How leading CEOs are capitalising on cloud to build back better

Last year saw widespread digital transformation of UK businesses; over 90 per cent of workforces transitioned to a virtual environment within weeks of the first lockdown. Businesses large and small in every sector had to pivot to offer digital services and experiences to survive, and technology enabled new ways of collaborating at speed. CEOs needed a steady hand to guide their organisations through the storm while simultaneously planning a return to growth.??Today, with a successful vaccination programme underway and lockdown restrictions due to end this summer, confidence levels among UK business leaders are extremely high. In fact, our?research?shows that the UK is more confident than the rest of Europe in terms of achieving economic recovery post Covid. And technology is a major factor, with the Daily Telegraph reporting that the UK is on the verge of a tech boom thanks to technology companies in the UK and Ireland raising ￡5.3 billion in the first quarter of 2021.?

This confidence is clear when I speak to the CEOs of major UK businesses. In fact, I’m seeing a new breed of leader emerging, where the CEO is taking on the mantle of ‘chief synergy officer’. That’s because they understand that way to achieve major growth in 2021 is to take full advantage of the technology investments that were made last year. Leading cross-enterprise synergy is about breaking down internal siloes and embedding horizontal agility across the entire organisation instead. And this kind of agility is only possible through cloud. Indeed,?our research found that 90 per cent of business executives agree that in order to be agile, their organisations need cloud at the core. In the UK, 55 per cent of organisations have already invested heavily in cloud, with 75 per cent looking to spend more in future.?

But cloud can’t deliver growth without human ingenuity. Data only becomes useful when it’s available to the people who need it, with the skills and tools to interpret it and to extract insight from it. In leading companies,?everyone will have real-time insight at their fingertips and be empowered to make decisions that drive toward the business strategy and purpose. The technology team alongside HR colleagues has a role to play in upskilling your existing workforce to have at least a base level of digital fluency. The best leaders will nurture a growth mindset and bring multi-disciplinary teams together to co-create, test and launch new products, services and experiences. There may be some creative tension to begin with, but innovation will spark. Now is the time to define the new jobs to be done and build the right culture and employee offer to attract and retain the new talent you’ll need going forward.

It’s been a privilege to work with so many UK businesses which are now on the crest of the wave after undergoing major transformation programmes. And I’m pleased that purpose remains so high on the board room agenda. At the start of lockdown, we saw a blurring of the line between business and society last year: Prada repurposed its perfume labs to manufacture hand sanitiser and Burberry switched to making PPE. Since then, we’ve seen many major brands, including Accenture, making public commitments around inclusion and diversity; Unilever has doubled down on sustainable products, oil and gas businesses are accelerating progress to decarbonisation by stimulating demand for sustainable aviation fuel, financial services institutions are supporting customers by offering mortgage holidays . . . the list continues.?

The signs are all there - 2021 will be a year of major growth. To be ready, all?businesses must focus on the customer.?All businesses must demonstrate their societal purpose through the culture they build, the products and services they offer, the way they operate. And this will be underpinned by the technology investments they’ve made. The front-runners will not only be ready to seize the growth opportunities that present themselves in the coming weeks and months, they’re already creating new opportunities, entering new markets and reaching new customers.

If you missed our ‘Tomorrow, Today’ live event, you can watch the full replay?here.