impacts their business model and how their
environment and the industry they operate
in is shifting.
It is critical that CIOs understand that their
customers’ needs and preferences are
going to dictate how they must engage and
support them. Unless they are willing and
able to move away from traditional models,
they are setting themselves up for failure.
The banking environment is one example
that has seen a lot of change, with new
disruptors emerging in the form of fintechs.
Brick-and-mortar is no longer a necessity
and the regulatory environment is also
changing, which is lowering the barriers to
entry in this industry.
The digital environment also removes
geographical barriers, so traditional
competitors in your geographic location are
no longer your only competition and you
could be sidelined by a FinTech that you
are completely unaware of from another
location. As a bank, for example, you need to
consider your traditional business and how
it will be changing over the next few years
because of external digital forces. Then you
need to look at what business models you
need to transform to serve your customers
better, both on the front and back end.
The next consideration is the impact of
new business models that come from
a completely different environment to
www.intelligentcio.com
“
ONE OF THE
BIGGEST IMPACTS
OF THE DIGITAL
ECONOMY IS
THAT IT REMOVES
TRADITIONAL
BARRIERS TO
ENTRY, MEANING
ORGANISATIONS
MUST CHANGE
THE WAY THEY
VIEW THEIR
COMPETITIVE
ENVIRONMENT.
traditional banking. Of course, another factor
is the impact of mobile banking and those
disrupters that can provide value for lower
banking fees.
Preparing for uncertainty
Organisations must prepare themselves
for uncertainty because one of the biggest
challenges around digital transformation is
that they can never know everything. It is
impossible to plan for every possible scenario
and that is where the agility of your business
strategy is crucial.
When a new competitor comes along that
you were not previously aware of, you must
be able to react fast and be agile enough to
change your business processes and the way
you do business.
We don’t pay enough attention to the
importance of the link between data and
technology in building enterprises for the
future. It cannot be overemphasised that
the companies that become agile by using
emerging technologies and making sense
of the data they have on hand are the only
companies that will be able to respond
quickly to both new and existing competitive
threats and ultimately win.
In the digital world, it is not technology for
technology’s sake, but rather a continuous
assessment of how new technologies out
there will enable businesses to play in the
digital world and make decisions that enable
them to react faster.
If you cannot do that, you’ll be left behind. n
INTELLIGENTCIO
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