A guest post by Rita Trehan

(Rita Trehan is a Senior Executive and Chief Human Resources Officer teaching companies how to rethink their business in terms of capacity and break down silos with a business-centric lens. She is a frequent author of guest posts on this blog.)

Mary Meeker’s recently released her 2015 state of the web report on the biggest trends in the digital world. Nearly 200 pages long, it is not a quick read, however, what is contained is essential for every business to grasp.

From how digital and the Internet are disrupting the world we live in, to why companies are need to reimagine everything from their business model to how they connect to their customers, the message is clear. Ignore digital at your peril.

Mary cites a tweet from Aaron Levie, which sums up one of the impacts of digital simply yet powerfully.

In the past, technology concentrated on how to do the same things faster, cheaper more efficiently. Today, the real opportunity lies in doing new things to better understand our talent pool, our customers and how we can create value for both.

HR has an important role to play in helping CEO’s and CIO’s understand how to turn digital trends into winning strategies. If HR is doing its job, it should not only understand the impact of digital on its own functions, HR must seek to engage as a capability and capacity builder.  By grasping the importance of digital, we can shape our companies and prepare them for the
future by innovating inside HR and across the enterprise as a whole.

To help you along the way, here are some questions that HR leaders should be asking.

How mobile is your company? Mobile today means more than just being able to log into your business network at home. Combine it with the cloud and people can now work from anywhere, at any given time and be as productive as they are in the office. Meeting tools have advanced to such a degree that choices are abundant; all is needed is a willingness to embrace technology and break away from the tried and tested methods of the past. Is your company embracing the mobile revolution? If not, how can you engage the right people to start the dialogue

How social is your Company? Beyond the company Internet page, how actively is your business engaging in social media and social networking? If you think that social only applies to consumer type businesses, think again. The talent pool of today and tomorrow, view social as the primary means to connect and interact with others. Company how widely is your business using social to connect and collaborate. Are you capturing the full value of being able to connect people in real-time? If you are not sure, take a leaf out of Coca-Cola’s book, they shut down their phone messaging services. A cost reduction exercise, perhaps? It seems not (although of course it saved money) the decision is part of their overall digital strategy. If someone needs to talk to someone at Coke, call them or instant message them, connecting in real-time is the objective.

Is your company embracing the new IT ecosystem – the Cloud? The benefits of the cloud are many. The cloud provides agility, flexibility and efficiency. Businesses that grasp the true transformative nature of cloud technology will win, those that are still reluctant to dip their toe in the water, will be left out in the cloud. Is your company, still pondering about the value of the cloud or is it marching forward and capitalizing on what the cloud offers?

How is your company using Data? Big Data, Data Mining, Predictive Data, you name it we all know that there is an abundance of data that we can leverage. The challenge facing most companies is not data, but which data and for what purpose? It is easy to get lost in the myriad of opportunities that the data affords the key is having a laser focus on data that can lead to innovation, cost efficiency, speed to market. Is your company asking itself, which data, for what purpose? If not, then there is no time like the present to start.

In Mary’s article, she touches on many other ways that the digital transformation is affecting every part of the company. I am a big believer that this change affords an unprecedented chance for us to make the most of our roles and show our ability to solve problems as strategic leaders.

The opportunity is ours for the taking if we choose to act on it.

MORE READING FOR YOU