Gartner: Ready for Next

I had a fascinating week at the Gartner Symposium in Barcelona, where over 5000 CIOs and senior IT executives came to learn and be inspired.

I was reminded of a 1990s dance tune called “Get Ready for This” by 2 Unlimited when Gartner laid out its vision for what happens next. With it they introduced the concept of “ContinuousNext” - a formula for how to be continually ready for change.

(Mike Harris EVP Gartner Research Introducing ContinuousNext)

Underlining this was a mathematical equation:

(Mindsets + Practices) x Technology = Capabilities. These capabilities give Results.

The focus is on helping companies to be always ready for change - ready to change the way they create, deliver and capture value. Gartner’s research suggests that adoption of IT leads to success and indeed the keynote stated that organizational dynamism is the largest factor impacting business success and top performing companies are highly dynamic in terms of adopting technology.

ContinuousNext consists of 5 elements:

• Culture: This impacts organizational dynamism. The need for a growth mindset was advocated and the concept of undertaking “culture hacks” to make small changes that trigger an emotional response was advocated - this being simple but requiring a decree of courage. There was a message that employee-driven change delivers results. It is great to see culture getting the recognition it deserves.

?         Privacy: It is becoming a major barrier to adoption. Many people use fake email addresses online to hide themselves and 3/4 of consumers do not believe that the benefits of omnipresent devices can outweigh the loss of privacy.

• Augmented Intelligence: This is rather than AI/bots replacing humans, it will be used to make us more productive, for example allowing truck drivers to drive longer, allowing doctors to access pooled knowledge of other doctors. I would argue that many of us do this already today when we consult Google, LinkedIn or another online source.
• Digital Product Management: Moving an IT team from thinking about projects to thinking about products. Utilizing design thinking and agile methodologies to continually improve and enhance the specific IT product. Working at the intersection of customer experience, business and technology, this offers exciting possibilities for having solutions that evolve to customer needs.
• Digital Twin: Creating a high-level digital twin of the organization or allows the ability to continually detect and respond to changing conditions while aligning with overall business objectives and strategy

Being ready for what’s next requires flexibility. In my mind, never have the capabilities of the Digital Business Platform been so relevant... are YOU ready for this?