“Exploring technology trends individually is no longer enough to stay ahead—organizations are deploying them in concert to create a foundation for innovation that can propel their business into the future.”
In reading Deloitte’s 12th annual Tech Trends report which provides insight and inspiration for the digital journey ahead, the first of the nine trends highlighted in the report stood out for me – Strategy, engineered. The opening paragraph on this trend begins with “Technology today is a source of new competitive advantage for some organizations and a threat to ongoing survival for others.”
As we’ve written about in the past, the fenestration industry is generally slow to adopt new technology. What this means is window and door manufacturing businesses are often working with outdated systems and processes which are obsolete and inefficient. This not only opens the business up to risk but also reveals a lack of focus to develop an evolving business strategy to take advantage of technological advances – to remain competitive.
Business strategy and technology have become more intertwined in recent years. As the tech-enabled business strategy is becoming more digital, so is the process of developing and executing strategies and of course, so too is the possibility of monitoring and reporting on the outcomes.
Strategists are looking beyond what is capable with current technology solutions, to how technology can expand the landscape in which they are currently operating. Exploring future opportunities and understanding how technology can give them a competitive advantage in the future. This is where technology in strategy plays an important role, by using advanced analytics, automation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to inform decisions and support the strategic decision-making process.
Further point’s the report addresses is how a business can ensure they move successfully from where they are now, to where they would like to see themselves in a tech-enabled future. This involves a number of internal and external factors, including Empowered strategy function, Tech-savvy C-suite, Business-savvy tech leaders, Aligned technology and partners, Collaborative list of strategic assumptions, and Agile funding.
Developing a tech-enabled business strategy is not just a simple exercise performed at the beginning of the cycle and ticked off as a completed task for that term. A business strategy taking into account technology advances will need to be continually updated in an agile manner. This will help business leaders to identify weaknesses as well as identify new opportunities opening up to them. While accelerated technology does bring some level of complexity to the business strategy, it will also equip business leaders to develop and execute a smart business strategy that will see their business remain successful and relevant into the future.
