How Should Leaders Respond to The Technology Revolution?

The wave of technology has turned the tables on organizations throughout the globe. Every minute there is a new technology that could help employees finish one task or the other. Sometimes sifting through the bevy of technology could lead to fatigue.

Meanwhile, resisting change could quickly render businesses and organizations doomed to fail. It is no longer a question of accepting technology or not but of what technology business leaders should adopt.

Technologies should be appropriately adopted. It could choke the output of any organization with data loss and reverse any company's intended gains.

The story of the Finnish mobile company, Nokia, is still heralded as an example of the detriments of a negative approach to ever-changing technology.

In 1992, Nokia's 1011 GSM phone was launched. In 1998, the company overtook Motorola as the number one mobile manufacturing company selling 41 million gadgets.

"Nokia's net sales increased over 50% year-on-year, operating profits shot up nearly 75%, and stock price sky-rocketed a whopping 220%, resulting in an increase of market capitalization from nearly $21 billion to around $70 billion," a 2015 GSMArena report on Nokia's history depicted.

At the beginning of smartphone adoption globally, Nokia was reluctant to embrace an operating system-led style to manufacture phones. Android was leaping fast in this space. Nokia decided to develop its system and later adopted the Windows Mobile (now obsolete).

"In 2008 - the same year when the Android version 1.0 was launched - Nokia's Q3 profits nosedived 30%, while sales decreased 3.1%. On the other hand, iPhone sales sky-rocketed by around 330% during the same period," the GSMArena report said.

After laying off over 1,700 employees, Nokia acknowledged that its imminent death would be attributed to its failure to read the changing times in technology.

The simple model of paying Android license made small phone manufacturers speed up their development and be at par with leading giants.?

Companies like HTC, Samsung, and LG grew as they embraced the Android mobile system. Chinese brands like Tecno and Oppo dominate Africa, where Nokia flourished. In the US, iOS gained popularity in the smartphone market, making iPhones the leading mobile phone brand in the country.

The GSMArena report said: "The Finnish company's unwillingness to embrace drastic change when required the most was probably the biggest reason that brought the mobile giant down. The company took too long to embrace the smartphone revolution, and when it finally did, it made way too many errors in its strategy."

Changing Attitude Towards Technology

Old managers or leaders in organizations might have a different attitude towards technology in the first place. This apathy could not only lead to the rejection of the implementation of new systems, but it could also ensure the organization remains a dinosaur.

According to the International Data Group (IDG), almost half of global businesses still need to fully adopt the technology in a fast-paced, technology-led world.

"More than a third of organizations (37%) have already started integrating and executing a digital-first approach, and 7% say they're already an enterprise-wide digital business. Still, IDG's 2018 Digital Business Survey report noted that almost half (45%) of IT and business leaders surveyed are already in the very early stages of becoming a digital business – either gathering information or just beginning to formulate a digital-first strategy.

However, the terms such as artificial intelligence, data mining, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, cloud computing, the internet of things, machine learning, and cashless or digital payments will be haunting new and old businesses alike, as customer needs skew to favor digital processes.

Technology primarily aims to introduce more efficient, verifiable processes in the workplace. Whether digital payments that can store transaction documents for years, customer service that can track complaints, or data collection, which can help companies know their target market well, technology holds more significant benefits than manual processes.

Of course, cybersecurity has become a big concern for organizations. As much as technology is a good business aid, cybersecurity education must be implemented side by side.

An attitude shift is needed to enable organizations to waddle through the technology world. Without forward-thinking leadership, companies will wallow in inefficiency and drive away tech-savvy clients.?

More research and education are needed to understand how technology can benefit one's organization or life as a leader.?

Technology is a Means, Not the End

Most often, we think of technology as a product. We need to view it as a way to deal with challenges and complete tasks more efficiently than manual processes. Technology is an aid, not the product itself.?

Data Integrated, a transport technology company in Kenya, realized that public transport company owners had a challenge in organizing their fleet, finding out where their vehicles were at a given time, and ensuring they could account for the touts' income.

?In their story, the company started to assist bus owners in getting the relevant information from their fleet. They introduced a digital receipt system that they tested in a few of their buses. The results were terrific.

In 2018, Data Integrated processed over US$ 50 million for the bus companies that signed up with them. As a result, the income increased by approximately 40 percent.

By dealing with their needs, bus owners could see the benefits of a digital system and were now willing to accept the new way of doing business.

Managers should keenly look at the needs of their business and intricately discern what solutions could help them achieve their goals more effectively and quickly. This would also mean speaking to the grounds people who implement the plans.

Leaders in organizations can train their research to ensure that technology serves the purpose and not implement off-the-shelf solutions hoping that they could serve the purpose. Guesswork could lead to slowed output or a total shutdown of systems.

Which way forward?

According to the IDG's 2018 Digital Business Survey report, technology adoption has an upward trend.

"Close to one-third of IT decision-makers (32%) say that digital business has already helped their organization achieve revenue growth, with an average of a 23% increase. Meanwhile, 35% of respondents say their digital-first efforts have not yet affected revenue, and another 30% don't know," the report said.?

There are no two ways about this. The way is forward in the adoption of technology. Leaders need to be aware of what emerging technology is engulfing their different sectors and evaluate how it would change how business is done.

Imagine a process that usually takes weeks to complete is done in a day or a few hours or launching a new product as seamless as turning on a computer. How about getting minute-by-minute cash flow information rather than waiting until the end of the month??

What if customer inquiries could be quickly addressed and result in conversions with fewer dollars spent or even customer research completed in two weeks rather than six months?

Technology can change how we do business, increase output without increasing input, and enable us to make decisions faster than we could have done in the past.

Technology and speed could soon be the only differentiator between your organization and its competitors. So there is even a business case for every organization to integrate relevant technologies.