Five tips CEOs need to digitally transform their businesses – Expert

Tomi Davies, chief executive officer at TVCLabs, a technology business accelerator has revealed five tips that CEOs need to digitally transform their businesses.
The tips are to get clarity on value, be a people growth target, understand the data in one’s environment, build for speed and adoption & strategy.

He said this at the recent Digital Transformation and Investors’ Summit in Port Harcourt, River State. The event which was hosted by StartupSouth, a startup ecosystem development and advocacy organisation in partnership with BusinessDay, brought together over 100 elite business leaders from within and outside the south-south and southeast regions of Nigeria.

“The world is digitised and it is occurring at an accelerating rate. Business owners and CEOs need to start to do certain things because they are the ones that can shape and guide a successful digital transformation,” he said.
He said if they follow the steps mentioned above they will be at the top of any segment they work in, beat their competitors and make money consistently and sustainably.

“More importantly, the people in their organisations will be the ones to drive the growth. So, you would get a plurality of leadership. I am not just talking about chief financial officers or CEOs but people who feel they belong in the organisation and will make a sustainable better future for them,” he added.

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Davies, who is also a renowned author, unveiled his book titled ‘The Investment Worthy Startup’ at the event. The event highlighted the impact of digital transformation on high-value business leaders and promoted business longevity and sustainability by spotlighting the opportunities for corporate innovation.

Uche Aniche, the convener of SouthStartup, said it was inspiring a community of people who are leveraging opportunities.

“You cannot build a startup community or ecosystem without people who are already in the business space which is why we have invited most of the top CEOs to come and understand what we are doing and also how it affects their businesses,” he said.

According to him, the event is organised annually to bring people together. “If we are going to build a sustainable ecosystem, some of you who have the experience need to be part of that process either as mentors, investors, or even as founders.”

On the things that legacy businesses and founders can do to mitigate technological disruptions that will affect their businesses, Emeka Okoye, founding partner at Rebel Seed Capital, said they need to do creative disruptions.

“Don’t wait for that external company to destroy the value you are trying to create for your clients. Do it yourself. Be the one disrupting yourself,” he said.

Kingsley Eze, CEO at Tenece Professional Services, added that legacy businesses should recognise their strength by creating innovation teams or partnering to do some sort of ecosystem arrangement.