All business is digital (Accenture research in Finland, Autumn 2013) = “Kaikki liiketoiminta on digitaalista”
Accenture interviewed over 130 decision makers from the 40 biggest Finnish companies about the role of digitalization. The findings were somewhat similar to than many other research such as MIT study.
Before execution can take place, it is logical that the first step is to have a clear vision and a roadmap. However, when the roadmap start to be clear, things tend to get more complicated.
The research found out that only 38% of the top management saw problems with the decision making, roles and responsibilities – where as over 63% Digital Experts viewed this as a problematic.
Change in governance and culture is needed
I believe that the role of IT has changes dramatically in the last ten years. In the past, it was sufficient to know traditional IT tasks, but now you need to master also e.g. customer experience, analytic, social media, eCommerce.
Digital projects don’t necessary have a clear start and the end. Project cycles have changed to a continuous development mode. When the first version is ready, only then the “real” job starts. Vigorously collecting customer feedback and improving services in a rapid cycles.
I believe that many companies need to change how decisions are made and budgets managed. Furthermore, cross business unit thinking is needed in order to demolish silo thinking from digital execution. Even the brightest roadmaps and visions don’t come to life without rapid execution and clear roles.
Research is available to download from Accenture website.