Conclusion
This research shows a clear and compelling correlation between the technological proficiency of a business and its growth prospects.
However, it is noteworthy that many of the enterprises that rate themselves as technology proficient fail to exploit it for meaningful competitive advantage — and here may lay the difference between businesses that act tactically, reacting to change and those that embed technology at the heart of their business planning in how they harness technology to inform their critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making.
This is a significant issue: the earlier that technology features in the business planning and problem-solving, the greater will be the value of its application and the tangible impact on staff, customers and suppliers.
This research highlights the importance of tailor-made solutions for businesses. A generalized knowledge about technology and digital solutions may be insufficient to help a business thrive in a competitive market.
The findings also make clear that talking about technology matters. Boards that regularly discuss how technology can help improve all aspects of their business are better placed to make decisions that will improve competitiveness and help their agility at a time of unpredictable and changing economic conditions.
Technology is not just about hardware or software products that can be plugged in to solve a problem. It is about the culture of an organization — and that culture starts at the top. Today’s C-suite decision-makers need to be as well versed in data strategy, platform capability and engineering excellence, as they are in sales, marketing, and accounts. These will all have an influence on future business performance.
So, the technology solution is not just to update cloud capability for example. It is about looking in a more thoughtful way at the architecture of such services and how they can benefit the business.