there? So many large corporations are currently in crisis. A famous example are our banks or, possibly, our major automobile brands soon. Large banks now have problems with the hyped Number26 and Tesla is also attacking our renowned automobile brands from the USA. What was unthinkable in the past is a reality today. Or did you ever think that startups would attack corporations and Apple build cars?

What do you think?

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According to a study by ERS Computer Solutions IT-related outages cost us an average of $ 1.55 million a year and each employee spends around 30 minutes a week solving IT problems. Furthermore, a study by Cherwell with over 1000 participants shows that generally the blame for the failure of IT is almost always placed on IT support.

THREE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SUCCESSFUL IT SUPPORT

Looking at the facts from the studies, the expectation of IT support is clear: It has to solve IT problems quickly, silently and without anyone being disturbed in their work. But how can this be achieved? In the following I give three recommendations for action.

1. KINDNESS AND COMPETENCE

The voice on the phone or the choice of words in an email is the central medium of IT support work. In IT support, it is very important to exude friendliness on the one hand and competence on the other. It is important here:

• to explain the often complex IT to non-IT-savvy users in a simple and understandable way.
• to calm the excited user who is currently annoyed by IT problems.
• Letting frequent speakers get to the point on the phone.
• to calm aggressive users sensibly and constructively.

The foundation for success in IT support is having a positive attitude and having fun helping others.

2. SELF SERVICES

A self-service portal can help to solve routine problems themselves (by the user) or to make service inquiries. For example, inquiries can be made through a ticket system or a chatbot.

Furthermore, an FAQ or a knowledge database can contain solutions to known problems. Users are able to help themselves and IT support is relieved. An important success factor here is the permanent documentation of problems in the knowledge database by IT support.

3. IT HELPDESK SOFTWARE

Every craftsman needs good tools – so does IT support. In order to be able to help users particularly quickly and individually, in addition to the described systems for documentation (knowledge database) and ticket systems, software is also required to be able to access the user’s screen. After approval, the support employee can repair the problem in front of the user. This saves the situation that the user has to carry out the instructions of the support employee on the phone under stress. The three software components mentioned (ticket system, knowledge data and screencast) relieve IT support, increase processing time and the solution rate for every IT support employee and increase customer satisfaction.

ALTERNATIVE: USE SERVICE PROVIDERS FOR IT SUPPORT

According to a study by the Federal Statistical Office Only 46% of over 1000 medium-sized companies have their own IT support. With a view to the possibilities of digitization and the high trend of outsourcing, it is easily possible that IT support to be handed over to reliable service providers. Special advantages are:

• a focus on the core business,
• Savings on infrastructure and technology as well
• Access to specialist knowledge and experience of the service provider.

This is a service provider for IT support CompiPower company from Bothel near Rotenburg in Lower Saxony. The service provider looks after business customers of all sizes and from all sectors and ensures that the customer’s business processes run smoothly. He acts according to the following motto: You basically don’t have to worry about anything and can concentrate fully on your core business.

CONCLUSION

Successful IT support is important – both internally and externally. In this article, studies with numbers, data and facts on the expectation of IT support were presented. He has to solve IT problems quickly, silently and without anyone being disturbed in his work. In order to implement this successfully, recommendations were made in this article and suggested as an alternative to look for reliable partners. The decision is yours! How do you deal with your IT support?

Image source: Business photo created by pressfoto – de.freepik.com

Gender reference : I have used the masculine form to make it easier to read. Unless an explicit distinction is made, women, diverse and men as well as people of all origins and nationalities are always meant.

Der Beitrag How do I design successful IT support? erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.

• “We need a clear strategy”,
• “What is my company’s strategy? No idea”,
• “With us, the strategy is hardly tangible”,
• “Ah that’s so wischi, wash with us”
• “That is very little concrete”
• “I can not do anything with that”
• “Is too high-level for me”

Strategies and visions are difficult to formulate

It is difficult to formulate strategies and visions – especially from my time in management consulting, IT service providers were always striving to find a strategy – but basically the strategy was always as follows: “We do it – what the customer pays for”.

This goal was packed into visions that were not tangible for anyone. Sentences such as: The human being as an enabler of IT or the agile service provider in the digital transformation have hardly stimulated dreams. Here I always asked myself why not take the following honest and realistic vision: “ We make customers successful with our advice in all areas “ . Yes, we are not very specific, but management consulting is a flexible and not very specific profession anyway – but that’s exactly why I was there – it was a great experience to get to know a lot.

Other companies also have strategies such as the best IT service provider in Bavaria or leading technologies that make the difference hardly contributed to the motivation of their employees. All of these strategies and visions sounded great, but they didn’t help the employees to orientate themselves.

Agility needs a clear vision and strategy

Agility in particular needs a clear strategy and a vision that employees can get carried away with. It creates a mental cinema and makes people think for themselves. I particularly like the vision of my fellow student Daniel Krauss (MeinFernbus – Flixbus): Green and smart mobility to discover the world “This vision in particular stimulates thinking and dreaming and I am already looking forward to discovering the world again with the Flixbus after COVID-19.

Tips for finding the right vision and strategy

Finding the right strategy is not always easy and I know that many experienced top managers here also do not simply shake such a strategy off their sleeves. From the book Strategy for Strategies I have taken four key questions for formulating a strategy:

• Where should the journey go?
• Who do we need to involve in order to achieve the goals?
• Which measures are necessary?
• Who implements these measures?
• How do we show travel progress?

I think that these key questions help to find a strategy – it is particularly important: who are we doing it for? It is also important for the employees to formulate: What measures are planned and how is the progress? Employees in particular often tend to: tell me specifically – the big picture is not important to me: I want to know what to do! – You will quickly become specific by taking action.

Reading tip: Strategy for Strategies by Rudolf Surrey

Conclusion

Finding a strategy is not easy and you can quickly formulate it not very specifically and therefore not helpful for employees. Such visions and strategies in particular should stimulate dreaming and motivate employees and get them carried away. It is therefore important to ask the right questions and to formulate them in concrete measures.

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In my eyes, something happens from the following point of view:

• Customer: We thought for a long time whether we would introduce software and chose the service provider for a long time. Then there were long proof of concept phases and a long planned execution.

towards:

• Customer: We quickly need a software solution, ideally fully managed, which we can use productively very quickly. There is no time to compare, we take the service provider who can deliver quickly.

Purchase decisions are made quickly

While companies used to negotiate long deals in sales and pre-sales and were in tendering processes for up to a year, business has now become very fast. Whoever can offer fast and automated deployments, i.e. can provide software quickly with a click, wins. It not only brought about a change in sales, but also internally my company had to fully automate product provisioning.

Automation and fast delivery

This type of fast delivery requires new pricing models. Away from time and material, there is an exact billing per user or megabyte or rapid up and down scaling, which can help in a crisis. The following applies to the customer: If I have few orders, I use my IT less and also pay less. It’s a bit like short-time working just for technology.

Trust is built remotely

While salespeople were always at the customer’s site some time ago and were often with them in restaurants or at events, all of the acquisition now takes place virtually and by phone. I think TeleSales in particular is currently experiencing an upswing. It is important to fully exploit the remote channels. This can also be covered quickly by service providers. Personal contact is difficult in times of a virus pandemic and even for me to this day weird: A deal without the famous handshake, but it has to be.

Conclusion

Selling in times of COVID-19 is not easier, but it offers new opportunities and these can be just as successful as before. It is important to recognize and rethink these new opportunities. This is certainly not easy for sales and internal project management, but it is possible. It is now necessary to set the necessary course and to establish the “new normal” in the company as well. There are tips on this in my current book: Virtual teams and home office !

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Unfortunately, this exaggerated situation is often not an isolated incident! Companies have a poor IT infrastructure. The consequence is that employees cannot work meaningfully and teams acquire private infrastructure. This is called shadow IT and has experienced another boom since Corona!

Shadow IT

The term shadow IT describes IT systems that are used in the specialist departments or individual employees of a company in addition to the official IT infrastructure and without the knowledge of the IT department.

According to a survey by Censuswide on behalf of McAfee 500 IT managers and over 250 employees in companies in Germany were surveyed. Over half of the managers surveyed state that shadow IT exists in the company. Almost 40% of employees also admit to using their own cloud services.

In my experience, the main causes are the long provisioning process of the IT departments, cost savings and decisions for the wrong software tool and poor configuration of the tools.

Examples of shadow IT that I often experience are:

• Own server for video conference
• Own time recording
• Office365
• Own Jira server
• Own file sharing platform

Danger from shadow IT

The Agility gained through in-house employee IT however, it also harbors shade. There is a dangerous sense of security in companies. Loss of data due to the lack of backup solutions and the mixing of private and professional use is also dangerous. Compliance violations and the risk of catching malware are particularly high, even if IT systems are unprotected. Most of these are operated with half knowledge.

Problems in IT security

Shadow IT therefore harbors most of the problems in IT security. Virus scanners and IT security mechanisms are often forgotten. This is based on the half-knowledge of the employees. The idea behind shadow IT is not a bad idea, but rather dissatisfaction with your own company IT.

Strategies against shadow IT

Shadow IT refers to any device, application, or IT initiative that is outside of the company’s control. In order to curb this shadow-it, it is important to interview the employees in the first step. In this way, you can at least get an initial list of exactly what shadow IT employees are using.

Then develop guidelines and let the shadow IT operate under the supervision of your own IT admins, who move the software to the corporate cloud and operate it sensibly. Also, implement that the company must always be informed about software purchases.

Also conduct awareness training. Many employees do not even know that they are using shadow IT. For example, many employees use WhatsApp to talk to colleagues but are not even aware that they are sharing company data via external servers.

Conclusion

Shadow IT harbors data protection risks and can make IT decentralized and no longer controllable in the company. It is the consequence when companies set up a less sensible IT architecture and let teams work remotely. Especially since the cloud, software often costs no more than 10 euros a month for private users and can therefore be quickly rented for work by almost any employee. The temptation is great and companies can easily counter it: Buy decent software and set it up! Employees cannot solve tomorrow’s problems with yesterday’s software!

Study: https://www.pressebox.de/inaktiv/mcafee-gmbh/McAfee-Umfrage-Unternehmen-unterschaetzen-die-Gefahren-der-Schatten-IT/boxid/983523

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Such a website has become standard for companies and should not be missing in any company. On the one hand, it serves as an information channel for shops and bars, for example, on opening times and how to get there, as well as for companies with their own Products or services as a sales channel .

Agencies are often expensive

When you ask an agency the price of a website, they often get very high prices and you don’t understand why it is so expensive. An agency will work out requirements for the website in a workshop according to your ideas and map all of your company’s important interfaces and processes. This type of project planning and implementation starts at costs of € 5,000 and can also amount to several tens of thousands of euros for large website projects.

But do companies really need such a customized website or can it be based on existing frameworks and thus save several thousand euros in costs?

Website are now inexpensive to create

Most online shops and websites are based on existing systems. In the case of online shops, these are like Magento, WooCommerce, Shopware or Shopify. In the case of smaller web shops, you can also use systems such as those from WIX and Jimdo. Shop kits are available on the web from € 20 per month.

Use existing CMS systems

The CMS (Content Management Systems) WordPress, Joomla, Typo3 or Drupal are used for existing websites. WordPress is now the most popular Content management system for creation from websites and blogs. With the systems mentioned, a company can create a website with almost no programming knowledge.

The programming language PHP provides the technical basis. The data is saved in a MySQL or MariaDB database. But don’t worry: you won’t notice much of it. You use the software via a clear interface and can manage and organize content such as texts and images and publish them on the Internet.

CMS systems need a hosting provider

Shared hosting is the most common and cheapest form of web hosting. This is often found in a web project that is not very complex. A company finds itself on a server with many others and shares the performance and resources. This is the cheap variant of web hosting.

This type is almost always sufficient for a website with a CMS system and up to 50,000 visitors. As already mentioned, many pages also run under the CMS WordPress, which is the market leader. There are special WordPress hosters for this. For example, some hosters offer a dedicated WordPress solution with automatic installation. The price starts at 4.95 euros per month. So you need a common CMS and hosting service. You can find a good overview of such services on this page. There are not many requirements for a good hoster, especially for WordPress. The advantage is that you can choose the cheaper providers.

Websites with the website builder

As the term “construction kit” suggests, it is a type of software that a company can easily use can put together their own website . In summary, such website builders are very simple and actually offer basic options for simple websites.

Meanwhile, the market for website builders such as Jimdo, Strato, 1 and 1, Wix and many more is booming. The prices are very diverse and there are numerous providers. The prices range from free (often with advertising) to 100 euros. You can now choose from the many providers how much you want to pay and which functions should be included.

The finished templates and templates are a particular advantage. Without any programming knowledge, a website can be quickly created on the basis of existing templates. Examples are a small café or a bike shop. You will receive existing images and areas with sample texts. In general, it is often not necessary to reinvent the wheel, but to build on existing experience.

Advantages and disadvantages of website construction kits

The advantages are that you don’t have to worry about a lot and actually hardly have any effort. The disadvantage, however, is that without prior knowledge you often do not know which guidelines are necessary in the creation of homepages. Be it call to action or perfect SEO optimization. Beginners are often in the dark here. Call to Action is an “invitation to action” such as booking an appointment in your own barber shop or contacting an agency for an initial consultation. SEO optimization means optimizing a page according to Google’s guidelines. This has the effect that the page is found much easier and thus more visitors come to the website and examine the company’s services.

What is also often a neglected area is the establishment of a homepage and the adaptation to the customer. A homepage must first be coordinated with the customer and offer him exactly the information he or she needs. The site also needs some effort to get ahead in Google and achieve top rankings.

Buy a finished homepage as an alternative

Often, after a while, companies no longer need their own website and want to sell it at a profit. Buying a website means building on the success of your predecessor and being able to use that knowledge. The website may also already have its first top placements and the creator can provide valuable information.

There are some marketplaces that specialize in buying and selling websites. The websites are offered in the form of classified ads and prices vary . It is important to find a good offer here and negotiate well . But the effort can be worth it.

Conclusion

A website is important for companies and is indispensable. Companies need to think hard about such a website. Companies are often put off by agencies and believe that a homepage is always expensive. But a website can now be created cheaply using so-called content management systems. Homepage building kits or the purchase of an existing website are an alternative. No matter how you decide, the way to your own website does not have to be expensive and difficult. It is now very easy to create your own website. It’s best to try out one of the many free website builders to get started. You will see how easy it is.

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Return to the office

So the return to the office has started since Corona. Large companies offer to come back to the office between 2 days and full time. Above all, companies like Siemens want to continue to work from home as part of the working method even after Corona. This was also stated in my doctoral thesis. I would have liked, however, that the cause was Das Mindset the manager and not a bad virus pandemic.

It is also gratifying that we are again cautiously taking our first business trips and I was also able to give 2 lectures at internal company events via my blog and I was also able to defend my doctoral thesis on site in May. So is it starting again?

Sales of many IT companies were stable

Of course, most of the major IT orders that were negotiated before Corona were not lost. They were just postponed. I notice that we are now resuming almost all of the orders from March.

Furthermore, it was shown that test products such as a cheap cloud to test for 10 euros made almost no sales. While companies wanted to test many new technologies before Corona, there was now no turning back: Large cloud projects had to be tackled! It was no longer tested but started directly with the cloud for the whole company. As I said: In times of crisis we have to act and not wait!

IT cloud products in particular are currently skyrocketing. Let’s look at the stock price of Zoom (video solution). An increase of 150% has been recorded since March and Microsoft has also made significant gains with Office365. At my company, too, we have been hiring new employees since June and are still busy looking.

Conclusion

I think that the IT industry only fell in a brief shock and that cloud service providers in particular survived the crisis in a stable manner. Consulting companies that provide third-party services on site and have no products have been hit harder. I think it will come as it was researched in my doctoral thesis: Stable and secure cloud products with a combination of consulting enable companies to be both internally and externally maximum agility, even in a crisis. It is therefore important here now to solve today’s problems with tomorrow’s methods and to make the right decisions.

Der Beitrag Current status of Corona in the IT industry erschien zuerst auf agile Companies.