Innovation-led growth with tech-enabled transformation

In the recent past, technology advances have passed the tipping point much faster, leading to viable commercialization in shorter innovation cycles. Compelling events, such as we are currently experiencing with COVID-19, reinforce this process with the effect that the speed of innovation is accelerated and becomes a matter of weeks rather than years, as it was before the virus outbreak.

And the numbers speak for themselves: since COVID-19 the internet usage has risen by 70%, the use of communication apps has doubled AND - something we all have practiced intensely - more than 25% of consumers use mobile devices for purchases at least once a weak – just to name a few effects of such a compelling event.

To remain competitive, companies will need to digitally transform their operations, business solutions and the way, they ensure aunique customer experience when providing their services. The larger challenge is that their current business models, organizational hierarchies, and technology infrastructures are unable to keep pace with the rapid change required.

Companies face various challenges in the transformative process. A modern IT infrastructure platform is a key prerequisite for moving activities into the cloud and secondary source processes. We often find that IT and tech departments are closely scrutinized by their business partners in the company, resulting in the need for a new operating model to support a faster response times and reduce time-to-market. Our initial scope of work encompasses the determination of a new operating model and addresses the issue of deciding on the right sourcing strategy.

In our work, we have also dealt with organizational structures as well and have found that fundamental changes are needed in terms of how to organizing people so that they can succeed in digital eco-systems:

• Career model shifts from "one-and-done-graduate" to continuous lifelong learning
• VR-based re-education and AI based up-skilling for democratized access to education and reducing the entry barrier
• Web3.0 allows for entirely virtual workplaces and blockchain-secured authorization systems

New working environments will evolve and companies need to actively manage these changes. What if the duty of care companies have for their employees does not just start and end at the entry and exit of an office building? This is only one important question which hase become pertinent during the current pandemic - but there are many more to consider. While companies have witnesses a welcome productivity increase in their workforce during the pandemic, which was has been encouraged by the flexibility employees have encountered when working from home, the flip side might well be that employees have felt threatened by potential job loss if not always “on”. Companies may need to rethink how they maintain and shape relationships with their employees while working remotely most of the time - a circumstance which may enhance creativity, as people are mentally and physically more distant from the company culture.