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Tech conservatives lose business

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
San Francisco, 01 Oct 2014

Technology is the biggest thing in business today. It is becoming much more difficult for companies that do not incorporate technology in their business to do well.

That was the word from Didier Bonnet, senior vice president and global practice leader at Capgemini Consulting, addressing the Oracle OpenWorld 2014 Conference at the Moscone Center in San Francisco yesterday.

Bonnet, co-author of the forthcoming book 'Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation', claimed the majority of top-performing companies are using technology to improve customer experience, operational experiences as well as business models.

He added that successful transformation depends on how firms leverage the power of technology.

He categorised today's businesses into four - conservatives, beginners, fashionistas, and digital masters.

Bonnet said conservatives are those organisations that approach technology with extreme caution; beginners - those still dabbling with technology; fashionistas - those investing in almost every technology; and the digital masters - those that understand the technologies they need and are reaping the full benefits of going digital.

He revealed the fashionistas, at least, boost their profitability by 6%; while the digital masters get 9% from going digital. On the other hand, he said, the beginners are losing 4%; with the conservatives shedding 10%.

Digital masters include companies like US coffee giant Starbucks; British luxury fashion house Burberry; and Nike. He said thanks to the digitisation of their businesses, these companies were outperforming competition while also meeting ever-increasing customer expectations.

"The time to act is now," said Bonnet. "In every industry, we have observed there are already some digital masters. You have to challenge your business model before someone else does.

"Technology innovation is not slowing down or levelling off, but ramping up; and businesses will soon face a barrage of new digital possibilities. There is no time for complacency."

He explained the digital masters design customer expectation models from the outside in. Digital is also removing traditional constraints in business operations, he added.

The digital masters are using digital capabilities to break traditional operation constraints to get the hidden digital operational advantage, said Bonnet.

Also speaking at the event, Vishal Sikka, CEO of Infosys, said the digital world is affecting every industry and every walk of life.

"Digital represents an unprecedented opportunity to review existing business systems to build completely new ones," he said. "As things go digital, value is being created by dissolving intermediary layers and bringing intelligence directly to end points," said Sikka.

He noted that in this reality, organisations need a common strategy to renew the business core.

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