CIOs today can find themselves drowning in a sea of new technology developments – and many are comfortable waiting for the early adopters to figure things out first, then following.
“The wait-and-see approach will no longer work for CIOs,” says Leigh McMullen, distinguished vice-president analyst at Gartner. “Digital business will hit the enterprise in four rapid waves, forcing organisations to learn to surf and adapt the new technologies that support new business models.”
McMullen explains the four waves of disruption and how organisations can stay afloat.
The enterprise flips from cost to growth
Organisations are increasingly shifting from an emphasis on cost cutting, to a search for revenue and profit growth. More than twice as many CEOs say they want to build in-house technology capabilities to create business value than want to outsource IT work, according to Gartner’s 2019 CEO Survey.
“In growth mode, the enterprise must differentiate itself, but in digital business, the enterprise must use technology to do so,” says McMullen.
Recommendation: Redesign the IT operating model to support digital business, to transform talent, ways of working and other long-established elements of the IT organisation.
Digital disruptions sows chaos market by market
Digital disruption has not yet reached its peak. It hits different markets in different ways and at different times. For example, heavily regulated industries like healthcare and banking continue to resist full digitalisation, whereas streaming media overhauled the music industry entirely.
Recommendation: CIOs across different industries have a few options to respond to forthcoming digital disruptions, but should always assess the areas of the business that can benefit from digital technology and create new value for customers.
The platform business model gets disturbed
Today a digital platform supports many digital businesses — the enterprise’s own and those of its ecosystem partners. For instance, there is more computing power sitting idle on employees’ desks and the device in their pockets than there is in all the world’s data centres.
Recommendation: To support the organisation’s main business model, platform or otherwise, explore a distributed cloud architecture that combines cloud and edge computing. Distributed cloud offerings support the Internet of Things (IoT), but will also benefit mobile and desktop environments.
Artificial intelligence, IoT and blockchain create a perfect storm
Blockchain’s ability to support peer-to-peer microtransactions — combined with the intelligent decision-making ability of artificial intelligence (AI) and the sensory powers of IoT — will create never-before-possible businesses. AI applications including chatbots and virtual personal assistants are already being widely adopted across enterprises, and blockchain technologies are continuing to rapidly mature.
Recommendation: Educate senior business leaders about AI, IoT and blockchain so they can understand the implications of these technologies and reorient middle management to cultivating talent around them.