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4 Digital Business Trends and their impact during 2016 Experience is the hardest kind of teacher: It gives the test first and the lesson after!
GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY & SERVICES
As tradition has it at the start of each year, I share the “Experience” that I learned from
the many Business and Human Resources leaders I had the privilege to work with.
Most of the insight is around trends and their impact on Human Capital in our efforts
to transform French businesses to succeed in a more Digital and Connected world.
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2 4 Digital Business Trends and their impact during 2016
1. CHIEF DIGITAL OFFICERS ARE IN HIGH DEMAND!
Anticipated Impact:
An acceleration of Digital (platforms, techniques,
new products & services, and also a new
culture) adoption to change how Businesses
are run, as opposed to how Marketing is run.
More Digital attention and investment in areas
that have a positive impact on why customers
re-purchase the product or service. Examples
could be in After Sales Support for Consumer
Electronics or smoother faster Insurance Claim
processing, or customer experience when
staying in a Hotel. The Net Promotor Scores
(NPS) vs Digital investment is a good indicator.
In this new Digital World, it is no longer acceptable
to be “as good as the others”, there is a clear
need to create distinctive value to end customers.
Successful leaders in each sector will have a clearly
articulated uniqueness about them, and be able
to answer the question of “why are we different?”
and “where do we provide unique value?”
CDO’s are in high demand in France (and in
consequence the excessive use of Digital Officer
titles in resumes!). However we are still collectively
far from managing a business in the Digital
Age, as too many businesses still equate “Digital
Transformation” with “Digital Marketing” and not
the management of a Business in a different way.
2. IOT (INTERNET OF THINGS): IS MORE ABOUT CUSTOMER BENEFITS THAN ABOUT STANDARDS.Neither Businesses nor Consumers can escape
the “Connected” phenomena. It seems that
Cars, Wearables, Watches, even buildings
and cities have become “Intelligent”!
I have the impression that we are making
the same mistakes we did when launching
mobile services 15 years ago. Telcos and Service
Providers still assume that it’s a technical
battle, Software companies are focused on
data & analysis, and very few are focused on
end-to-end solutions and customer benefits.
The last conference I attended had around 15
speakers focused on standards and technology,
only ONE spoke of customer benefits!
Anticipated Impact:
Service Providers who learn from other
industries are more likely to win. VHS won the
Betamax battle because of the availability of
Content (ie films on VHS videocassettes) and
thus Consumer usage, it did not win based
on a superior standard or technology.
Device makers who partner with others
will have working end-to-end customer
solutions, and become household names.
The Systems Integrators will either need to roll
up their sleeves and develop specific Industry
Vertical solutions or let other startups do it with
or for them. If not they will lose this market.
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Heidrick & Struggles 3
3. SOFTWHERE: SOFTWARE EVERYWHERE FROM THE DEVICE TO THE CLOUD.
Many hardware products are becoming
standardized to the point of commoditization
(with PC’s, and now Tablets & Phones). Many
companies are shifting the “intelligence”
from Hardware into Software, the major
differentiator shifting towards Software.
GE’s Jeff Immelt summed it all when he said
“You go to bed as an engineering company
and you wake up as a software company!”
Anticipated Impact
This phenomena will only accelerate as we
have seen with SaaS and IaaS models move
to full Cloud delivery models. More focus on
storing, scaling, protecting and sharing.
This will continue with the evolution of the
Consumption Model, with the risk of an up-front
investment shifting from users towards the
suppliers. Users (Enterprise and Consumer) will
pay-as-they-use with Cloud-based systems.
As Adobe’s leaders have succinctly said in a
McKinsey interview: “the company website
is not the place to get product and company
information. It is the product. It is the start
of a dynamic customer experience.”
4. THE ENTERPRISE GRASS SEEMS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE!
Many companies are looking for what they
do not have, and recruit executives with
experience that is very different to what
they find inside their own companies.
Large companies are seeking to recruit executives
with startup experience (to get more agile and
innovative), and small high growth companies
(and many Unicorns) are looking for larger
company experience (to have more operational
discipline and predictable business results)
Anticipated Impact:
This tendency will continue; many “smaller” high
growth companies reach a stage where they
seek more consistency and predictability in
their business results and are starting to recruit
executives with experience in larger companies.
Larger companies on the other hand seem
to be intrigued by the smaller more nimble
Digital Natives, who have an ability to move
faster and deliver more innovative products
and services, and are hiring them!
The time will also arrive in assessing the
“Cultural Fit” and the “Leadership DNA”. My
next thought piece will discuss the ability
of Executives from larger companies to
succeed in smaller ones, and vice versa.
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Heidrick & Struggles is the premier provider of senior-level
executive search, culture shaping, and leadership consulting services.
For more than 60 years we have focused on quality service and built
strong relationships with clients and individuals worldwide. Today, Heidrick &
Struggles’ leadership experts operate from principal business centers globally.
www.heidrick.com
The insight and intelligence is from my conversations with the key
decision makers in our industry, and I am grateful for their time and
insight. Any potential errors in interpretation or in “connecting the dots” are
mine! Readers’ comments and suggestions are as always most welcome.
Ahmad HassanPartner, Technology & Digital Transformation
Copyright © 2016 Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without
permission is prohibited. Trademarks and logos are copyrights of their respective owners.
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