Digital Business insights: And once again with feeling, "head for higher ground..."

I FIRST wrote this article in 2011 in response to somebody asking me what I thought 2012 would bring.

I revised it at the beginning of 2013 because it was still pertinent, and guess what? Here it is again - amended, but essentially the same message.

The symptoms are there to see. Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt, Global Financial uncertainty, customers with Locked Wallets and Purses, no Budgets and that's just the obvious stuff. Inside of businesses and organisations of all kinds, "more with less" is the new catch cry.

 

Decision makers are only making the easy decisions, the ones they are forced to, the ones that impact the next quarter bottom line. Sales are hard to come by. The hard decisions are being shelved. And everyone is planning to cut staff if they have to.

Very few are looking to the future with vision and imagination. Most are looking at their feet, trying to work out what the very next step might be.

This is happening in small business, big business, non-profit and government.

Contraction is under way, and only the mining industry is really looking good. And even it is beginning to wonder "for how long?"

Deeper still, the digital revolution is shifting the ground we all stand on.

The currents of change from the convergence of IT, telecommunications and content is confusing all parties - the telcos, the IT vendors and the media industry. Nobody quite knows where it is all heading. Tip in mobile devices, social media, the "cloud" and integration and it gets even more confusing.

Add information overload and no time to sit and think, and is it any wonder we see and hear bemused and confused CEOs everywhere?

None of this is going to go away and it will impact us even harder in 2014.

Notwithstanding the occasional extras thrown into our lives from time to time that make things even more uncertain, like Iran, Syria, Egypt, Israel, the NSA, GCHQ, the dollar, the stock market, Australian government audits and redundancies, interest rate rises and falls, cyclones and drought.

Luckily we live on a big island in the southern hemisphere, some considerable distance away from a lot of this, but that doesn't stop it unsettling people watching the continuous bad news stories and images on TV and the internet. And unsettled people play safe.

When disruption is as all-pervasive as this, there is only one thing to do.

Step 4: Head for higher ground.

That's what everybody wants to do, head for higher ground. Somewhere safe, dry, defendable and where there is considerable competitive advantage derived from being able to see further and more clearly than others.

That begs two questions, where is the higher ground, and why is that Step 4?

The higher ground varies for each business category and industry sector. And to get there requires careful consideration.

Step 3: Plan your move carefully.

Step 3 is about defining this high ground, defendable position for your business or organisation, which will offer you competitive advantage under these new conditions. So plan your move.

The customer has changed forever and has to be part of this strategic decision. Whether you sell phones, food, finance, services, cars, sugar or coal, shared value is the new condition for customer success and "value" means different things to different people.

Money isn't the only value to consider, and you had better understand what "value" means to your customers and suppliers, before charging ahead assuming it means exactly the same thing to all of you.

Even the prestigious Professor Michael E Porter from Harvard has changed his views on the subject, so it's time to understand what shared value means, in an interconnected world where customers can check things out. And do.

Step 2: Understand what is causing this disruption.

If you don't understand it you won't be able to manage it. If you don't understand it you will not be able to plan.

If you are the key decision maker in your organisation and you don't understand it, then join the captain of the Titanic.

You can't put this off, no matter how much the phone calls, meetings, emails, business as usual and the next quarter bottom line demand your attention.

Don't push the responsibility to your IT manager or CIO. Understand it thoroughly yourself.

Unless you start understanding what is changing the environment you operate in ... you will fail.

You will make the wrong decisions. You will hit the iceberg.

It is no longer just a case of one factor impacting you...it is a host of interconnected factors all impacting at once. See above.

Understand mobility. Understand collaboration. Understand connection. Understand what is hype and what isn't. Especially understand integration, inside and outside your organisation. Understand the movement of power to the customer. Understand shared value.

Don't trust your IT manager alone to deal with this. It is unfair - a "hospital pass". He/she only has some of the information and you have the final responsibility. Don't hire a social media expert and think everything is under control, and they get it and you don't. They aren't social media experts at all.

Your GP understands it, each time the next patient walks in with reams of information from the internet and in many cases a far clearer view of what is ailing them than the doctor has.

Your local book-shop understands it, as customers come in, browse the bookshelves, leave the store and order from the Book Depository for delivery in 6 days time.

You local clothes shop understands it when customers come in, try something on say, "I'll be back later" and don't return.

Even Yellow Pages now understands it too late, with its customers deserting in droves for Google and SEO. And if they couldn't get it right with all the money they had to throw at it ... beware.

It's not about Facebook and social media. It's not about your web site and iPads. It's about the whole interconnected environment. It's about the relationship between everything you do inside your business and your customers, suppliers, competitors and the whole connected eco-system.

It's not static. It is changing and evolving and you need to understand how and why.

This will not settle down for a long time. So doing nothing is not an option.

Do nothing and you will steadily slip backwards as the powerful underlying currents of digital change - more connection, more collaboration and more integration - drive things remorselessly along.

Which brings me to Step 1. Recognise that something is happening.

Step 1: Recognise digital disruption for what it is. It is not a small thing that will quickly pass us by. It is the new condition in which we all have to operate.

Things aren't going to settle down.

It doesn't help to stand out of the way. It is a good move in the short term, while you catch your breath and observe.

But recognise and understand it is no longer business as usual. To state the obvious, revolutions are revolutionary. This one is gathering speed and the narrowing of converging technologies and content is increasing the turbulence like never before.

In the past five years I have spoken to many industry associations from all industry sectors, most of whom still do not recognise or acknowledge that permanent disruption is under way. They think it will go away. They think they are on top of it. Solution. Employ a social media person and update the website.

Most industry associations are good at training, HR, lobbying and policy but pathetically poor at understanding the impacts of the digital revolution.

Just visit their websites to see what I mean. It's not about having a smart looking web site and a social media policy, it's about helping association members address the much bigger issues of digital disruption that are impacting their businesses every day.

Look to government for help and you are no better off. Business.gov. An empty desert of vanilla flavoured content designed to help everyone and no one.

It's not their fault. It's what happens when content goes through legal, PR and managerial filters. It comes out cleaned.

"We built the Australian business portal". Indeed. It ticks a box for whoever made the policy decision, but delivers no value to the 2 million Australian businesses wrestling with their digital options.

Ultimately, you can't rely on government or your association to help with this.

The responsibility comes back to the CEO. It's the key decision maker in every business and organisation that has to get the steps right.

Recognise something's happening. Understand it. Plan your way out of it. Move.

Things are connecting. Inside and outside. So make connected decisions. And just because you are CEO of a multinational or a corporation doesn't mean you are automatically going to get it right either. Or that the decision made for you in the USA, Japan or Europe, is the right one. This is a worldwide revolution.

Some players, like Apple, GE and Google are enjoying this. This is their time and they are strongly positioned to benefit from the new opportunities.

But as technology and content converges, there is a giant game of musical chairs being played at the top end of town and not enough chairs to sit on.

Doing nothing isn't an option for anybody. But doing the right thing presents enormous opportunity.

And 2014 will be a good year for many.

In 2014, the time is right for all CEOs who take the four simple steps. They will be first to the high ground, out of the disruptive flood and rightly deserve the first mover advantage to defend, develop and grow on solid ground.

So don't ignore what's happening. Get ready to move.

- John Sheridan, November 2013.

John Sheridan is CEO of Digital Business insights, an organisation based in Brisbane, Australia, which focuses on helping organisations and communities adapt to, and flourish in, the new digital world. He is the author of Connecting the Dots and getting more out of the digital revolution. Digital Business insights has been researching and analysing the digital revolution for more than 12 years and has surveyed more than 50,000 businesses, conducting in-depth case study analysis on more than 350 organisations and digital entrepreneurs.

http://www.db-insights.com/

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