Five keys to success in digital economy

CHENNAI: Leading companies that develop a people first approach will win in today’s digital economy, according to the latest global technology trends report from Accenture.
As technology advancements accelerate at an unprecedented rate – dramatically disrupting the workforce - companies that equip employees, partners and consumers with new skills can fully capitalize on innovations.
Those that do will have unmatched capabilities to create fresh ideas, develop cutting- edge products and services, and disrupt the status quo.
“In the Accenture Technology Vision 2016, we’ve identified five technology trends that are critical to digital success,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology officer.
“Digital means people too, and a cornerstone of this year’s Vision is people first. Companies that embrace digital can empower their workforce to continuously learn new skills to do more with technology and generate bigger and better business results.”
In a companion survey of more than 3,100 business and IT executives worldwide, Accenture found that 33% of the global economy is already impacted by digital. 86% of survey respondents anticipate that the pace of technology change will increase at a rapid or unprecedented rate over the next three years.
In the report, Accenture identifies five technology trends fuelled by the people first principal that are essential to business success in the digital economy. The trends include:
1. Intelligent automation: Leaders are embracing automation - powered by artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and augmented reality – to fundamentally change the way their business operates and drive a new, more productive relationship between people and machines.
2. Liquid workforce: By exploiting technology to enable workforce transformation, leading companies will create highly adaptable and change-ready environments that are able to meet today’s dynamic digital demands.
The competitive advantage offered by a liquid workforce is apparent as survey respondents indicated that “deep expertise for the specialized task at hand” was only the fifth-most-important characteristic they required for employees to perform well in a digital work environment. Other qualities such as ‘the ability to quickly learn’ or ‘the ability to shift gears’ were ranked higher.
3. Platform economy: Industry leaders are unleashing the power of technology by developing platform-based business models to capture new growth opportunities, driving the most profound change in the global macroeconomic environment since the Industrial Revolution.
4. Predictable disruption: Fast-emerging digital ecosystems are creating the foundation for the next wave of disruption by straddling markets and blurring industry boundaries; forward-thinking leaders can proactively predict these ecosystem trajectories to gain a competitive advantage.
5. Digital Trust: Trust is a cornerstone of the digital economy, said 83% of survey respondents. To gain the trust of individuals, ecosystems and regulators in this new landscape, businesses must focus on digital ethics as a core strategy; better security alone won’t be enough.