Business Day
This article originally appeared on Business Day Live.
Given the pace at which digital innovation is disrupting industries globally, it’s not surprising that most management teams feel pressured to find and deploy the right technology as fast as their budgets will allow. Many are discovering, however, that becoming a digital leader isn’t simply a matter of technological savvy.
A common misconception is that if your address isn’t in Silicon Valley, your company is disadvantaged when it comes to capitalising on digital innovation. But most companies are already steeped in technology and learning fast about how it can transform their businesses.
Typically, teams in the field are well aware of the digital threats and opportunities within their area of the organisation—usually more so than the corporate centre. They have launched apps, deployed robotics, established partnerships with digital players or are using data to analyse their businesses and make better decisions.
The real challenge for leadership teams is channeling this energy into high-impact initiatives that can be deployed at scale—and then doing this again and again amid a constantly shifting landscape.
That is less about technology than creating an organisation that is close enough to the market to detect what type of change is essential and agile enough to respond quickly.
Building that kind of agility will involve almost every aspect of how a company delivers results. But the first step is defining where change is needed most and freeing up resources to overwhelm the challenge.
Most firms we encounter are highly energised when it comes to using technology to improve customer experience, upgrade products or services and make processes more productive.
Read the full article at Business Day Live.
Berry Diepeveen is a partner in Bain & Company’s Johannesburg office. Laurent-Pierre Baculard is a partner in Bain & Company’s Paris office.