The convergence of social media, mobile computing, analytics and the cloud is transforming the way businesses operate, and companies that adopt available technologies to “go digital” will be better positioned to take advantage of rapidly shifting business opportunities and leap ahead of the competition, according to a new report by Accenture.
The Accenture Technology Vision 2013 report finds that because technology has become core to virtually every aspect of a business, every business is a digital business and that all senior leaders — not just CIOs — must be able to understand, embrace and drive value from new technologies that affect their organization. Today’s software, for example, has the potential to change the very business model of a company or industry in the future, according to the report.
“Organizations and their leaders need to hit the reset button on how they use technology to drive market differentiation, deepen customer relationships, and deliver growth and profitability,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology officer. “Our latest Technology Vision report finds that the technology for accomplishing these business goals is available today, but that adopting a new digital mindset is required to harness the potential. The power and reach of converging IT trends such as mobility and cloud means that business leaders need to understand the implications of a software-driven, ‘connected everything’ world.”
The Accenture Technology Vision 2013 report looks at the future of enterprise IT and makes recommendations for how companies can take advantage of technology and software to improve their competitiveness, operations and business results. These include:
Leverage Technology to Create Digital Relationships at Scale : While technology gives organizations the ability to understand their customers better than ever, most enterprises are not taking full advantage of it to build deeper, richer relationships that can improve customer loyalty significantly. While mobile computing, social networks and context-based services have increased connections with consumers, many companies have lost customer intimacy in the process. These connections have been viewed as another communication or transactional channel rather than opportunities to improve relationships.
“Businesses are at an inflection point enabled by new technologies that can take customer relationships beyond transactions and deliver more personalized interactions,” said Daugherty. “Effectively developing meaningful relationships at scale requires a real change in how companies approach these strategies and implement a new unified approach across IT and the business.”
