Technology helps your business to change fast. FILE PHOTO
By Scott Bellows
Imagine that you awake one day to discover that
someone deposited Sh100 million to your bank account. You rub your eyes
and stare again at your bank statement. Confused, you call the bank.
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The bank confirms that your account does indeed contain Sh100 million and that the deposit was legitimate.
Elated but perplexed, you stagger to a chair and
sit down. Did the deposit come from a long lost relative? Did the bank
err? Could the deposit originate from questionable sources?
You nervously decide to wait a month and see if the
bank reverses the transaction. After 30 days, not only did the Sh100
million remain in your account, but also grew by Sh1 million due to high
interest on huge deposits.
Realising that your life will never be the same,
you decide to move forward and invest the money. After consulting
several friends, you determine that starting a business should yield you
the best returns as opposed to passive investment. So, you set out to
ascertain which industry you want to launch your business.
Based on your friends’ advice, you break down
different sectors into those constantly facing change versus sectors in
stable fields with minimal change.
While Sh101 million seems like a lot of money, you
decide that you do not want to invest the sum and then constantly pivot
and modify your new firm. Desirous of a static industry, you learn that
three factors impact how rapidly a business must change.
1. First, information technology impacts the rate of change in organisations.
Clearly, technology changes at a rapid pace. However, one must assess
the pace of the technological changes that impact your industry.
One might compare Microsoft and Google specifically in the information technology business.
Microsoft’s model locks in customers with the use
of its products seen as standard practice with one download or one
installation. Google, on the other hand, relies on continual customer
engagement multiple times each day.
Which firm do you expect must adapt to changes in information technology faster?
Clearly Google must change more as constant
freshness and relevance is required to bring in new customers on a daily
basis whereas Microsoft’s core products changed only negligibly in the
past 20 years.
If you started a technology firm, would you be able
to replicate Microsoft’s complacency in the market or would you likely
need to change rapidly like Google just to stay alive? Clearly, the
latter seems more plausible for you. Then, you would also utilise more
information technology within your workplace so as to keep your creative
edge.
Business owners in the information technology space
must place more emphasis on knowledge management. The closer your
business touches the information technology sector, it requires new
competencies and expectations.
Could you keep up with the pace of change? What costs go along with the pace of change for you to lead your industry?
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