From radio to television and, subsequently, to the Internet, new-age technologies and trends have paved the way for knowledge to be distributed directly to the world's vast population. To thrive in the digital-driven era, organizations have embraced the changing landscape and digital transformation. At the heart of this transformation lies the critical concept of digital leadership. Today, digital leadership entails not only understanding and utilizing digital technologies but also having the vision to drive organizational innovation and transformation. As a result, digital leadership has become critical, allowing organizations to negotiate the complexity of the digital world while remaining competitive in the market.
Digital leadership is the art of strategically using an organization’s digital assets to establish authority and accomplish organizational goals. The role of digital leaders is to foster a digital-first mindset in the organization, which entails empowering employees to embrace new technologies and encouraging them to think creatively and experiment with digital solutions. As a result, by effectively harnessing the power of digital technologies and leading organizations through digital transformation, these leaders can certainly unlock new opportunities to enhance stakeholder experiences.
Embrace productivity: Beyond a shadow of a doubt, digital tools have the potential to strengthen the operational efficiency of the organization, helping employees to be more productive and efficient. This is where, in order to push professionals on the right pathways, digital leaders help and motivate them by boosting their technical skills, allowing them to focus on more important tasks. By embracing innovation and productivity through digital leadership, enterprises can lead to increased efficiency, cost savings, and the ability to offer timely products and services that satisfy client requests.
Boost revenue: Today, digital transformation is more than just about keeping up with the latest trends. It is about using technological advancement to generate new revenue opportunities. As a result, digital leaders are making massive investments and expect this effort to translate into new business value. Furthermore, digital leaders can manage and adapt to the always-evolving digital terrain. They are capable of identifying new opportunities and implementing novel solutions, resulting in increased efficiency, productivity, and revenue for the firm. Thus, a visionary digital leader is critical to the organization for unlocking success and staying ahead of the curve in today's dynamic business world.
Enhance adaptability: The digital landscape is continuously changing, and organizations must be adaptable to embrace transition, especially in a country as dynamic as India. While change can help the organization reach new heights, it can often be challenging. In an era where client and customer preferences are continuously shifting, businesses require digital leaders who can handle these transformations efficiently. According to a search conducted by Gartner, half of the new efforts fail in firms, with only 34% of initiatives succeeding. Therefore, strong leadership is needed to overcome bottlenecks and increase efficiency as well as revenue to keep up with technological progress.
Owing to the excessive development and opportunities, the field has become a viable career option for individuals looking to leverage technology to produce value in a firm. In order to become digital leaders, prospects should upgrade their learning abilities by choosing short-term programs that will help in assessing the gap between self-perception and group view and developing a plan of action for future growth opportunities. Focusing on team-building and leadership abilities through conceptual and experiential learning will help. According to NASSCOM, In India, there were around 5,000 global digital leadership roles, and this pool is projected to grow to 20,000 in 2030.
There is no denying that, as India stands on the cusp of a digital revolution, digital leadership emerges as the linchpin of success. As a result, to become digital leaders, prospects should strongly consider higher management degrees from B schools with a vision to create visionary leaders for society. Furthermore, to achieve success in the digital era, emerging Indian firms must heed the call for digital leadership.
The article is authored by Prof. Surabhi Koul, Assistant Professor, FORE School of Management
