The state of technology understanding in top-management

Every time we approach the top management of a new prospect to talk about IT, technology or the currently very prominent subject of digital transformation, we have to retrace several steps in the evolutionary history of IT before we can engage our client in a meaningful conversation about their IT strategy. It has become a bit of a running gag how far back we have to get in the history of IT.

The sad record: 17 years! This means that we sometimes use content that was state of the art more than 15 years ago, because this is usually the technology stack currently used in such companies. In addition, we have found that neither the age of the person we are talking to, nor the size of the company, are determinant in terms of drawing conclusions about the understanding of technology in top management or at C-level. In our prep sessions, these conclusions have occasionally caused some amusement, thus compensating to some extent for the disillusioning comments we had to get across to the participants. Here is a summary of our favorite quotes (no doubt you’ll understand our decision not to name the authors!):

• "The internet will soon be over, right?"
• "I'm not sure what it is, but I want to introduce MicroServices into my company!"
• "We will never migrate our systems into the cloud. I am fearing to be spied on, if our servers are not under our own control!"
• "We are already digitized. We use e-mail instead of facsimile!"
• and much other quotes

Digitalization allows for many possible combinations of different domains

This blog post compiles some key arguments as to why a better understanding of technology, especially of IT, should prevail when it comes to setting the course for the future business activities of a company. We are firm believers that deployment of the right technology will determine the business performance of a company more than ever. Today's trending topics are only a snapshot for now, like smart environments, human-robot co-working, circular by design products, etc.

When talking about future trends, it's important to understand how these trends interact in an interdisciplinary way and then emerge to become a successful movement. Digitalization allows for many possible combinations of different domains in technology, energy and financing - to name just a few. Interrelationships must therefore be mastered in order to succeed in digital business models. The use of cloud services not only allows efficient data storage but also the sourcing of processes, so that computing power does not have to be kept exclusively on premise.

Another cost degression is now attainable by lower levelized costs of energy for renewables compared to conventional power generation, which as we all know, requires resource extracting and thus causes environmental harm. As early as 2018, the tech industry (with Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook among them) contracted for more renewable energy (2,581 gigawatts) than any other sector of the global economy. In 2019, this number rose to 10.4 gigawatts.

Financing and capital management can facilitate more optimal utilization of assets. It is no longer about owning capital goods and using depreciation options but using optimal capital allocation to provide adjacent services for an improved customer journey, which promises outcome, like “pay-per-use”.

Here, too, the combination of technology, financing and data plays an important role in enabling that special customer experience to fulfill an unmet need. These are only two examples that illustrate the concept - it’s about combining technology with other domains and creating an unbeatable customer experience.