Distributors lacking an effective e-commerce strategy should hold a "digital boot camp" that whips their company into shape by identifying deficiencies and then remedying them, says Linda Taddonio, co-founder and e-commerce strategy officer of InsiteCommerce, in Overcoming a Technology Deficit.

“Digital is now central to your business,” Taddonio said. “It can’t be executed on the side anymore. We’re talking more and more in the marketplace about having a ‘digital-first’ mindset. That’s where the opportunities are. If your organization is held hostage by old ways of thinking, it’s really of the utmost importance to burst out of that.”

Boot camp preparations include assigning a digital innovation team composed of three or four stakeholders from inside the company ­– specifically from the technology, marketing, operations and finance departments – and also outside stakeholders in technology, marketing and operations.

The digital boot camp does exactly what it says: trains an organization to think about technology in a new way while preparing it for doing business in the right manner. The alternative is continuing to lose market share to competitors with a sound e-commerce strategy already in place.

Read more about implementing a transformational digital boot camp, including a step-by-step process, in Overcoming a Technology Deficit.