Different rules
The rules of competition are changing due to digitalization. According to McKinsey, digital capabilities are now a prerequisite for long-term competitiveness. Modern technology; the change of the workforce and process improvement are important to gain competitive advantage in the fast-paced market.
Modern technology is mandatory equipment in the ever-changing digital era. But what are the odds of winning the fight when the troops do not know how to communicate with each other and the army is not able to use modern equipment?
Driving a successful business in the digital age is different than driving a business in a world without social networks, tablets, smartphones and smartwatches. People are more connected than ever before and customers have many tools in place to gain knowledge. If you are able to improve the management decision making process, you will improve your performance across the entire business. As a result, growth and profitability are increased; and additionally, by using advanced reporting operational risk is mitigated.
Priorities have shifted
One of the top business priorities during these past couple of years of this challenging economy was saving costs and therefore, many organizations reduced their IT budget and decreased their headcount in order to minimize financial losses.
According to Gartner, at present, growth and profitability are the top business priorities instead of cost-saving. About 40% of the companies consider growth as one of the top three priorities and IT applications play a pivotal role in making this happen.
Dare disruptive change
The upcoming new business models will disrupt the market, as it happened in previous industry revolutions. 89% of the companies listed in the Fortune 500 in 1955 are no longer in the current list as technology has been changing the fundamental structure of businesses.
By adopting modern technology like cloud- (Software as Service) and collaboration software, you are not only improving the business model, you also empower your business to go beyond efficiency; creating an army which works harder and smarter.
“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses” - Henry Ford
Intelligent and empowerment
I strongly believe in disruptive change, rather than changing single processes. By empowering the workforce, simplifying processes and using modern technologies you are able to react more quickly to changes in the market’s demands and therefore, improve long-term success.
Reducing the amount of man-hours spent on tasks which can easily be done by technology is key to be competitive. Many organizations are now automating their processes and starting to create real-time insights for this very reason as it allows them to concentrate more on the big picture; enabling the finance department to go back in the driver’s seat.
The smaller players in many industries are able to empower themselves with the same amount of computing power and data capacity that previously only the larger enterprises had access to.
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) application combined with advanced reporting, enables the organization to be more flexible and it will support the need for greater innovation.
Data has long been used for reporting purposes and for understanding the past. In the fast-paced and digital world, data has been used to trigger actions, making strategic decisions and forecast more accurate.
Because ERP contains a diversity of modules, including but not limited to finance, procurement and supply chain, it can grow along with the needs of the company. Thus it enables smooth and efficient functioning of businesses. These benefits lead to the adoption of ERP software among small and medium sized businesses.
Original post in Dutch at Oracle.com