Enough to say that in the future digital transformation will do this and that. Digital transformation has already happened & has been going on for a while. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, many large companies still did not have basic digital structures, such as a WhatsApp for customer service. Today, the use of mobile phones for research and purchases is something that the customer does not even think about not using. It is something natural. We are in the post-digital world, where the digital experience is universal; brazil, for example, has one of the most challenging competitive scenarios of the entire planet in number of retailers pure players digital fiercely competing for the attention and money of consumers.
The big problem, however, is that many companies still treat digital and physical as separate entities, while for the customer, everything is part of the same experience. True digital transformation, therefore, lies in knowing how to use the best that digital already offers for a more empowered customer and ahead of the companies themselves. It is a race for organizations to use digital tools that make them more agile, pragmatic and able to offer a customer journey that really improves their lives. Global competition and disruption always imminent by startups reinforce this urgency.
Customer experience as the only genuine competitive differentiator
In a market where technology is easily replicable and clonable, the real competitive differential of a company no longer lies solely in its products or technologies.
Great academic theorists such as Kotler argue that the long-term success of any company depends on having a truly customer-centric experience. Personalization, and more recently, hyper-personalization driven by converging technologies, is critical to meeting the specific needs of each customer at their specific time during the relationship journey with the company. The challenge is that many companies still fail to know their customers minimally, offering inconsistent experiences across different channels.
For a company to be genuinely customer-centric, it is essential to have a team of employees engaged with the purpose of the brand and aligned with the customer. This is only possible with a very strong organizational culture. The culture of a company is equal to a family, where common values, greater purpose and strategic alignment make all the difference. In the case of the company, this generates value to the service for the customer and creates a culture that transpires for the consumer. Building all this is the greatest difficulty for experienced leaders, as it takes a lot of time and is based on intangible and attitudinal assets, in most cases.
In this context, leadership plays a key role, not only in what it verbalizes, but in its behavior, its posture and the way it relates. In a world where hard skills are increasingly delegated to machines and AIs, soft skills become preferred and essential for leaders and their followers.
The essential role of Big Data and artificial intelligence
Another point of attention is the importance of data in a fiercely competitive environment. Customers are already aware that their data has value and is used to generate advertising and offers for themselves. The expectation is that companies use this information to generate value back, providing better and more relevant solutions.
This is where Big Data plays an essential role.It allows data from various sources to be thrown into a centralized intelligence structure, where algorithms work to seek better and better solutions.The well-known and always relevant example of Netflix illustrates this: the platform uses artificial intelligence to compare descriptions of movies and series that the user watches, programming your screen to offer choices more aligned to your interests.
Despite the potential, many companies, including large leading companies in their fields of activity, still do not know how to use Big Data effectively. Among the challenges, the veracity of data is the greatest.In a scenario of deepfakes and big fakesthe quality and authenticity of the sources are critical to avoid erroneous conclusions.
Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially generative AI, is also developing in a frighteningly accelerated way, becoming indispensable for business. AI acts as a support for human intelligence, delegating complex tasks to algorithms. However, generative AI, popularized by tools such as ChatGPT and DeepSeek, presents the risk (each time smaller) of “alucinations”, that is undoubtedly a significant danger and requires a keen critical sense of the user to discern the truth.
The next frontiers of digital transformation
quantum Computing: Exponentially accelerates the power of artificial intelligence by promising a new” “world and greater power for big techs than for governments themselves.
· Robotics with AI: Robots with applied and functional artificial intelligence, including with generative intelligence and access to our data, can assist in household chores and other functions. Although they offer hyperpersonalization and do not “”, they present significant risks related to cybersecurity.
· Cybersecurity: Growing challenge and one of the biggest businesses on the planet (digital crime is the third largest business according to executives from Palantir and Palo Alto), the planet is driven by the increase in attacks and fraud. Quantum computing will further amplify this challenge, as it can break passwords and current cryptographic keys.
delegating decisions to AI: A growing tendency to delegate decisions to artificial intelligence, as is already seen in autonomous cars or robotic surgeries, with the expectation that machine error is less than human.
AI Avatars: The view of assistants like Iron Man's Jarvis is a standard trend, with cell phones and other devices acting as extensions of memory and cognitive ability.
· Return of the Metaverse: Although it was an experience considered as too“” in its first boom, the evolution of hardware and the familiarity of new generations with virtual environments can bring the Metaverse back as a common environment for more immersive and natural interactions.
The human at the center of technology
Faced with all these changes and expectations, leadership is no longer about control, but about purpose. The world will be increasingly automated and autonomous agents driven by artificial intelligence should dominate the scenario in the next five years, but the real differential will continue to be human. Therefore, the reading of works such as “In Search for Meaning”, by Viktor Frankl, is essential for those who lead in contexts of high pressure and complexity. Frankl's experience at Auschwitz shows us that even in the most extreme situations, it is possible to find meaning and it is this sense of purpose that gives direction to difficult decisions.
When I look at my trajectory as a leader, I recognize that my biggest mistake was, for a long time, trying to shape others to my way of working. I learned (often with difficulty 'Of course I DO. The role of the leader is not to centralize, but to empower. The leader who makes a difference is the one who awakens the best of each person around him, allowing diverse talents to compose something greater than any individual effort.
Digital transformation is no longer a distant promise 'It is among us. But no technology, no matter how advanced, replaces the need for genuine relationships and clear purpose. Data is essential. Strong culture, indispensable. But it is at the intersection of artificial intelligence and emotional intelligence that things really happen productively and actually enhancing the customer experience in its entirety.
