* By Rodolfo Fücher
In late 2017, I had the opportunity to take a course on digital strategy for corporations at Columbia Business School in New York, led by Professor David Rogers. The first slide presented by him had as its title ” Digital transformation is not about technology ”And obviously there was an immediate reaction in the room, but during the lesson the sentence made perfect sense. And today, the pandemic is proving that Professor Rogers was totally correct.
Let's go back in time and talk about the wheel, considered one of the most important inventions of humanity and which, according to some historians, occurred at the end of the Neolithic period but, until the human being understood its multiple uses and benefits, its effective application it took thousands of years.
Today, luckily, we do not need all that time to really benefit from technological inventions, but it is important to be aware of the importance of absorbing them quickly, and this process depends exclusively on the understanding and ability of the human being to identify how to best explore the benefits of these technologies, both for our daily lives, as well as for new business opportunities. No one better than the world of startups to demonstrate how to exploit available technologies effectively. In most cases, they were not the ones who developed them, but were able to apply them in an innovative way through products and services that disrupt existing models and forms, leading, in most cases, traditional businesses to bankruptcy.
In 2017, the World Economic Forum classified this moment as the beginning of the 4th Industrial Revolution - many also call it Industry 4.0 or digital transformation. Those companies that paid attention to all these discussions and knew how to incorporate the innovations generated by this technological tsunami, that is, did their homework, are certainly surviving in this test called the pandemic. However, those who did not absorb the technology and did not migrate to the digital world, did not pass the test and, unfortunately, many no longer survive.
But being digital is also not a simple matter of scanning, forgetting paper, putting everything on the computer. It is something more profound, directly linked to the intellectual capacity of the human being to go beyond that, to be creative and to have the ability to use technology to do something in an innovative, disruptive and agile way, which generates some additional benefit or value. The market with the pandemic has shrunk: they say that GDP should fall by about 10%. This means that in order to maintain revenue or increase it, we need to be quicker and better than our competitors. One example is the case of Gympass, which went through a period of closed gyms and zero revenue, but were quick to use existing technology and innovate, creating a virtual gym with the participation of celebrities. Another is Magazine Luiza, which transformed the entire store sales force into a virtual team through the Magalu e-commerce platform. These two cases, like so many others, were only possible because companies already used technology intensively before the pandemic. They were creative and innovative, able to develop new business models quickly to meet a new market reality.
But being creative and innovative is complex and depends on a number of factors. The first, and which many ignore, is to ensure the appropriate mental state of the team or a specific group of employees. For the simple fact that creativity depends exclusively on the human mind. This led me to take a course in neuroscience at Wharton School. Impressive as there are a number of techniques that can collaborate to promote an innovative environment. So, I leave here two invitations and a challenge: read my article on LinkedIn and reflect on the moment when the best ideas come up. Is it at work, in the bath, at night, during a walk or exercising? Now, try to reproduce those moments while working. In times of 4th. Industrial Revolution, with disruption coming from all sides, the basis for the survival of any business, is to be innovative and agile. Being just digital is no longer an option.
* Rodolfo Fücher is president of ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies)
EN 
PT 
