Kathy Gibson at VeeamOn Forum in Johannesburg – There nothing new about using new technology to find better ways are doing things – what is now is the pace of change.
This is the word from Author Ryan Hogarth, who points out that people today are healthier, happier and safer than ever before.
“Today, more people die from overeating than from starvation; more die form their own hand than from war or crime; and more people die from old age than disease,” he tells delegates at VeeamOn Forum.
“So this is an amazing time, and a testament to our desire to do things better. We live in an age of transformation.”
The world has changed significantly since 1970 – and computing, communication, connectivity, collaboration and convergence have been responsible for driving many of these changes.
“They have brought us to there we are today: to a world of accelerated change,” Hogarth says.
More is still to come, he adds, as technologies like autonomous vehicles, clean and cheap energy, augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR), blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning come to the fore.
“We are also at the beginning of a new space age,” Hogarth adds. “We are about to colonise a new planet we will become a two-planet species.”
Life in the 21st century has been characterised by transformation, he points out – and this will carry on for at least the next generation.
“Any drive transformation has to have the customer at the centre,” he points out.
“What we need to build is a frictionless business with technology we can do this faster and more easily than we used to do.
“You can only be hyper-available if there is no friction involved.”
Friction in business is manifested in many ways, Hogarth days. Organisations need to identify where that friction is, and use technology to remove it.
“If you don’t, you will have the situation where your customers know where they need to go, but you make it more difficult for them.”
Part of the problem, Hogarth adds, is that many companies are in denial; they get stuck in a comfort zone, ignore disruption, resist change and then grudgingly adopt new technology without gaining any real advantage. However as companies use technology they gain vision, make progress – and inevitably slip back into a comfort zone.
We need to break this cycle and get into a cycle of innovation,” he says.
“The idea of change is fairly simple – until you try to do it.”
The fear of change could lead to more friction. The innovation cycle, on the other hand, involves finding a purpose, trying things out, looking for opportunities, gaining commitment, innovating, progressing and delivering new services.
“There has never been a greater time to do great things,” Hogarth adds.