Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Sales & Marketing
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience
Marketers are currently facing a 'crisis of immediacy' challenge: how to meet consumers' need to receive content, expertise, and personalized solutions in real time during their shopping experience. Today's digital technologies-such as video conferencing, location-based mobile apps, and augmented reality-provide a highly personalized and immersive environment that allows for interactivity and rich information exchange between the brand and consumer. We conducted in-depth interviews with over 35 retailers, large-scale surveys with international shoppers, and pilot projects with stores and banking institutions to study how companies are leveraging digital technologies to transform the customer experience. Our findings show that there are two main technology-based models that organizations are deploying to support customers' immediate needs: the remote expert and the digital assistant. We provide company examples of both models, as well as when they are most appropriate and success factors to inform managers.
Authors :: Salvatore Parise, Patricia J. Guinan, Ron Kafka
Swot Analysis of "Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience" written by Salvatore Parise, Patricia J. Guinan, Ron Kafka includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Immediacy Digital facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, IT, Leading teams, Marketing, Meetings and Sales & Marketing.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy, central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%,
challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Immediacy Digital, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Immediacy Digital operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Immediacy Digital
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Sales & Marketing field.
4. Making a Sales & Marketing topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Immediacy Digital
Strengths Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Immediacy Digital in Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience Harvard Business Review case study are -
High brand equity
– Immediacy Digital has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Immediacy Digital to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Organizational Resilience of Immediacy Digital
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Immediacy Digital does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Strong track record of project management
– Immediacy Digital is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Immediacy Digital has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Training and development
– Immediacy Digital has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Immediacy Digital are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Sales & Marketing industry
– Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Immediacy Digital to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Immediacy Digital to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Immediacy Digital has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Immediacy Digital in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Immediacy Digital is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Learning organization
- Immediacy Digital is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Immediacy Digital is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Immediacy Digital has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Immediacy Digital has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Weaknesses Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience are -
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Immediacy Digital is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Immediacy Digital has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience, it seems that the employees of Immediacy Digital don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Immediacy Digital supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Immediacy Digital vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Immediacy Digital has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Salvatore Parise, Patricia J. Guinan, Ron Kafka suggests that, Immediacy Digital is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Lack of clear differentiation of Immediacy Digital products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Immediacy Digital needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience HBR case study mentions - Immediacy Digital takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Immediacy Digital 's lucrative customers.
High cash cycle compare to competitors
Immediacy Digital has a high cash cycle compare to other players in the industry. It needs to shorten the cash cycle by 12% to be more competitive in the marketplace, reduce inventory costs, and be more profitable.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Immediacy Digital has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Opportunities Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience are -
Manufacturing automation
– Immediacy Digital can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Sales & Marketing segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Developing new processes and practices
– Immediacy Digital can develop new processes and procedures in Sales & Marketing industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Buying journey improvements
– Immediacy Digital can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Learning at scale
– Online learning technologies has now opened space for Immediacy Digital to conduct training and development for its employees across the world. This will result in not only reducing the cost of training but also help employees in different part of the world to integrate with the headquarter work culture, ethos, and standards.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Immediacy Digital can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Immediacy Digital operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Sales & Marketing sector.
Identify volunteer opportunities
– Covid-19 has impacted working population in two ways – it has led to people soul searching about their professional choices, resulting in mass resignation. Secondly it has encouraged people to do things that they are passionate about. This has opened opportunities for businesses to build volunteer oriented socially driven projects. Immediacy Digital can explore opportunities that can attract volunteers and are consistent with its mission and vision.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Immediacy Digital has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Immediacy Digital to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Immediacy Digital can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Immediacy Digital is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Immediacy Digital has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Immediacy Digital to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience case study. Immediacy Digital can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Immediacy Digital to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Immediacy Digital to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Sales & Marketing industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Immediacy Digital can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Immediacy Digital to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Threats Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience are -
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Immediacy Digital in the Sales & Marketing industry. The Sales & Marketing industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Immediacy Digital high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Immediacy Digital can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Increasing wage structure of Immediacy Digital
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Immediacy Digital.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Immediacy Digital is facing in Sales & Marketing sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Immediacy Digital in the Sales & Marketing sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Environmental challenges
– Immediacy Digital needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Immediacy Digital can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Sales & Marketing industry.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Immediacy Digital will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Immediacy Digital has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Sales & Marketing industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Immediacy Digital needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Sales & Marketing sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Regulatory challenges
– Immediacy Digital needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Sales & Marketing industry regulations.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Sales & Marketing field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Immediacy Digital can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Immediacy Digital with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Solving the Crisis of Immediacy: How Digital Technology Can Transform the Customer Experience is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Immediacy Digital needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.
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