Marketing Assignment: Digitilisation- A Boon or Bane?

Question

Task: Your marketing assignment task is to oppose the following statement: “Digitalisation will eliminate the need for face to face interaction with customers”.

Answer

Introduction:
The current marketing assignmentsheds light on the concept of “Digitalization” which is one of the most influential and essential concepts in the business organisation, it is changing the ways of the industry permanently. The entrepreneurs are adopting the new techniques that are introduced by digitalization to reach more customers than before. The marketing strategies are becoming more effective and flexible in this new era of digitalization (Antikainen et al. 2018). Although sometimes media will limit digitalization in the IT sector it is not only a segment of IT, also provide enormous opportunities to the entrepreneurs with various new opportunities that will help them to grow their business operations, although there are some challenges that they will face.

Digitalisation does not eliminate face to face business:
Digitalisation and automation have influenced human life so much that they are totally dependent on these technologies for every aspect of life. Digitalisation is a broader concept though it can be described as a digital presentation in every segment of business operations. The entrepreneurs are more becoming interested in this type of business operations as it is assisting them to attract more customers for their business and also improving the quality of the customer service. This new invention is acting as a technological breakthrough in the global economy and business industry (Andersson et al. 2016). It is helping to improve the general livelihood of the people of every country. Also, reducing the production cost and time are other important traits of digitalisation that are helping to restore the resources, time, and economy at the same time. With all these new facilities there is a saying that the companies that are not adopting the new technology and transforming their business operations with digitalisation will not be able to sustain long and will disappear in the near future in this new era of technology.

So, the major argument appears in the form of the question that is if digitalisation has the ability or not to replace the face to face traditional business operations. It is true that digitalisation is very efficient in reaching more people than any traditional mode can do. But is it enough? When the entrepreneur will reach their targeted customer they need to build trust for further business. Digitalisation also makes general people very doubtful as they are facing many kinds of fraudulent incidents that are operated by utilising digitalisation (Osarenkhoe, and Fjellström 2018). Therefore, to gain the trust of the new customers still, any business owner needs to interact with them face to face and provide them an overall view of their business operations and the way the business operations going to assist its customers in real life in the real world. It is for sure that digital communication can not replace the importance of human interaction and the way it builds loyalty, trust, and credibility among the customers.

Thus, it is better to implement digitalisation without neglecting the value of face to face interaction in the business world( Dredge et al. 2018). It is true that with the new techniques of digitalisation the business can get more customers and reach more people but to develop a customer base they need to build credibility that is more effective in the long run of the business. Hence, it can be said the better way to improve business operation and sustain in the market is to utilise both the digitalisation and traditional face to face business techniques.

Combining digitalisation and face to face business operations:
With each passing day, the importance of digitalisation is increasing. The entrepreneurs are looking forward and investing more funds and resources to adopt digitalisation in their company.But they are facing some issues regarding the implementation. The companies are reluctant to use the new digital technologies as they are doubtful if all of their customers will be able to utilise their new digitalise methods, therefore they are not implementing technology in their job role and that is refraining them from getting the best outcome regarding their business operations (Denner et al. 2018). Digital experience is something that a customer and the seller will communicate with each other and after that the impression that the customer will leave with. The sellers need to put their utmost efforts to leave a long-lasting and better impression on the customers because of that they will get the business afterwords. Many of the traditional organisation lack the required structure for the implementation of the new digital technology, as they did not possess the insight of the utilisation of the new digital technology and implementing of digitalisation to attract more customers while there is a way to combine it with the traditional face to face business process and grow their customer base and get to the stage that they can create a monopoly in the market as most of the customers will be impressed and loyal to them. The companies need a decent investment to implement the digital technologies that will be able to attract all generation of customer (Legner et al. 2017).Sometimes the company can not provide suitable digital strategies that can lead the organisation in the right path to reach the top in the industry as well as employees who are well-versed in implementing these technologies. Therefore, it can be said that every organisation will face issues to apply the new digital technologiesin business operations and implement them in their company and attract more customers with these challenges.

Therefore, combining both the traditional face to face business process and digital techniques can be a solution that can resolve the issue. Applying new digital technologies in their marketing and other segments will attract more customers and then after the primary operation, the company can implement traditional face to face business for further business operations. This way the company will be able to keep going in the best way possible as it will able to use the credibility of the traditional business operation and the new advanced digital technologies. The best way to conduct business is by combining both techniques (Berendsen, and Beckett 2017).The tourism industry has applied the techniques. They have implemented digital technologies as well as educated their employees about the ways to apply them in their business role to satisfy their customers in an utmost manner. In the tourism industry, the companies are implementing digitalisation in the promotion of their business while using all the social media and applications that will help them to reach more people than any traditional way.The industry use digitalisation to provide improved and immediate services to its customersand solve any issues that might be causing any problem for their customers.

Business based on face to face operation:
Face to face communication business does not lose its importance in the business because of the implementation of digitalisation. Face to face meetings will build trust and stronger business relationships among the customers and the co-workers. There will be opportunities to observe and interpret the nonverbal communication of the customers. The business will get many advantages from a great sales speech made by the superior executives and will energise the employees to do better in their jobs and that will get more business as a result. In this era of digitalisation the value of face remains as it will provide a more welcoming environment for the customers and they will be more relaxed they will see a real person who is interacting with them. Many customer service centers are still running more business than any digital store. The customers will like to present their issues to a real employee rather than an artificial intelligence that has only programmed to solve some predetermined issues that are common (Augot et al., 2017). With a real person, there is a possibility of using the brain while solving issues, as well as the person, will be able to think out of the box to reach the solution and restore the credibility of the customer. Therefore, after getting their issues resolved the customer will be happier and will remain loyal to the company.

The medical industry is still dependent on the face to face business operations. The patients will need to see their doctors and have face to face meetings to discuss their health issues. The medical science has improved and uses advanced technology to provide the best quality treatment to their patients, but the need for face to face meeting still remains in the industry as there will be no strategy if the doctor can not identify and prepare a roadmap that should be taken to help the patients to restore their health in the full extent. Also, there is a possibility and has been often seen in the field of the medical industry that one of the most successful doctors is inspiring many young professionals to work hard and perform better. The digital techniques can up to date the techniques of the medical field but only a human brain has the ability to utilise it in the utmost manner that will serve the best possible way.

Comparing digitalisation and face to face business operations:
The most significant and discussed question in this era in the business world is if the digitalisation has the ability to replace the face to face to face business operations. It is true that the new techniques of digitalisation are improving the ways of business operations. It is becoming the first step for many business organisation to reach the goal of their business. The business executives have experienced more successful business while they have used digitalisation to get more customers initially, but after the initial stage, they have to go for the traditional face to face business meetings that will build trust and credibility among the new customers (Schrader, and Droegehorn 2016). To operate the business best way possible, the entrepreneur needs to combine both of them. Everybody is in a hurry as they need to do lots of work in a very short time, therefore, the customers also have their liabilities regarding time. Thus, providing a demonstration on video chat will be very much appreciated as they do not have to travel anywhere leaving their current priorities and responsibilities. Also, providing a flexible timing will be an added advantage for the customers. The seller and customers need to utilise the virtual media to utilise this facility offered by digitalisation. The customers would not have to spend any money to get the demonstration or communicate with the seller.

Digital techniques are developing every day and becoming more useful by each passing day. Now to become the first choice of the customers the companies need to learn the ways to use it to the fullest and utilise the technical development in providing advantages to the buyers.Though the customers will have to possess the digital technology to access the facilities and also bear the expenses for maintenance but this will a one-time investment for them. But if the seller can convince the customers to use the new digital technologies than after the utilisation the customer will appreciate the effort and the credibility will be built among both parties (?erban 2017).Both the face to face meeting and digitalisation have their merits and demerits in the process. Face to face meetings is collaborative, inspiring, and more productive, while digitalisation ensures efficiency and accuracy more than anything, every task that is done by using digitalisation will be precise and clear (Kotarba, 2017).Thus, it is best in the interest of the customer base of the organisation if they would utilise both techniques to get the best result and more business. Digitalisation also, promises future sustainability with all these new techniques and procedures by building efficiency as well as loyal customers.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, it can be said that digitalisation cannot replace the importance of the face to face business operations, though combining both techniques will be more advantageous for any business organisationwhile they are dealing with their customers. Digitalisation is the future of the business world as the world is becoming more technology-oriented day by day, therefore, to sustain in the industryand gain more customers who will remain loyal, the companies need to use digital techniques. But that does not imply thatthey only use digitalise methods that will be satisfying for their customers. Their customers will be more accepting if they canuse the face to face business operationsalong with digital techniques. Mixing both of them will be more beneficial than applying any single of them, as this action will guarantee an increase in sales and developed stronger credibility among the customers. At the primary stage, digitalisation can attract the customers but after that to build integrity and reliability face to face business operation is needed.

References:
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Schrader, I. and Droegehorn, O., 2016. Process-oriented IT-Management as management approach to face digitization.In Proceedings of the International Conference on e-Learning, e-Business, Enterprise Information Systems, and e-Government (EEE) (p. 86). The Steering Committee of The World Congress in Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Applied Computing (WorldComp).

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