A typical year may still last 365 days, but as the emergence of digital technologies continues to revolutionise our lives, there is an unmistakable feeling that the world is in fact moving faster than ever before.
Products of all kinds are becoming obsolete in a matter of years, when they were once considered mainstays of our lives for decades on end. And many businesses now seem inextricably linked with a single product, disappearing from the public’s consciousness as quickly as their previously indispensable innovations have been promptly dispensed with by the masses.
So how can businesses avoid the ignominy of becoming the market’s next one-hit wonder? Any comprehensive answer to that question will inevitably consist of many moving parts, but in these fast-moving times the organisation’s “speed” will undoubtedly be one of the key determining factors of sustainable, long-term success.
Indeed, agility is critical for any organisation looking to stay ahead of the game and remain relevant in a rapidly changing marketplace. And any organisation looking to compete on the basis of speed must go through a profound rethinking of everything it does.
They must look to restructure themselves from top to bottom so that the entire organisation is geared towards developing truly innovative products or services at a speed that correlates with the rapidly changing needs of the business and the customers it serves.
This restructuring must follow four key steps, with the first of these being a comprehensive assessment of the organisation’s readiness to enact the digital transformation that is required to create a truly agile and innovative enterprise.
Such assessments can often generate suspicion and resistance, but open and frank discussions that include all relevant parties can go a long way to discovering where the critical shortcomings lie and helping to generate a greater spirit of cooperation further along the digital transformation journey.
There may also be a need to inject a sense of urgency into these discussions in order to lay the rational and emotional foundations that are so often required for employees at all levels to re-evaluate the written and unwritten rules that the organisation has lived by for so long.
This urgency can be based on any number of things, but examples of significant customer dissatisfaction, the emergence of a major competitive threat, or the introduction of a disruptive new business model would all have the desired effect.
The second step is to mobilise a team of senior executive stakeholders to provide both the authority and the resources required to fuel the organisation’s transformation. Whether this takes the form of a dedicated committee or leverages part of an existing governance structure is not important, but it must take place at senior leadership level and never be delegated down.
The third crucial consideration is for this team of senior executive stakeholders to treat data and information as they would treat any existing major asset. This means investing in the technologies and organisational competencies required to leverage the relevant data and extract every last drop of value from it.
Data-quality issues will only intensify as the amount of data generated multiplies, so it is critical that organisations do not ignore the significant risks of system failure or the financial impact of poor-quality data. Strong governance holds the key in this regard.
The fourth important step is to address the lack of talent that may exist within the organisation to facilitate successful digital initiatives. And given that change leaders, data scientists, social business experts, and other digital skill sets are in short supply, this is no easy task.
Once found, these individuals still face a steep learning curve as they get to grips with the business and become part of the team. As such, the talent management process must be proactive, facilitating rotation and encouraging the establishment of multidisciplinary teams, while continuously assessing the skills of all involved.
It is important to note that these four steps are not the only game in town when it comes to implementing digital transformation; they simply represent the bare minimum that businesses must do in order to improve their speed and agility and stand a chance of surviving in today’s ultra-competitive landscape.
Setting realistic, achievable targets and delivering short-term wins will be critical to maintaining momentum, because without visible business outcomes, the enthusiasm and hard work will soon begin to dissipate. And this will ultimately leave the organisation as slow and unresponsive as before.
The columnist is group vice-president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Africa and Turkey at global ICT market intelligence and advisory firm International Data Corporation (IDC). He can be contacted via Twitter @JyotiIDC. Content for this week’s feature leverages global, regional, and local research studies undertaken by IDC.
