Opinion: Did Belgium really miss its Digital Transformation?

A few days ago, an article was published in the Belgian magazine "L'Echo" asking if Belgium had missed its Digital transformation (The article can be read here: https://www.lecho.be/dossier/carrefour/La-Belgique-a-t-elle-rate-le-virage-du-numerique/9976348) 

While I'm always happy to read about Digital transformation in Belgium and see that the debate is becoming front and center, I felt I needed to react on this one. 

First, Digital transformation is not a "one window of opportunity" kind of thing. You don't have one chance to do it or you're done. It's a business strategy, and how and when you want to adapt to an evolving market context. Or you're pro-active about it, you review your assets and eventually adapt your business model looking forward to new growth opportunities (and need to convince your shareholders that it is the right opportunity on the long term, while let's face it in a lot of instances shareholders tend to ask short-term returns) or you are reactive about it due to an upcoming business threat and the transformation is needed to keep you competitive. Being reactive or pro-active is a choice and a business strategy. Sometimes there is no value or interest to change just for the sake of it and break the model too much in advance. Sometimes it is better to be ready to transform and really activate it when the threat is clearing up. Sometimes you didn't see it coming and need to move fast to adapt. In any case, whether a business is right or wrong to be reactive, it doesn't mean Digital transformation cannot be achieved anytime. Digital transformations can start at any moment in time - the acts that will be required to succeed will be very different in nature, with different levels of stakes and pressure, but methods exist as long as the strategy and change management is well thought of. 

Secondly, I challenge the statement of our Minister Alexander De Croo (I disagree on this point - sorry - but for the rest am very thankful for his true belief in digital & efforts to develop Digital in Belgium) "Carrefour has delayed its entry into e-commerce as late as possible, because it was afraid that it would cannibalise its traditional business model, and it was overtaken by these actors" - In one sense it is true, Carrefour didn't really invest enough in its digital distribution opportunities. And I personally can't imagine anyone having the guts at Carrefour to pro-actively shoot down the historical business model. Let's be honest, disruption often creates loss of revenue and it can be a case hard to defend internally.  New players can easily go for digital only and lower costs because they don't have the cost structure and legacy of an incumbent. But in my point of view, the real reason Carrefour was overtaken is not because it was not digital, but because of its positioning. Carrefour has no clear positioning, no clear added-value for people versus competition, and it has been that way since a while. So people were open to consider other actors and shift. And that is true not only for Carrefour but for all the industries who have neglected too long customer needs and pains and didn't deliver a clear and neat positioning on the market. Industry disruptors identify the customer pains, the business opportunity and find a better way to serve. Some just do it digitally because its a lower cost & effort to penetrate a market. It's less capital intensive. It doesn 't mean they will remain purely digital by the way. Uber started without cars to serve customers and now is buying some, Airbnb is now investing in hotels, etc. The secret of sustainability is not to be a great digital guru: the secret is to be customer centric. To solve to a true customer pain and hit the nail really hard. Serve your market perfectly with great added-value and you'll be disrupted the latest. 

The last point I must react on concerns the role of Politics in Digital transformation. Reading the article, it somewhat gives the impression that Digital transformation does not happen in Belgium due to lack of political efforts. And then the article largely states all efforts done by Belgian Politics recently in that area. While I agree Politics have a strong role to play in Education (facing the employability challenges & skillsets needed ahead due to changing paradigms) and have impact through legislation on company creations, investments, job creation etc... and really appreciate the latest efforts done in the matter, at the end of the day if a company decides to initiate a digital transformation it is a business decision and business strategy. Its the company's responsibility. It's about deciding to be relevant on a market, review your distribution model, invest in your employees, products and services to enable that transformation and better serve your customers. It's about managing to convince your board that returns might not be immediate but on the longer term. It's about having a board able to think long term. It's about belief and culture. Too often I hear in Belgium "nothing is done here to favour Businesses creations and start-ups are not supported enough". To that I will answer with just one quote about Berlin. Berlin, as you probably know, is becoming a wonderful European Digital Hub - start-ups are booming and Digital Businesses are flourishing. When the Berlin Chamber of Commerce is asked what they did to make it happen their answer is: « We did nothing : no additional regulation, no specific support. Our startups have done what they wanted to do». Well its actually the same thing for large corporations - Business and Transformation only happens with true will. If you have to rely on Politics to have the job done, it just means you have nothing to do here in the first place. 

So to finally answer the question of the article : "Did Belgium miss its Digital transformation?" My answer is *no*. As long as your company still exists, you always have a chance to turn it around. It's about defining what value you want to bring to the market, respond to customers' pains and needs and understand how digital can support these objectives. And go for it. 

About the author

Audrey has been managing digital strategy and digital transformations during several years from within large corporations before creating Belly & Brain.

By creating Belly & Brain, her aim was to design a consultancy firm finally adapted to the needs and reality of business leaders confronted to strong digital challenges - combining consultancy and coaching capabilities able to handle as well marketing and sales strategic questions, as well as change management, organisational & culture challenges needed to actually deliver on the transformation.

Audrey organises regular free meet up sessions with executives to discuss their challenges and give rapid feedback on solutions and options. Learn more about these here