Is Tech Changing Faster Than Organizations Can Keep up?

 

Since technology began to change the way organizations do business back in the mid-20th century, enterprises have been clamoring to get their hands on the latest and greatest offerings.

Whether it’s online communication tools, digital accountancy or even strategy planning software, solutions have often been changing faster than organizations can keep up.

An indefinite struggle

Capgemini Consulting suggested that digital transformation was the reserve of huge conglomerates in the past, but as tech solutions grow cheaper by the day, even small and medium-sized enterprises are entering the digital space.

However, are organizations really keeping up with the latest and greatest trends?

Research from Gartner suggested that more businesses are planning their digital projects over vast timescales, with budgeting spread out across several years. While this certainly makes sense from a financial perspective, the technologies that companies plan to adopt may already be out of date by the time they actually get around to using them.

“[Tech-driven] projects have been approved and budgeted for, often over a multiyear period, meaning the pace of spending and adoption isn’t subject to any impending urgency,” explained research director at Gartner Bianca Granetto.

Fostering that urgency is something businesses certainly need to be aware of. After all, if a company pursues a tech solution that is already outdated by the time they implement it, they’ll likely fall behind their rivals.

The core of the enterprise?

Technology and digital assets are now integral to many core business functions. A survey carried out by Gartner explained that 41 per cent of companies have identified the need to modernize such systems. While there’s certainly an amount of awareness around improving the tech driven inner-workings of the organization, few are fully prepared to consistently change.

Ultimately, those that are will have superior strategic management practices in place, not only assessing how the digital space is affecting the enterprise today, but how future developments will continue to change it tomorrow.