Real transformation begins with the question “What can we do now that we couldn’t do before?”
Whilst significant value can be gained by applying the latest digital technologies to reduce costs and speed up existing systems, this only skims the surface of the potential benefits.
The huge uptake of smart phones over the last 15 years and the subsequent rise of global public cloud infrastructures have changed the way businesses can interact directly with literally billions of people. These interactions can be personalized depending on an individual’s current context and then orchestrated to help them through a series of events and choices.
This might be to guide a traveller through their personal itinerary, presenting them with valuable options they would not have been aware of otherwise. It may be to replace a restrictive and expensive annual subscription with a new attractive ‘pay as you use’ service. This approach can also provide individuals with opportunities to earn rewards and fees or reduce their costs depending on their actions.
New business models are immerging and evolving, some appearing without warning. A few will create future market leaders. The opportunities are truly awesome.
However, with every innovation comes challenges, risks and potential unintended consequences.
You may already lead a business with a large IT department, well versed in supporting legacy systems but with limited experience and knowledge of the latest technologies. How do you update your capability so you can take advantage of the new opportunities before they pass you by? Do you strengthen your team and hire specialists in an immensely competitive job market? Do you build remote teams or outsource?
You may have a deeply technical capable team with extremely clear and perhaps forceful views on the way forward. Engineering optimal solutions nearly always involve a pragmatic balancing act in order to deliver reliable working solutions. Different technologies have particular strengths and weaknesses. None are perfect. There should be no ‘technology religion’. Who do you trust to make the right technical decisions? How do you shape this to meet commercial objectives?
The projected internal time scales for delivery of a proposed new service may be too long. How do you balance the need to react quickly to new business opportunities against longer term growth considerations?
So many questions have to be answered, often by multi-disciplinary teams, many of which have their own vision on the best way forward. Collaboration may be very strong but over time sustained success can lead to ‘group think’ limiting horizons and missing critical changes and market shifts.
It often helps to have a ‘critical friend’ who can provide an independent perspective and insight into your specific challenges, translate the jargon, challenge assumptions and reveal important gaps in thinking. Someone who can provide learnings from other domains with awareness of the ever shifting technology landscape and the opportunities and threats they bring. This is not someone who will look to ‘widen the wedge’ and open the door to an army of highly paid consultants. This is an advisor with one agenda, to help you, your team and business succeed, not just in the short term but sustainably into the future.
Contact David if you would like to learn more.