Many organisations are stuck with outdated operating systems and we find ourselves trying to run companies with outdated rule books, yet we haven't even re-written the rules.
Due to digitisation, operating systems within companies are changing and shifting rapidly, bringing about completely different skills sets which are required to run new agile companies.
This was according to Dion Chang, CEO of Flux Trends, speaking at the Adapt IT breakfast seminar yesterday. Chang presented the Q2 2016 Flux Trends report based on research conducted by his company. He explained there are a lot of converging trends and influences which are starting to hit businesses and these are skills sets and operating systems that were born in the late 20th century.
"In the research study, we observed the depth and impact of these trends and we saw the death of legacy companies. Over the last 100 years the average life of a listed company is down from 67 years in the 1920s to just 15 years today.
"Today, businesses operate in a world of constant change. Corporate life cycles are shorter than ever before and most companies won't even last 15 years," he revealed.
This will have a disruptive impact on what agile companies have to achieve in a short space of time, he continued. Now it's about how fast an organisation can implement a system and how fluent and agile they are.
"Our report has tracked the collapse of the value chain and one can predict which industries are hit by disruption and which ones are sitting ducks. The automobile and healthcare industries are being hugely disrupted and this will have a blowback on the financial services industry, which is already in turmoil at the moment," he pointed out.
"The industries of the near future are the mobile industry, which has taken off because mobile has become the new Web. Apps and mobile solutions are the new initial public offerings," he noted.
Tech companies, he added, will be the dominant players in every industry and they have already taken over and redefined traditional business models in industries as diverse as the music industry.
"The music industry has also been hit by repeated disruption, five years ago music artists had to record via a recording studio, release it on CD, find a distribution channel and then it would reach customers.
"But now if a musician like Beyonc'e releases their album and, mentions on Twitter that their music is on iTunes, some of her 60 million to 80 million followers will downstream it by the next day," asserted Chang.
Suddenly the whole value chain of the music industry is completely useless, killed by digitisation, and it's always the middle man who is at risk, Chang went on to say.
New skills
The Flux Trends report revealed the way employers work with employees today is fundamentally different to how we worked together just five years ago.
The new ideal employee is multifaceted with a unique blend of hybrid skill sets such as coding, digital and communications, which are required to remain relevant and stand out from the crowd. Versatility and adaptability are essential for fluid careers across multiple companies and industries, according to the report.
"Business is no longer about how small organisations are competing against big corps, but rather it's about how fast they can implement a system, how fluid they are, and how flexible are their operational systems, which ensure these changes take place," observed Chang.
Discussing the jobs of the future, he listed drone pilots, mobile solutions experts, teachers of kids coding courses, user experience engineers, and virtual reality producers as new roles that will either emerge or step into the fore in the advent of digitisation.
"Versatility and adaptability are essential for fluid careers across multiple companies and industries. Virtual reality is poised to transform various sectors such as education, travel, real estate, architecture, journalism, military and more," he concluded.
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