Stop Horsing Around If You Want to Achieve Exponential Growth

Agility is the determining factor of market competitiveness, “leanness” its new underlying impetus. The fear of being outmaneuvered in the digital age has sent even cumbersome corporate giants like General Electric scrambling to adopt methodologies from the startup community.

One of the last persistent hangovers from the previous mindset is the presumption of scarcity. For businesses operating under the notion that the resources available to them are fixed and at a premium, the goal has been and always will be to control as many stages of production and distribution as possible.

But the shift toward an economy of abundance is already under way. And it is only a matter of time before the broader business community reaches the understanding that the exponential organization not only offers distinct strategic advantages in today’s business world, it may very well come to define it.

Nabyl Charania

There have been numerous case studies, white papers, seminars, workshops, etc., about the need for organizations to re-invent the way they do business to be able to stay competitive in the current market. The digital landscape is changing every day, millennials are disrupting the workforce, costs are higher, revenues are lower, and customer retention is harder than ever to achieve.

In an era where knowledge is readily available, and abundance of data surround us, we can't claim ignorance. Many companies invest a significant amount of time and money discussing the proper strategy or transformation roadmap, but the risk and fear associated with their weaknesses prevent them from focusing on exploiting their strengths. Companies will not achieve exponential growth let alone continue to operate if they refuse to step outside of their comfort zone. Many digital transformation projects are great in theory but fail in practice.

84% Of Companies Fail At Digital Transformation

Bruce Rogers | Forbes

By 2018, 70% of siloed digital transformation (DX) initiatives will ultimately fail because of insufficient collaboration, integration, sourcing, or project management."

IDC Study - Industry Development and Models

We see this phenomenon every day, digital transformation and disruptive technologies are impacting every industry sector. It does not matter if you are in retail, insurance, hospitality, O&G, manufacturing, technology services, media, healthcare, education, financial services, digital transformation is coming for you. Some of the best-known brands no longer exist or were forced to re-invent their business to adapt and survive.

Blockbuster Kodak Nokia Circuit City Linens N Things Radio Shack Borders Bookstores Quicksilver Friedman American Apparel General Motors American Airlines Lucent Technologies Compaq Staples Office Depot Walgreens Target Sports Authority

What do all these companies have in common? They all failed to stay relevant and to adapt to disruptive technological change. They lacked the ability to move quickly and execute.

The good news is that companies can achieve exponential growth if they dare to be bold and think outside the box.

Here are a few suggestions on how to accomplish this:

- Focus on your strengths. What are the things that you do well? Can you replicate this success in another area of the business? Your strengths should be considered your "low hanging fruit" low effort, high value.

- Take a look at your technology landscape. Having big ERP systems does not mean you will be successful. On the contrary, the larger the system, the more complex and rigid the platform tends to be.

- Automate, automate, automate. Workflows and collaboration are critical to achieving success. Companies must automate and streamline administrative, non-value add activities to free their human capital to focus on the "good stuff".

- Remove systems silos. It does not matter if you have 2 or 2,000 systems, they all need to play nice with each other (data integration). Data silos are a slow death. Eliminate the paint by numbers approach and rather than giving every user or functional group an option to select the system they want to use, provide them with a system/platform that allows them to configure the system the way they want it without a single line of programming.

- Technology can only go so far. The foundation of every successful project are the people and culture behind it. Many leaders nowadays seem to need consensus before moving forward. Although engagement, buy-in, etc., are critical from a change management perspective, it is the responsibility of the management team to design the "blueprint" for the organization.

- What the company needs to "do" or the vision is not negotiable, how the company does it "is". Allowing users to participate in fixing the problem or achieving a pre-defined goal is far more productive and efficient than trying to get large groups of people to agree on the bigger picture and strategy "too many cooks in the kitchen."

- Identify "true" disablers within your organization, and REMOVE them (keep in mind that a disabler is not someone that merely disagrees or expresses a concern, companies do not benefit from a "yes sir "culture either. Disablers are the users that are highly influential (not limited to titles) and that are not willing to support the company strategy. Every company has one or many of these individuals. They are the bad apple. Disablers have the ability to derail projects and bring them to a halt. They can make user adoption and collaboration almost impossible. Companies do not have the luxury to hold hands and sing Kumbaya; they need to act. For your garden to blossom, you must remove the weeds.

- Re-think your data strategy. Your data is your biggest asset. Shed light on your dark data. Companies must gain valuable insight by analyzing structured and unstructured data as well as internal and external sources. Manage your risks and make decisions faster than competitors. Stop reacting and start predicting. Increase your revenue by having the ability to offer what your customers want, when and how they want it.

Are you ready to catapult your business growth exponentially?