Every business is now a de facto digital business whether it thinks of itself that way or not. The digital technologies that bring people together and facilitate communication so pervasively in society have steadily moved from niche to mainstream over the last ten years and there is no sign of that stopping anytime soon.
But the question remains, just how much engagement is enough? And at what point do companies that enthusiastically embrace new means of communication start to hit diminishing returns on their efforts?
Research suggests that companies that make good use of social media, cloud computing, communications technology and so on are more profitable, more agile and more competitive than those who don’t, but just how well is that information influencing the way in which companies organise and plan their activities?
“What’s interesting is that two or three years ago we would have been talking about smaller players and start-ups doing interesting, innovative work and disrupting the mainstream players in industry,” said Vicky Godolphin, head of digital for Accenture Ireland.
Take Google Glass, something that’s been in the news regularly in recent months. Most people are talking about Glass in terms of the fun aspects of it but there are serious applications to wearable technology being seen in healthcare, for example, Vicky Godolphin, Accenture Ireland
“But what we’re seeing now is a flip of that as those mainstream organisations are realising they have to respond to the disruption and start to be disruptive themselves. It doesn’t take away the importance of the entrepreneurship and innovation work that smaller companies are doing but interesting things are happening at all levels.”
Changing times
According to Accenture a number of large organisations are changing their business models, products and services or the way they interact with consumers, based on the recognition of the continuing blurring taking place between the digital and the physical.
“We can see it in retail organisations where the high street shopping experience is becoming enriched by mobile, tablet and internet services. Also when we’re looking purely at supply chain organisations, we can see lots of ways how innovation in larger companies is driving differences in the way they do business,” she said.
There are all sorts of examples, said Godolphin, of companies using digital channels to significantly improve the experience their customers have in dealing with them.
“Royal Caribbean, for example, has fitted sensors in their cruise ship restaurants so that they can give real time information to passengers who want to decide when and to which restaurant they are going to go. Gone are the days when you had a sitting to attend at 6pm or 9pm. Now you can go when you feel there is enough space for you, and that’s based purely on real time information.”
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