Evolution doesn't care how good or big you once were

I believe that is was Charles Darwin who stated “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, it is the one that is most adaptable to change”

But this fact is not only relevant to organisms, it also now applies to organisations. This means that the rate of change in customer expectations, technology and even the competition now means that being "agile" is not a strategy... it is essential to long term survival.

And I'll make a prediction...

"The rate of change in your company right now may seem like a sprint, but it will seem like a leisurely stroll compared to what's to come".

Or to put it even more bluntly...

"Hang on kids, this ride is about to get faster and there's no point screaming about it." 

So what happens to those organisations that don't adapt quickly? Well they won't perish overnight. But recent history has told us that those who believe their current business model or state of their technology/product/service is competitive now could swiftly find out things are less than good enough. And just like living things, it only takes a generation to go from being the hunter to the hunted.

Just look at how some retailers have failed to embrace technology: book shops, department stores, video rentals, etc. have all collapsed as digital services quickly ate their lunch using innovation or fast iterating software (or both). Digital evolution doesn't care how good or big you once were.

Agility not size is what matters now for corporate survival.

Does it matter where anything goes?

I've been meaning to write this post for ages, but never had the chance to pull my collected thoughts together before now. In essence, this article is all about the need to continually optimise your digital presence. But it's also about the bigger concept that change is the only constant in the online world and that anyone not innovating and making mistakes is actually taking a step backwards.

So what do I mean by all this?

Well, as I've mentioned in several posts before, the creation of a website (e.g. an online retailing one) is just the end of the beginning... Not the beginning of the end. Your journey has just started. So if you haven't already begun to use AB tests or Multi Variant Testing tools already, I bet you're at least considering the way you can use them to improve your KPI's.

This does consequently create an interesting debate that you might like to have with your web design / development agency or in-house eCommerce team. Centred around the central premise of "Does it actually matter where you place content and functionality on the web page when you're creating it?"

In other words... if you practice the science of 'user centred optimisation',  then very quickly your iterative process of test & learn will find a better way than you came up with at the beginning of your process.

And yes, if you keep doing it... your site should continue to evolve. Therefore leading to the theory that it might not actually matter how you initially design your website, but that it just matters that you keep evolving it quickly and intelligently.

The evolution of digital, gently does it.

How customers & consumers interact with a brand has certainly changed in the last few years thanks to online communication technologies. There are now blogs, web forums and user-generated content (UGC) websites for every possible niche service or product out there and at every emotional point between brand fanatic and disgruntled ex-customer (and beyond).
The Internet (and in particular social media) has given everyone with an online connection the ability to find those with similar feelings or experiences – no matter how specific – and to come together to discuss, refine, support, encourage, complain or plot.

So while it seems quite strange – at least to those of us who use, and work in and around, online social space – that some organisations still choose not to venture into this area, we must also remember that we are (including our clients) all at different points along a digital adoption path, with many still relatively new to understanding it, let alone harnessing the power of, this new communication phenomenon.