Adaptation or Adoption: Which approach to choose for the digital transformation of your business?

We have all crossed the age where burgeoning businesses who never give up on biz dev to leading businesses have reimagined their businesses, going through a complete digital transformation. 

Digital marketing has gained immense importance in the past three years, and businesses are speeding ahead from old working silos to new digitally enabled setups. During COVID–19, when all businesses were on the verge of shutting down, those who engaged in digital marketing strategies managed to survive. 

For many enterprises, whatever post-COVID digitalization strategy they use needs to be reimagined. Because more and more distinct digital transformation journeys are unfolding, keeping a close eye on the market and regularly updating evolving technology is the need of the hour.

Now, business owners are in a phase where they have to decide between two approaches and choose the best one for their business. The two approaches the businesses will now use to transform are either adoption or adaptation. 

Choosing one of these two approaches is important because if you do not give importance to these, then the chances of digital transformation failure and the survival of your business are minimal.

It has become imperative for businesses to keep up with the latest innovations. Maintaining progress and updating the business every second is essential to survive in this digital market. 

With too many technologies intersecting at a time, it is becoming challenging for business owners to choose an approach that allows them to stay on top of the latest innovations without maxing out on their budgets.

Whenever transformation happens, it's always about either adoption or adaptation, and it’s important to understand the difference between the two. 

This is why today we are here to make you understand the critical difference between two approaches to digital transformation, i.e., adaptation and adoption, along with easifying it for you to choose the best.

Revealing Major Difference Underlying

Digital Adaptation - The approach to new improvements

These days, IT strategies require a perpetual state of change. As more companies embrace the reality of digital transformation, they adapt to the iterative journey unfolding. 

Adaptation is taking place to make the organization follow the pathway to being a data-driven, agile, customer-centric, future-proof enterprise, with people empowered and leaders capable of leading teams through volatile markets.

Adapt is used when a change is made to make something more suitable for a particular use or when adjusting to a new place. The state or process of changing to suit a new situation is not new in the market, but it is for the entity embracing it, and it is more towards the survival of the business in the ever-changing market.

Trying different software and continuously modifying business to make the internal processes fit according to the purchased software defines the adaptation challenge.

But, applying different & dynamic software and waiting for updates to suit a business's processes has become inefficient and expensive, causing effort delays.

Why? because it is both time-consuming for you and your operations. Hard-coded modifications require regular updates & maintenance, and they are a short-term solution that is more costly and less efficient in the long term. 

Adaptation occurs by force; here, businesses expect immediate gratification from operations to change internal systems as per the environment and surroundings; that is the digital transformation era.

This includes -

• Limited capital investment and the expectation of changes to be long-lasting.
• Get employees to adapt to the digital transformation era.
• The transformation of business processes, internal operations, and areas.

In the case of an adaptation, the risks and rewards are lower because you are entering that already established league just because you don't want to be behind in the race. 

You are not doing something new, so the risk is low already. Other people have done it; you are just appointing methodologies used by others. The reward is standard because if everyone does that and you are also following the same, then what exception are you making? Until and unless you are doing it exceptionally.

Let’s have a look at a real-world example of copycat being a reality of the tech -

Xiaomi, a leading Chinese smartphone brand, has great brand recognition in the market.

But, when it comes to the Mi smartphone, it's a question that's been posed directly to the co-founder and president of Xiaomi, Bin Lin. Lin, that in Mi smartphones, especially when the Mi 8 was released, the UI/UX of the smartphone was described as remarkably similar to the Apple iPhone X. Similarly, Xiaomi products continue to copy Apple in one way or another.

Of course, they have made billions by cloning their rival, where the revenue last updated by Xiaomi in 2015 was $12.5 billion before they stopped disclosing their annual figures in 2016. But in reality, when comparing Xiaomi with Apple, the California-based company's revenue was $234 billion in the same year, almost 94.6% higher than Xiaomi's revenue.

The same occurs while fostering digital adaptation when companies put digital front-ends on the same ventures they are already offering. Instead of transforming their business inside out, they follow trends. 

A digital transformation project (unlike any other business transformation project that is just following trends) must begin by aligning with the organization's overall strategic vision. 

Once an organization has aligned its digital transformation strategy with its existing business strategy, it should then evaluate the current cultural temperament towards the strategy. 

A thoughtful digital transformation roadmap that supports the strategic vision, has a ready-to-innovate enthusiasm, and is appropriate within the cultural landscape, will have the best chance of achieving the desired impact. 

These elements make us talk more about the second approach, digital adoption—an end-to-end overhaul of business processes that defines digital transformation as a reality rather than just a buzzword.

Digital Adoption - The approach to behead future digital disruption

Adaptation was more about changing according to the market and maintaining the status quo. But the businesses that pursue an adoption approach are bringing a fresh approach to the market which has never been untouched by anyone. That business is here to achieve —

- Consumer touchpoints and a customer-centric company structure
- Agility and the ability to look beyond the status quo to leverage opportunities and solve pain points.

Adopt is used when something is taken over, chosen, accepted, or approved, and the journey can be scary and arduous for a company. But it is a phase through which you can establish a profitable business internally & externally, improve efficiency, and establish value and innovation.

In the adoption phase, people in business transformation look for a new way to meet a customer's pain point or customer requirements. 

So when you, as a business owner, want to adopt certain practices to be in the league, stay ahead in the market, or compete with your competitors, serve the audience better than you adopt new techniques or things. 

Adoption happens by will, and adaptation occurs by force. Transformation only happens through either of these two means, either through a forceful one or by choice. 

This is why digital transformation as a definition is a relative yet subjective definition. 

So when it is adopted, you are setting the benchmark not just for your internal company but also for your competitors, which is very risk-taking but gratifying at the same time.

Transformation and related things are happening now, so they are more prone to risk, and if the chance to achieve turns out to be possibly achievable, the results are rewards. So, risks and rewards parallelly are very high in the case of adoption.

A business owner is supposed to make a lot of key decisions because there are a lot of moving parts involved in it, including internal and external environments, i.e.

1. Resources
2. Value system
3. Operations
4. Customers
5. Technology
6. Future digital transformation roadmaps
7. All in for a 360-degree transformation

All of this necessitates a strategy: where to go, how to get there, and what the ultimate goal of this transformation will be.

This, of course, requires expert help. Businesses that want to profit from the age of current and future digital disruption rather than struggle in it — need to be able to rely on tried-and-tested, best-practice software that has been proven to be effective.

Changing business processes to suit innovative technology and software solutions implemented and maintained by the process of specialized experts is a far more efficient and sustainable methodology in the digital era.  

Now it's time for you to choose the relative definition and the path your business should follow. 

But remember, in the case of adoption, you are the leader in the market; in either case, you can fail or succeed, and you are going to set the trend in the market. When you adopt, you transform entirely. After all, you don't want to leave any stone unturned because you are chasing success or a more significant reward; otherwise, you know the risk will be high. 

This is why it essentially is to do it in the right way. When it is crucial to do it correctly, putting innovation in the hands of solution experts is safe.

Evolve correctly with conscientious people

Understanding the difference between digital adaptation and digital adoption is crucial to creating a winning strategy. Every successful company we see in the market had a great and successful start, i.e., partnering with knowledge partners who helped them decide the correct approach for an end-to-end change.

Onboarding a knowledgeable partner is a central part of this evolution. The interface of experts as part of an in-house team and a holistic approach to design, strategy, and execution by them helps you expand your digital maturity. 
Let experts at Global Lancers help you choose the correct approach for your business and leverage the advantage of working with technological innovators who have created efficient, competitive, and completely rethought agile organizations.

Check out our digital transformation blogs to gain detailed insights into the nuts and bolts of digital transformation.