In my last post on 7 Pitfalls to avoid in successful business transformation I talked about what you need to keep in mind while making a business transformation. In todays post I will talk about the three stages before the decision for business transformation.
Artificial Intelligence, Robotic Automation, Digital, Machine Learning are the new words for transformation
As these buzzwords are becoming a norm in every industry we have all started wondering about the impact of the new technology on our business. Based on the industry business and function some of us have been impacted already or are on the verge of getting impacted while many others are only getting familiar with these new words. There are three different positions people take with these changes First innovators who stay ahead of the curve and introduce these new technology, Second adapters who ride the wave of new technology as it become available and Third rejecters who ignore the change and are negatively impacted by being disrupted by the new technology.
This is not new and we have seen it happen over and over again as the mankind has evolved from the Stone Age to the digital age. We have always had intellect skeptics who have tried to dismiss the transformation.
Most famous being
1889: “Fooling around with alternating current (AC) is just a waste of time. Nobody will use it, ever.” — Thomas Edison
1903: “The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” — President of the Michigan Savings Bank advising Henry Ford’s
Most recent we have seen transpire
2007: “There’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” — Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO.
Today we feel surprised to see these reactions from these intellects as we have seen these changes drastically transform our way of life. All these intellects have one thing in common they were all from the third category the rejecters. They were dismissive about the change, tried to ignore the new technological enhancements and tried to keep the statuesque. These were all very intelligent people as we can tell from their names and titles. So what made them make this mistake was a simple miscalculation of not being predicted how the future of technology will play out. They were caught in the present and did not see the future coming.
So which one are you the First innovator, second the adaptor or the third rejecter.
You still have a chance to transform if are the first or the second but you do stand to lose out if you are the third. And to help you move up the ladder here is my last argument, unlike some of the other inventions which were either ahead of their time or were not yet expected by the end users. Digital age is not ahead of its time, Digital age is here it is in the present and most important our customers are already expecting it to be a part of the delivery.
Image Credits:
http://www.thefamouspeople.com
http://icdn3.digitaltrends.com
References:
https://hbr.org/2016/03/many-companies-still-dont-know-how-to-compete-in-the-digital-age
Durgesh Raj 