Make sure your business still exists tomorrow
Matt Candy, European leader at IBM Interactive Experience, warns that digital disruption is upon us and asks how brands can ensure they are winning the battle for survival.
Three years ago, Forrester warned that all industries and sectors needed to “prepare for digital disruption”. Fundamental changes are coming that will reshape organisations, redefining the role of the customer.
In the last three years, we have moved on from preparing for digital disruption to starting to see how it is completely reinventing and transforming industries, economies, organisations and professions.
And the biggest change is seeing the customer move to the heart of the boardroom.
Customers have learned to expect so much more. A recent IBM study showed that over three-quarters of consumers actually expect organisations to understand individual needs. The companies that do not embrace this change and this consumer demand will face failure.
We have all seen the rise of some companies and the demise of others. The cold hard reality is that 70% of Fortune 1,000 companies operating 10 years ago do not exist today.
And today, the digital experience is about more than the singular, inspirational moment; it is about being able to change the game, and changing at the same speed as customers’ expectations. These expectations are being created by moments that occur outside your industry, by companies that don’t have your history and don’t “belong” to your industry.
It is no longer just the “what” that defines the winners and losers, it is the “how”.
- How to take advantage of the mobile revolution, the social interactions, the start-up communities and the new raw material – data.
- How to change the DNA of your organisation so that you are ready for the future; if not born in digital, then cultivated in digital.
- How to be here tomorrow when your industry continues to be disrupted.
- How to be leaders, individually, in your companies. Agility is becoming the currency of leadership and today’s digital disruption is tomorrow’s business as usual.
But we also know that change is hard; you can’t do it in a click of the fingers. Our clients agree that:
- Innovation must touch customers every day.
- Discipline is required to select the innovation ideas to take forward.
- Increasingly companies must shift the way they are innovating, designing and delivering experiences.
So, how can you keep up with and lead this next wave of re-invention – how do you move at the speed of expectation?
It’s our view that prospering in this environment demands disruptive innovation that challenges established norms and blurs organisational boundaries.
At IBM, we’re working with our clients to help them to address these challenges in two critical ways.
- Understanding human experience and how to engage with individuals. Delivering this experience must involve every single unit of the organisation. Experience should not be the manifestation of a business process; it must be about designing the human interactions from the perspective of achieving an outcome. This should help both the customer and employee to achieve their objectives in a way that builds a relationship that lasts over time.
- Unlock innovation within businesses. Organisations often need permission to innovate and think in new ways, as well as to act and collaborate differently in a new way that inspires and motivates employees. Ultimately, it is about having an organization that moves at the speed of expectation.
Matt Candy is European leader for IBM Interactive Experience. Interested in this topic? Read more about digital disruption, essential digital techniques and customer interactions.