How much of your business is digital?

By David Goulden, CEO of Information Infrastructure at EMC

 
There is no longer any doubt. The speed at which business-critical information is captured, processed and analyzed is greater than ever. With the rise of sensors and the Internet of Things, information is gathered from almost anywhere. Despite the increasing ubiquity and the speed with which information is captured and processed, many companies are not prepared to deal with these changes or to enjoy their benefits.
 
Regardless of the generation a person was born in (post-World War II, Generation X and Millennials), in the age of the avalanche of data, we are all part of the Information Generation. And this generation makes new demands on companies on a daily basis, accelerating the transformation of digital businesses in all sectors.
 
In retail, companies like Zara and H&M are processing customer data with new and advanced analytics technologies, which provide insights to keep them up to date and outperform competitors. In the automotive and insurance sectors, the new telemetry technology presents information that allows managers to assess drivers' behavior in a more specific way than before and apply that information to car pricing and design policy.
 
Sonos speakers and Babolat tennis rackets now use software to enhance experiences and provide new services to customers. This is happening in companies of all sizes. Even an app called Next Glass is changing the beverage industry by recommending new drinks tailored to our taste based on data analysis.
 
This business transition is being driven by trends in cloud computing technology, mobile devices, big data, and social media and its reach is increasingly broad. How to deal with this transition has generated a lot of discussion among the executives of all the companies I visited in the past few months. Companies that cannot keep pace with change are more vulnerable than ever. They are in the same situation as the map and atlas publishers when smartphone makers started making the GPS app available.
Are you looking for innovation? Or is it the innovation that comes to you?
 
EMC recently hired the Institute for the Future and the Vanson Bourne organization to conduct a survey of 3,600 corporate leaders worldwide. They should identify the most important and necessary attributes for the success of companies in Information Generation in the next 10 years. The main points commented by the leaders in this research were to identify new opportunities in a predictive way and to innovate in an agile way. The survey also asked these leaders how much they believe their companies are prepared at each of these points. The gaps were notable. While 62% of respondents indicated predictive identification of new opportunities as very important for business, only 12% believed that their companies had this capability. And only 9% believed that their organizations would be able to innovate in an extremely positive and agile way.
 
The survey also identified three other points needed to compete in this new digital age: demonstrate transparency and trust, provide unique and personalized experiences and operate in real time.
Companies that fail to meet these new challenges are at risk of stopping their activities. It is worth remembering that almost 90% of the companies on the Fortune 500 list in 1955 no longer exist today; closed their doors for the past 60 years. The pace of change that we expect to see in all sectors over the next 10 years will be much more drastic than we saw in the last half of the last century.
 
Technologies driving the pace of change
 
New technologies are driving the pace of change. By itself, the adoption of cloud computing, mobile devices, social networks and big data technology by companies will not guarantee the survival of any business model. They are purely activators. Big data and analytical logic can help a company to predict new opportunities in a predictive way. Cloud computing can help organizations reach more people and operate more quickly and efficiently. However, it is clear to us at EMC that a company must have a plan to use these new technologies as part of a new digital business strategy.
 
See what GE is doing with IoT technology, which leverages cloud computing and Big Data analytics. GE is a large American company that understands how the information generated by its jet engines with IoT technology is a valuable product in its own right: a process that turns jet engines into massive data generators, helping EC customers to use this data to improve reliability, reduce costs and generate more profits.
 
GE is not the only innovator. Ten years ago, health-conscious citizens put a step counter in their pockets. Now, Fitbit products connect us to the cloud and give us more information about our health. 10 years ago, jeans were just jeans. Today, a partnership between Google and Levi's aims to develop interactive outfits that will function as an open IT platform.
 
The big question for the next decade is how many companies will be ready to follow the example of GE and other pioneers in Information Generation to meet new customer requirements.