Successfully navigate disruption: Five key takeaways for technology companies
Successfully navigate disruption: Five key takeaways
How technology companies can optimize their investments in disruptive technologies.
Disruptive technologies are continually emerging at a rapid pace. With so many options to choose from, it’s extremely hard to methodically scan, assess, pilot, and deploy new technologies.
We’ve laid out five key takeaways to help you choose the most appropriate and relevant investments in organizational capabilities:
1. Understand the organizational impact of disruptive technologies
Identify the significant technologies that could be most useful to your organization, and the potential benefits to be gained from early adoption.
2. Align investment in disruptive technologies with corporate strategy
The C-suite needs to get behind disruptive technologies and align investment objectives with strategic imperatives, like market share, premium positioning, low cost, high-volume operator, innovation leader, etc
3. Strike the right balance between investing in today’s and tomorrow’s technologies
With tech companies under immense pressure to deliver quarterly earnings growth, it takes a bold leader to invest significantly in new innovations that may not produce immediate results – especially if you already have a strong market share in your sector, and are generating positive revenues. It’s not just about providing the finance for investment; management time and commitment is needed to get fully behind new technologies and embed them into operations and business models. You can’t underestimate the importance of matching executive rewards against key performance indicators that measure the impact of disruptive investments.
4. Demonstrate investment agility
The speed and unpredictability with which disruptive technologies can emerge – and disappear – is frightening. If a particular investment in say, robotics, or a type of D&A tool, look like they’re not going to pay off, then tech companies need a process for quickly disengaging these from the business. Equally, if a new technology is working well for competitors, then you need to be able to introduce it quickly. The concept of “failing safe” has been utilized by many organizations for new innovations, but could be applied to internal operations as well, through pilots.
5. Set the organization on the path to transformation
Realizing the full potential of disruptive technologies ultimately means adopting new ways of doing business. It’s not just about providing the finance for investment; management time and commitment is needed to get fully behind new technologies and embed them into operations and business models.