How to ride huge waves of digital value
European businesses have the potential to unlock huge waves of digital value, according to a recent study by Cognizant, in conjunction with Roubini Global Economics. Revenues at the companies surveyed could dramatically increase to US $578 billion by 2018 through the application of digital tools and technologies across their processes.
Executives recognise, according to the survey, that next-generation IT will drive new business models, new revenue streams, new types of customer relationships, and lower costs.
Catching a $150 billion wave
In fact, respondents reported a five percent increase in revenue in their digital investments to-date, equating to an additional $150 billion last year alone. Those surveyed also expect the total potential revenue impact of digital technologies in Europe to grow to 8.4 percent by 2018. That´s the good news. Now, we just have to focus on digitization and as early as 2018, we’ll be able to reap the rewards.
But, is it really that easy? To be honest … no, it isn’t!
The thing is, technology is just one part of the process. The other part is us. Technology can be of outstanding quality, but it´s our task to hold the hammer that drives the nail, so to speak.
“In many cases, the problems initially are not caused by a lack of technology, but by a lack of coordination between departments and processes,” said Bernhard Zoeller, an enterprise content management (ECM) and enterprise information platform expert.
Committing to riding the waves
This is probably resonating with you. However, just implementing ECM and other digital solutions is by far not enough to solve problems. Zoeller is also right when he says that companies and their employees need to be willing to digitise, and even more key, to see the potential of new technological solutions. Organisations must embrace, welcome and commit to change in order to realize new revenue streams linked to the digital era.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast, you know,” said Kamales Lardi, our keynote speaker at the OnBase Summit EMEA in Berlin this past winter.
The truth is, it’s not just about technology and change. There’s also a challenge in executing these two factors. From the technology perspective, when ECM meets digitisation, it means we have to think big. Think about mobile. Think about the integration of big data and social media.
From my point of view, an organization needs to implement these types of aspects in order to execute a digitised, comprehensive ECM strategy.
On the execution of change management, Lardi made clear that, firstly, “Transformation is top down,” and secondly, to be successful, we have to speed up. “Fail fast, learn fast and succeed faster,” she said.
We must encourage our staff, and let everyone know that making mistakes is not a sin. Digitisation is a bet on the future.
“Researchers define digital transformation as an evaluation of business processes,” said a recent study by Forbes. “As such, findings show that real business transformation, made possible by digital transformation, is only achievable when organisations relate the interconnectedness of people, processes and technology.”
Isn´t this a powerful triad? I would like to add one thing: We have to interconnect people, processes and technology, and then – and only then – are we able to unlock huge waves of digital value. Surf’s up!
- OnBase SAP integration: start small, achieve big results - 06/22/2017
- How to ride huge waves of digital value - 03/08/2017
- 6 insights from the OnBase Summit EMEA for 2017 and beyond - 02/06/2017
