Technology has made companies develop and adapt to new advances at an alarmingly quick rate, but does your business view digital disruption as a negative or a thriving new opportunity to take advantage of?
Technology is often thought about in terms of physical devices that are electrical or digital, when in fact, technology encompasses far more than just tangible objects. Keeping on top of the latest technological advances can be hard enough, but constantly having to adapt to these new trends to a business can sometimes cause more headaches than they are worth.
Digital disruption is defined as ‘technology that displaces and shakes up the industry or creates a completely new industry’, and over 35 per cent of companies now view digital disruption as an opportunity and not a challenge.
There is currently a global game of digital disruption, fuelled by the latest wave of technological advances spurred by Artificial Intelligence and data analytics. As a result, business models within industry sectors are inevitably changing. Despite the fact 19.3 per cent of companies feel that the pace of technological change has made them significantly more competitive in the past three years, a large majority of companies are still struggling to keep up with this change.
A study by SavoyStewart.co.uk tried to identify whether businesses found technology disruption as an opportunity or a threat. It was discovered that one in four businesses still struggle to keep up with the times and thrive from digital disruption.
Despite this, while weighing up the opportunity versus threat of technological disruption, 39.6 per cent of businesses feel that it provides them with new opportunities to improve and grow as a company.
Savoy Stewart determined this was down to the companies approach to technology adaption, with 24.4 per cent surprisingly, admitting to having no approach. 50.4 per cent of businesses reported to have a proactive ‘opportunity-minded’ approach, ensuring they remain competitive and up to date.
The window of opportunity to gain competitive advantage generally falls inside a window of three years. It is, therefore, critical for business leaders to understand the value of technologically proactive leadership and operational agility. The faster a company can use technology disruption to their advantage, the more likely it is to surge ahead of its competitors.
23.4 per cent are a little concerned about their ability to adapt over the next three years, indicating their company is adaptable but passive in their approach.
Over 12 per cent of businesses stated they are very worried about their ability to adapt to technological change, which is interesting considering almost double (23.4 per cent), rated themselves to be ‘Digital Laggards’.
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