From tech investments to business value

While digital technologies come more naturally to some organisations than others, that doesn’t mean it doesn't involve struggles and hard work to invest wisely. In fact, being able to recognise the complexity and taking the necessary steps to transform processes, or working on new partnerships, is crucial to succeed.

Three-quarters of businesses are seeking a better understanding of how to combine different technologies to enhance value creation. Making data governance more robust is a high priority, as businesses look to mitigate data privacy and security concerns prompted by a fast-changing technology stack.

• How can we turn tech investments into business value?
• How can we reframe the future of our organization to support green transition and technology transfer?
• What is missing from our existing transformation roadmaps?

Aligning sustainability and technology strategies

Given the high and rising importance of ESG as a consideration in decisions on emerging technology investments, and the increasing emphasis on the positive sustainability outcomes that emerging technologies can deliver, businesses are very mindful of the need to align their overall sustainability and technology strategies. More than eight in 10 businesses cite ESG as a major consideration when investing in emerging technologies.

Enterprises see emerging technologies as providing a range of positive contributions to their long-term sustainability strategies, with recognition growing year-on-year. Emerging technologies’ role in helping to reduce energy consumption leads the way, cited by 50% of businesses overall, rising to 57% among automotive and manufacturing respondents. Some of the most potentially substantial benefits — such as enablement of circular business models and increased labour productivity — still rank further back, cited by less than three in 10.

• How can the adoption of emerging technologies benefit our long-term sustainability strategy and circular business models?

Why technology scouting and innovation ecosystems matter

As someone deeply involved in technology scouting and fostering innovation ecosystems, I resonate with the findings. It's great to see that 71% of businesses acknowledge the importance of open innovation principles, recognizing that collaboration is key to success in today's business landscape. Navigating multi-sided partnerships can indeed present operational challenges, as echoed by six in ten businesses. Yet, amidst these challenges lies immense opportunity.

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As highlighted in the analysis, CIOs play a pivotal role in maximizing digital transformation. Reflecting on my work, I fully endorse the four key actions outlined for CIOs:

1. Collaborating with leadership peers to craft a confident technology vision resonates with my approach. Embracing diverse perspectives ensures more informed decision-making in technology investments and deployments.
2. Centralizing and developing tech expertise is crucial, especially as the demand for integrated technologies grows. Establishing working groups and fostering multi-technology expertise aligns closely with my endeavors in building innovation ecosystems.
3. Revisiting and recalibrating transformation fundamentals is essential for ensuring the resilience of digital transformation programs. Emphasizing reskilling and partner management, while also prioritizing aspects like data ethics and employee well-being, resonates with my commitment to holistic transformation. It is not easy, but it is necessary!
4. Driving meaningful interactions with suppliers and ecosystems is a strategy I've personally been challenged over the years. By fostering transparent communication and prioritizing vendors with the ability to orchestrate partnerships, businesses can truly unlock the value of collaborative ecosystems.

What are the biggest obstacles in your organisation to collaborate with other actors as part of an ecosystem?

Looking ahead, a growing proportion of businesses are prepared to prioritize partners that can articulate their role in industry ecosystems. This aligns with our findings that organizations are prioritizing deeper collaboration with vendors — with open innovation principles widely accepted by 71% of organizations — but, crucially, they lack knowledge and awareness of the supplier landscape and resulting opportunities for collaboration.

In brief:

• Investment momentum is strong across emerging technologies, aligned to healthy future spending intentions.
• Scaled deployments of combined technologies are critical, with transformation frameworks and suppliers under pressure to enable more meaningful adoption.
• More collaboration inside and outside the organization is required if businesses are to maximize their technology-driven transformation.

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The analysis by 安永 Tom Loozen , Adrian Baschnonga , Ian Beer , Eleftheria Kouri , Swati Mahajan , and Charlotta Kvarnstr?m serves as a compelling call to action for businesses to priotize collaborative innovation and technology scouting. I'm inspired by the possibilities that lie ahead.

Read the report: https://www.ey.com/en_dk/tmt/how-can-you-realize-the-promise-of-transformational-technologies

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