Lessons from thriving digital-first businesses

Australia’s startup ecosystem has seen a major explosion in growth over the past decade. We are on the fast track to become a nation of truly digital innovators across industries like software development, design, company culture and more.

The reasons behind this explosion are numerous. Some may put it down to capital. According to Chris Gillings’s Cut Through Venture newsletter, in 2022 alone we saw $7.4 billion landing with local entrepreneurs from investors looking to find the next Canva or Atlassian.

Yet beyond the capital required to build a product and scale, the new generation of emerging companies have benefited from a fundamental shift in technology. Once, building a new bank or software company could mean millions of dollars and months of preparation in servers alone to get up and running. Today, the proliferation of cloud computing infrastructure, open source frameworks and automation workflows have made it possible to go from idea to customer in weeks, if not days.

A digital-first business today doesn’t need to spend the same time developing back-end infrastructure, hiring hundreds of people or creating complex IT systems simply to get a product out to market. A small group of engineers with an idea and a passion for customers can ship a viable product quickly.

Yet while these businesses are unencumbered by much of the legacy more established companies have, they are still founts of knowledge from which other companies — large and small — can learn. Precisely because they don’t have this history, they can rethink the way they operate, and how they scale from a fresh perspective.

From speaking with Australia’s most exciting and fastest-growing businesses, here are the top learnings businesses can take on board.

#1 Security from inception

Many businesses feel pressure to grow rapidly, meaning security becomes an afterthought. One of the benefits of being a digital-first business is security is built in from the get-go and forms part of the fabric as the business grows.

A security-first mentality means everyone within the business has a feeling of ownership and puts a focus on a holistic digital immune system, underpinned by cloud providers, which often includes benefits like default encryption.

This is an inspiration other businesses can take, although it may mean a cultural shift is required. To embrace a security-minded culture, enterprise businesses should remove unnecessary processes and empower security teams to make important decisions quickly by removing red tape.

#2 Treat innovation like culture

Another key takeaway for organisations looking to digital-first businesses for advice is to create a culture of innovation and slash bureaucracy. A holistic approach to innovation, which includes less siloing of roles and responsibilities and being able to articulate the benefits of digital transformation for all aspects of the organisation, can allow organisations to unlock value through better use of data, technology and people.

How can this be achieved? According to consultancy Max Kelsen, this culture of innovation can be fostered through thoughtful hiring and prioritising soft skills, cultural connections and a willingness to learn. By looking out for these features instead of years of technical experience, businesses are able to build the spirit of innovation from the ground up and create a genuine cultural transformation.

Of course, this will take time, but if any new product requires hundreds of checks and countless hours of stakeholder engagement, it’s going to be incredibly hard to keep pace with businesses that move quickly, are comfortable with failure and realise speed is one of their greatest assets.

Cloud technology has no doubt facilitated these growth journeys and will continue to drive the growth of many innovative and exciting companies. The approach and fresh thinking of digital-first businesses present new opportunities for all.

#3 Build infrastructure that grows with you

Almost every business today is in the cloud. If they’re not, they’re probably thinking about how to kickstart their digital transformation. But what sets digital-first businesses apart when it comes to technology and infrastructure?

From day one, they design their infrastructure to be infinitely scaled. Even if global expansion is years away, the groundwork has already been laid. Their systems can meet regulatory and security requirements and can be deployed as-is to as many new markets as necessary.

When it comes to scaling infrastructure, these businesses are harnessing the power of Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to automate many functions, instead of using it simply as a performance analysis tool. Where digital-first businesses thrive, and other organisations can take note, is the use of data as an operational system rather than an analytics system. It means they can greatly shorten the time between insight and action.

For example, e-bike subscription startup Zoomo uses BigQuery on the Google Cloud Platform to aggregate data across its fleet. Combined with machine learning, this data is used to understand how the bikes are being used, identify new safety features and develop ways to make these bikes more resilient over their lifetime. When fed back to the riders, they are empowered to make real-time decisions about bike maintenance and usage.

Businesses of all sizes can emulate these ways of thinking to experience a similar level of success when it comes to their digital transformation or relationship with cloud technology.

Image credit: iStock.com/gorodenkoff