In nature, survival depends on adaptability. From lizards blending into their surroundings to butterflies undergoing metamorphosis, species evolve to thrive in their environments. The same principle applies to businesses navigating digital transformation. As consumer behavior shifts, companies must embrace change, leveraging technology to stay competitive.

Adaptability: A Survival Trait in Nature and Business

Adaptation is one of nature’s most important transformation tools and a key mechanism of natural selection. It helps explain why, for example, certain animals have developed camouflage to avoid predators. Some predators adapted to their environment, as well, by using camouflage as a tactic to disguise their appearance, allowing them to sneak up on their preyprey, and achieving better success in hunting. 

Today, it is becoming increasingly clear that the ability to sense change and adapt to it quickly is vital not only for species but for businesses as well.

Words like ‘adapt’ have become basic in the business vocabulary as well, during the pandemic: it’s how many organizations, regardless of size, have survived this uncertain time. And for companies to position themselves for long-term success in this volatile environment, business leaders should prioritize adaptability as a must-have organizational quality. But how can businesses change their perspective to transform quickly and at scale to become adaptable? Here are a few hints to get you started.

Learning and Development: The Business Metamorphosis

We all know a butterfly starts its life as a caterpillar. What fewer of us know, however, is that butterflies remember experiences learned as caterpillars. Therefore, when the grandest change—the metamorphosis—occurs in a caterpillar’s life, it doesn’t start its whole other life from zero. The newly-became butterfly has built-in positive and negative experiences in its defense system in order to survive, develop, and thrive.

What else could be digital transformation if not the metamorphosis of your business?

At the beginning, every business is “just” a caterpillar. It’s the years and years of learning, developing, and integrating positive and negative experiences that’ll lead a business on the path of thriving like a butterfly.

For businesses, digital transformation isn’t about erasing past efforts—it’s about learning from successes and failures to evolve strategically. Companies that continuously invest in learning and development, embracing change as part of their DNA, are better positioned for long-term growth.

Using Technology to Adapt to Consumer Behavior

Just as lizards seek rocks that match their coloring to avoid predators, businesses must adjust to their environment—primarily, changing consumer behavior. Digital transformation is not just about upgrading technology; it’s about aligning with customer needs and expectations.

It’s not a secret that 77% of businesses have accelerated digital transformation due to COVID-19. In this journey, a central focus should be given to the customer’s digital experience, knowing that the pandemic drastically changed the way we interact with brands or services. An utterly proper response is airlines instituting contactless experiences like baggage drop-off and check-in to reduce physical contact and to assist in maintaining social distance.

Do you see the resemblance? Developing strategies to avoid a risky encounter, be it between a bird and its prey, the lizard, or between a virus and its prey, the human.