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By Cassio Dreyfuss, Vice President of Research at Gartner
Many companies and their CIOS still have a very vague idea of what the future of the digital business environment will look like. Many do not assess the degree of transformation that will be needed. In Brazil, business leaders (which should also include technology executives) have doubts about their own ability to move towards digital business, due to the major changes required, limited budgets and challenging economic conditions.
Like it or not, the digital revolution is coming to our beaches. It is already a reality. And, in our view, it will radically transform the way business is done in all industries - including government. Important elements are still not entirely clear: the different scenarios in the different sectors, the new challenges and the new rules. But that is exactly where the opportunities are.
Brazilian CIOs can - and need - to develop their respective companies' digital business vision and move forward, assuming a leading role in the new digital economy. The new possibilities created by digital businesses redefine markets and competition rules. The countdown returns to zero. The competition starts again. Everyone has a new chance.
New technology leaders have great challenges ahead. The possibilities for creating truly innovative businesses are virtually untapped in most industries, especially in emerging countries. And the flexibility of digital technologies allows the creation of entirely new models. They are, in general, information intensive - but do not require heavy investments in assets (a practically mandatory condition to make them viable in Brazil from 2016-2017). And in most cases, creativity is the only limitation, as there are still no legal frameworks or regulatory frameworks to restrict them. In addition, the digital revolution is recent and there are still no clear winners or consolidated leadership positions. The time is now. In this global world, foreign competitors will not wait for the full recovery of our country to advance in this new digital game.
Our CIOs must work with senior management and business leaders to create their companies' new digital business model. They need to promote the development of new leadership networks, outside of IT, involving talents inside and outside the company. And indoctrinate business leaders in the new digital models, which leverage applied creativity and innovation over intangible information assets, without the need for high investments in physical assets. They also need to redirect the search for talent - a complicated problem in Brazil - under a vision of a dynamic hybrid network, using internal and external resources in due course.
Agricultural and industrial economic models focus on tangible goods, such as tools, equipment, inputs and raw materials. Economic service models, on the other hand, emphasize the importance of intangible offers, where the competitive differential is due to characteristics that are added to services - in a way, already a “dematerialized” model. Now we are starting a new economic era - the digital business - that takes dematerialization to a level never thought of until now.
An important part of the competitive advantage of companies in the past was their privileged access to material resources, or low costs in their physical transformation process, from raw material to finished goods. In this new era, intangible components take precedence over materials. The digital business is fueled by intelligence and creativity in exploring information assets, more than physical assets.
The consequence is that the competition barriers that were built in the past around access to resources have lost their importance or disappeared altogether, and companies must begin to build their new competitive positions based on access and protection of their intangible assets. For example, Prudential Insurance created an offer called Vitality (“the healthy life reward program”), based on the records collected from physical activity monitoring sensors (armbands, sneakers, clothing, etc.).
The complete system is just an intangible business model developed with affordable investments. It is not difficult for other operators to create a similar offer. So, part of the protection barrier is to bring key strategic partners to participate in this offer.
Companies from countries like ours, with economic problems - acute or endemic - and financial difficulties, do not need to direct high investments to the new digital economy. Instead, they can now compete by leveraging people's intangible assets and talent (intelligence and creativity boosting personal skills), which are paid in comfortable monthly installments.
With the new rules, all companies - even those with intense use of assets - have a new opportunity ahead of them that they cannot waste, even in the face of the current Brazilian economic scenario. This needs to be done, and now.
Like it or not, the digital revolution is coming to our beaches. It is already a reality. And, in our view, it will radically transform the way business is done in all industries - including government. Important elements are still not entirely clear: the different scenarios in the different sectors, the new challenges and the new rules. But that is exactly where the opportunities are.
Brazilian CIOs can - and need - to develop their respective companies' digital business vision and move forward, assuming a leading role in the new digital economy. The new possibilities created by digital businesses redefine markets and competition rules. The countdown returns to zero. The competition starts again. Everyone has a new chance.
New technology leaders have great challenges ahead. The possibilities for creating truly innovative businesses are virtually untapped in most industries, especially in emerging countries. And the flexibility of digital technologies allows the creation of entirely new models. They are, in general, information intensive - but do not require heavy investments in assets (a practically mandatory condition to make them viable in Brazil from 2016-2017). And in most cases, creativity is the only limitation, as there are still no legal frameworks or regulatory frameworks to restrict them. In addition, the digital revolution is recent and there are still no clear winners or consolidated leadership positions. The time is now. In this global world, foreign competitors will not wait for the full recovery of our country to advance in this new digital game.
Our CIOs must work with senior management and business leaders to create their companies' new digital business model. They need to promote the development of new leadership networks, outside of IT, involving talents inside and outside the company. And indoctrinate business leaders in the new digital models, which leverage applied creativity and innovation over intangible information assets, without the need for high investments in physical assets. They also need to redirect the search for talent - a complicated problem in Brazil - under a vision of a dynamic hybrid network, using internal and external resources in due course.
Agricultural and industrial economic models focus on tangible goods, such as tools, equipment, inputs and raw materials. Economic service models, on the other hand, emphasize the importance of intangible offers, where the competitive differential is due to characteristics that are added to services - in a way, already a “dematerialized” model. Now we are starting a new economic era - the digital business - that takes dematerialization to a level never thought of until now.
An important part of the competitive advantage of companies in the past was their privileged access to material resources, or low costs in their physical transformation process, from raw material to finished goods. In this new era, intangible components take precedence over materials. The digital business is fueled by intelligence and creativity in exploring information assets, more than physical assets.
The consequence is that the competition barriers that were built in the past around access to resources have lost their importance or disappeared altogether, and companies must begin to build their new competitive positions based on access and protection of their intangible assets. For example, Prudential Insurance created an offer called Vitality (“the healthy life reward program”), based on the records collected from physical activity monitoring sensors (armbands, sneakers, clothing, etc.).
The complete system is just an intangible business model developed with affordable investments. It is not difficult for other operators to create a similar offer. So, part of the protection barrier is to bring key strategic partners to participate in this offer.
Companies from countries like ours, with economic problems - acute or endemic - and financial difficulties, do not need to direct high investments to the new digital economy. Instead, they can now compete by leveraging people's intangible assets and talent (intelligence and creativity boosting personal skills), which are paid in comfortable monthly installments.
With the new rules, all companies - even those with intense use of assets - have a new opportunity ahead of them that they cannot waste, even in the face of the current Brazilian economic scenario. This needs to be done, and now.
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