The Impact of Exponential Change

In 2018, businesses will feel the impact of exponential change. Business leaders will no longer get away with leaving technology to the IT department. Today, the world is undergoing a universal technological revolution, and it’s happening faster than you think. For businesses to keep up, business leaders must understand the factors driving this revolution and their potential implications.

Consider the factors driving this technology revolution, as well as their implications for businesses:

Consumer Technology Is Pervasive: The world has reached a digital tipping point in consumer demand. Connectivity and devices have become ubiquitous and affordable, driving customer expectations. According to a report by Strategy Analytics, over 44% of the world’s population own a smartphone and more than half the world’s population have access to the internet. Both access and smartphone adoption are accelerating in Africa as affordability increases.

Adoption is accelerating: The corporate landscape is undergoing an improvement in the economics of digitization. A shift is occurring from economies of scale to economies of exponentiality. This is being driven by the hyper-personalization that has been made possible by digitization. You no longer have to serve 4 million customers in the same way, you can personalize the service for each of them based on context. This level of personalization further accelerates adoption.

Information is exploding and accessible: One of the side implications of digitization is that it has provided business with big data. As customers interact through digital means, they provide information which business leaders can use to make smarter decisions. It is important for business leaders to realize that data utility increases with context. While big data is insightful, little data in context is more useful since it can be personalized, enabling businesses to create a better service and increase convenience.

Cloud computing is pervasive and transformative: Technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, augmented reality, chatbots and cloud services are providing businesses with an exciting opportunity for automation and intelligence. Most of these services, such as Amazon Alexa or Google assistant, are increasingly available on demand. These intelligent services are available for any business to re-use and seamlessly incorporate into their offerings.

Connected devices and IoT: Today, everything everywhere is getting connected. Increasing internet access and data points sensors provide opportunities for improved service, context and convenience. The incorporation of IoT in the workplace or field will enable employees to get more done in less time. Business leaders will be able to easily monitor all aspects of the organization – from managing field staff to controlling inventory. Connected devices will allow organizations to interact more easily with their customers.

Competition is ubiquitous: Today, competition is everywhere. You cannot predict where your next competitor will come from. New businesses are popping up and disrupting entire industries. These unicorns are not hamstrung by the legacy debt of old platforms and tools. They are creating new, unimagined technology solutions.

Increasingly disruptive business models: Technology is the new nexus of Industry. It is allowing for increasingly disruptive business models at the intersection of old value chains. Lean and adaptable is the new normal. New business models are replacing old ones, and micro-services are enabling continuous disruption.

Intelligent services are becoming available for any business to re-use. If you’re building more than 50% of your solution, you’re probably replicating functionality that’s already been built and is available as a service. By incorporating these services in the workplace or field, businesses will be able to improve management results and create more opportunities for expansion.

For your company to remain relevant, you need to disrupt your own business model, or somebody else will. Businesses will have to think change in order to stay in the game.

Realize Your Digital Strategy

The corporate landscape is undergoing a new paradigm. The IT industry is the most manual in the world. Businesses need to automate the delivery of Digital solutions in order to disrupt their business. In order for businesses to realize their digital strategy, they need:

• capability for the creation and continuous improvement of digital solutions
• enterprise capability to respond quickly and flexibly to opportunities and threats
• a framework enabling Digitalisation and Change of operating and business models, including people transformation 
• faster digital solution delivery at lower cost

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