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Introduction
Customer expectations in both the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) worlds are being ramped up as market entrants endlessly innovate to enhance their services. However, companies can also see the opportunities that are being created in this new experience and platform-led economy. At the same time, the fear of new competition emerging from unexpected quarters is very real. Ultimately, firms are terrified of the Kodak and Toys R Us scenarios: eyes fixed on a game-changing technology as it comes over the horizon but unable to make the organisational changes that would allow them to embrace it. However, the Kodak example is instructive in lots of ways. It is very difficult for large companies to achieve the kind of shift from product to service transformation demanded of them in the new digital era. Equally, they cannot opt out.
That change has happened because firms have looked at the data they have collected over the years, and by carefully analysing what it tells them, they can see how to fine tune their business plans to serve their customers better and to respond to what they actually need and what they say. Collaborations between firms have also helped to create more accurate planning and while competitors will still want to out sell their rivals, they are aware that there is an interdependency within their respective ecosystems which in turn means they need to be open to new ways of working and learning the lessons others may have taken on board through trial and error.
“Test, test, test and don’t be afraid to fail” is not just phraseology taken from a business text book, firms know that they have to have eyes in the back of their heads to see what the next wave of innovations may be in their business streams and to be adopters of these new advances somewhere down the line. If they do not want to be first, then knowing when to enter the new markets that are developing and replacing the old products and ways of working will be a critical decision for them. Workforces too will need to be responsive to change, and perhaps employees too should keep an eye out for their next job, which in all likelihood will have a...