Kathy Gibson is at Software AG Innovation Day in Illovo – Digitalisation is on everyone’s agenda, and organisations are all obsessed with the ability to create new disruption-based business models.
But it is also about engaging customers in every way and in empowering employees through technology.
Digitalisation is also about developing new products and services, says Gareth Whittaker, presales director at Software AG.
Scalability is important, he adds. To create digital value, it is important to scale the people in the organisation, using cloud to scale systems, scale relationships and ecosystems, and to create new apps and development processes to scale productivity. And it’s about scaling out to include everything into the network through Internet of Things (IoT).
“This means we have to build a digital business platform,” says Whittaker “We need to look at what we’ve got; look at what people want; then build and partner to get there.”
Being future-ready is about developing new business models to ensure that you are not failure in the future, he adds.
Companies have to look at how they can deliver value at scale, while being open and independent so they can include new solutions as they become available.
“These things shouldn’t be holding us back,” Whittaker says. He calls this the end of stability, but point out that it’s not something that organisations should fear.
“It’s about blurring the physical and digital structures to create new markets,” he says. “It’s about new rules and rising competition; and it about agile business models and processes.”
The bottom line, he says, is that it’s about being a digital business, and about the business becoming the platform.
“Digitalisation is happening,” Whittaker says. “What do we do with it?”
In fact, digitalisation is already impacting everyone: businesses, customers, and their customers.
“It is becoming the new normal. New expectations are being set, and we have to think about what we offer customers.”
We now live in a world of instant gratification, Whittaker explains.
“It’s not even about giving customers a good service – if their expectations are for above that, then we are failing them.”
And today, Whittaker says, customers expect an outstanding experience that is quick, always accessible , personalised and seamless,
“In addition, your competitors are no longer who they were before. For banks, competitors used to be other banks But today, anyone can pretty much become anything.
“How do we have that flexibility to compete?”
Companies have to first understand the customers, Whittaker says. “Look at the customer journey: how they walk through the organisation; and what information you can get that will allow you to help them.”
Once they know how to get the right offer to the right customer at the right time, companies have to start executing.
“So we have knowledge of what customers are looking for: then we need to look at what we have and see if there are pieces missing so we can give the customer what he wants.”
Scalability, always vital, means that companies can move in any direction, quickly and agilely.
“The key is to not be afraid of disruption, or of changing the status quo,” Whittaker concludes.