Digital strategy has become a buzzword after the explosion of AI in the last 18 months. Yet, it is not about AI. AI has been the tipping point for organizations and professionals to recognize that they must update or create a digital strategy for success. Digitally-forward arts organizations already have a digital component as part of their strategic plan. The plan is how digital technology plays a role in reaching their goals. But to get to that point, a clear understanding of how to invest in a strong tech stack and then how to leverage those technologies for success. Underpinning it all is the need for up-skilling and training those working in the organization.
Digital Strategy
Most, if not all, businesses have a strategic plan. The key in today’s world is to integrate digital strategy into your core business strategies fully. In fact, many of the organizations that thrived through the pandemic or throughout the recovery had a digital plan that they could activate or accelerate. Often the digital strategy placed them as a leader in the pack, which echos the ideas presented by BCG Company who offer 5 steps for digital strategy: Assessing the Potential Impact of Digital
Digital strategies require an investment of people, time, hardware and software to accomplish a goal, whether to transform an archive into a public digital asset or to adopt a progressive AI strategy to personalize the marketing funnel across email and social media. In fact, McKinsey and Company notes in “A Winning Operating Model for Digital Strategy” that successful companies invest in talent with digital skills, invest in digital platforms that allow for new digital products or models, and engage in technologies that allow for full ecosystem connection. By investing in people, hardware, and software, these companies can engage in “first mover” opportunities that allow them to stand out to audiences, donors, and funders.
One key component to creating strong strategies includes taking the time to consider, evaluate, and adopt the digital technologies can support mission-focused activities that make change.
Tech Stack
Every organization needs a comprehensive collection of technologies that help it work seamlessly. That begins with a clear set of tools and policies in how to use these tools. The first (not last) place to start is ensuring clear, transparent internal communications. While memos and water-cooler conversations solved that in the 1950s, today most organizations have a two-pronged communication strategy: a direct messaging agent and an email client. Many organizations are using Slack or Teams or similar chat-based tools that allow for organizations to manage conversations that need to be responded to quickly, essentially a text message that exists outside of your personal text feeds. Furthermore, this business-oriented tools allow for division and separation of conversations to specific channels. If you are a contractor working on a production or exhibition, you only need to see the conversations in the production side of the house. Likewise, marketing needs to have conversations that exist outside of production. Permission controlled channels are critical to success. Having a clear messaging communication system for short communications that are easy to answer in a sentence or phrase helps to declutter email which can provide a location for longer, more asynchronous conversations. Furthermore, these tools can often be synchronized with other tools in your stack: project management solutions (basecamp, airtable, etc) and document storage (Drive, 365, Box, Dropbox, etc). Having interconnected systems with policies for who posts what where allows for more transparent operations with fewer moments of confusion.
Fig 1. Image of business messaging app options. Source: Contus Tech https://www.contus.com/blog/business-chat-apps-and-high-end-enterprise-facilities/
However, arts organizations are serving audiences and donors. Knowing our customers and tracking their data is critical to success in any 21st-century business. In fact, having reliable and valid data can give you a superpower. Having a strong system that meets your budget and your needs is a strategic decision. If you adopt a system that is far beyond the needs of your organization and skillset of your staff will only hinder your ability to grow. Likewise, knowing when your needs have grown beyond what your system can handle requires an honest assessment and RFP process.
Regardless of the tech you are adopting, you need to assess your needs through conversations at all levels of the organization. What’s working, what’s not, and what can be solved using technology (and what can’t). The assessment might deliberately evaluate what your system can and cannot do and what you need it to do to move to your next goals. Assessment allows you to develop a list of criteria to evaluate sales-teams as they promote their solutions. Sales is sales — they never truly have your needs as their priorities.
Having technology means making sure that everyone is excited and ready to use it.
Change management and training
Change management is a part of any manager’s job. But technology is personal. Hence, moving individuals to a new system or onboarding staff into your organization takes creating a model for buy-in to the technology’s use-value and training that provides even the most experienced 20 year old with the skills needed to use your specific systems.
Secrets to success are simple:
a) Training is normalized and regular.
b) Learning is part of the culture of the organization. Lunch-and-learns allow for all staff to share new tools or ideas for personal or organization-based tech
c) Assume everyone benefits from training.
OPPORTUNITIES AND THREATS
Artificial intelligence can help organizations grow quickly, particularly if their CMS systems are actively using machine learning to help predict patterns and to customize communication chains. Generative AI can support small teams in creating multi-channel communications on social media. Yet, WHICH artificial intelligence agents to use and HOW to use them safely needs to be identified through an organization's AI Policy. Your organization’s privacy concerns and ethical concerns with the company you are aligning yourself with need to be taken into account.
Privacy and ethics are not limited to AI. All staff should have regular training and reminders of best security practices for their computers, personal devices, and data. There are myriad free or low cost security and training solutions, for example KnowB4 (www.knowbe4.com) provides awareness training from phishing to government security and risk compliance.
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Asana. “Anatomy of Work 2023 - Rise of the Connected Enterprise.” Asana. Accessed May 22, 2023. https://asana.com/resources/anatomy-of-work.
BCG Global. “The Five Rules of Digital Strategy,” July 17, 2020. https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/five-rules-digital-strategy.
Google Docs. “Enterprise Technologies.” Accessed February 20, 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YI2RCs7Jrwm0BsNMpQLuVdoaxJR3FIY3R7duvJdNNs0/edit?usp=drive_web&ouid=100423710435688012851&usp=embed_facebook.
Hansen, Morten T., Nitin Nohria, and Thomas J. Tierney. “What’s Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?” Harvard Business Review, March 1, 1999. https://hbr.org/1999/03/whats-your-strategy-for-managing-knowledge.
“How to Build an Agile Digital Strategy That Wins | McKinsey.” Accessed March 25, 2024. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/a-winning-operating-model-for-digital-strategy.
“How to Improve Your Internal Operations | McKinsey.” Accessed May 22, 2023. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/how-good-are-your-internal-operations-really.