Page - 9 - in Digital Entrepreneurship - Impact on Business and Society

Overall, it can be argued that a DEM relates to more than just the ability to incorporate technology intodailyoperations andextract value from the technology. Also, a DEM is about much more than harnessing new technologies. It is a col- lection of attitudes and actions that enable an entrepreneur to foresee possibilities and exploit opportunities accordingly.ADEMis awayof thinking about business andoperating in anewnetworked and connectedbusiness environment.ADEMis based on customers and employees. It is not only about the ability to augment entrepreneurial capabilities, but also the capabilities of employees. Digitalisationmeans the integrationofdigital technologies intoeveryday lifeand all its activities. From an entrepreneurial mindset perspective, it is about turning interactions, communication, business functions andmodels into a digital form in order to grasp emerging opportunities. Another aspect of digitalisation is the entrepreneurial environment or area where it takes place, such as a digital work- place or recruiting employees from a digital pool of talent. At its most basic, digitalisation can relate to businesses’ efforts to becomepaperless.However,many other facets occur at the basis for digital transformation towhich an entrepreneur is exposed. Communication is anexcellent exampleofaworkplace systemthat caneasilybe transformed and improved.Meetings can take place online and files can be trans- ferred much more quickly using online sharing facilities instead of relying on traditional postal methods. Digital transformation is a process through which entrepreneurs seek to improve themselves by making significant changes to their business process through the use of a combination of information, computing, communication andconnectivity technologies in their daily operations (Vial 2019). As discussed previously, digital transformation provides entrepreneurswith the use of a combination of data and mobile technologies that allow faster problem-solving and smarter, more informed decision-making processes. Such decision-making processes empower entrepreneurs and employees to engagemore fully with business operations. As ‘digital’becomesanewnormforbusinesses, entrepreneursneed todevelopa strategy to prioritise opportunities emerging from digital technologies and address the impact such technologies have on their businesses and their financial perfor- mance.ADEMinbusiness isnotonly about technology.Acompanycan introduce digital technology in its strategicplans, but thatdoesnotmean that it has takenona digital mindset. Therefore, entrepreneurs, directors and individual employees need to share a strategy to develop an organisation-wide DEM. For example, an open line of communication between an organisation’s leadership and its employees, whichembraces agrowthmindset, a cultureoffreedomtochooseand innovateor a sharedvisionandpurpose,mightundoubtedly facilitateanorganisation-wideDEM. The implementationofdigital squads,virtualmeeting roomsandagilemethodology is undoubtedly helpful in the process of digital transformation. Through the adoption of these tools, a DEM ismore likely to be adopted throughout an entire organisation. The following section focuses on how businesses can shift towards becomingmore data-driven, cloud-enabled and platform-centric. Developing aDigital EntrepreneurialMindset for Data-Driven… 9