This is content for Accenture
Successful organisations have always understood that people come first. Whether it’s their employees, customers or business partners, the “primacy of people” ethos remains no less fundamental in the age of digital disruption. Indeed, it may be argued it has never been more critical to business success.
Whether it’s optimising each employee’s unique contribution to business performance or better understanding the needs and behaviours of individual consumers, people are at the heart of the digital economy.
While the primacy of people remains, how organisations achieve this at a time of unprecedented technological change poses a real challenge.
According to the global Accenture Technology Vision 2016 report – which surveyed executives from around the world, including 250 in Australia – Australian organisations understand that “digital culture shock” and deep disruption are a permanent feature of the competitive landscape.
Some 43% of Australian executives believe the pace of technology change will increase even more over the next three years. Jane Livesey, Managing Director and Technology Lead for Accenture in Australia believes that Australia is at a tipping point in the development and adoption of key technologies. She believes this will be driven through technologies such as artificial intelligence, platform ecosystems and the internet of things.
Digital disruption is a threat to established industries and market leaders, but for those prepared to embrace change it’s also an opportunity to re-engage the workforce, drive innovation, reduce costs, attract talent, boost efficiency and thrive in an increasingly global and disruptive competitive landscape.
The University of Melbourne’s Centre for Workplace Leadership (CWL) says the rate of technological change is having “increasingly disruptive consequences”.
“Technological advances are leading to an unprecedented rate of innovation in products and services, creating new sources of competitive pressure – as well as enormous potential for future growth, profitability and cost reduction.”
To capitalise on the opportunities presented by the digital era requires a radical rethink of the people factor. Accenture has identified five trends that will reshape the “people first” landscape in the next three to five years.
The liquid workforce
The ideal workforce model for the digital economy is a fluid, blended and agile portfolio of skillsets. Primary digital skills must be complemented with agile, business-savvy employees with the acumen to drive change.
When Accenture asked Australian employers to rank the top skillsets they seek in a digital environment, proficiency with digital technologies was considered essential by 35% – a distant third to the ability to “learn new requirements quickly” (42%) and the ability to “shift gears at minimal notice” (41%).
In the age of the “liquid workforce”, teams increasingly comprise partners, contractors and freelancers. Australian executives fully expect that the workforce of the future will be structured more around transient project-based roles than continuous job functions. They expect internal permanent positions to make up just 51% of their workforce within three years.
On the challenge of building a workforce for the future, Jane Livesey of Accenture states that “creating the right liquid workforce, the right style of working and the right culture to retain the new generation of employees is critically important for companies”.
Intelligent automation
Prior to digital disruption, the impact of new technologies on the workforce has mostly been gradual and incremental. Today, the pace of change and the transformative impact of technology is unprecedented.
The rise of Intelligent Automation, powered by advances in AI, is becoming a key driver of this change. Intelligent automation brings fundamental changes to how businesses and individuals work. Machines have different strengths and capabilities that complement their human supervisors.
If automation is applied in a smart way, Jane Livesey of Accenture recognises ‘there is an opportunity to create better jobs, roles, more productive employees and safer jobs by applying automation in a smart way’.
42% of Australian executives surveyed by Accenture believe AI will “completely transform” their industry in the next three years.
Examples of emerging intelligent automation in Australia range from Coles supermarkets trialling order-taking fridge magnets to Rio Tinto’s driverless trucks.
The platform economy
Industry leaders and innovative disruptors are unleashing digital technology’s potential by developing new technology platforms to power their businesses. Digital technology, big data, sophisticated algorithms and cloud computing power the platform-based business models that are driving what Accenture describes as “the most profound global macroeconomic change since the industrial revolution”.
According to Accenture’s Jane Livesey “platform ecosystems are nothing less than the foundation for new value creation in the digital economy’.
The epoch-shaping activities of “digital-born organisations” such as Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google, Salesforce and Uber are based on two critical elements: the technology platforms they have built to support their businesses, and the business models these platforms enable.
Four out of 10 (44%) Australian executives expect that platform-based business models will become part of their core growth strategy within three years, according to Accenture.
Academics Martin Kenney and John Zysman, writing for the US public policy journal Issues in Science & Technology, believe the platform economy – or “digital platform economy” – promises “if not a utopia, at least a world of ever greater benefit for communities and citizens”.
Predictable disruption
Platforms open the door for new competitors by making it easier for agile, small players and companies from other industries to disrupt large markets. Accenture found that 40% of Australian executives believe their industry is experiencing “ecosystem disruption”.
Rapidly globalising platforms and their digital ecosystems – such as Uber’s taxi model or Amazon’s ecommerce suite – are often too big to challenge by the time they enter Australia. Organisations need to understand when to launch competing platforms and when to position themselves within existing ecosystems.
Jane Livesey, Accenture, states that “companies must move beyond focusing just on how to use technology and instead, understand how technology will impact the consumer or a specific industry”.
Digital trust
Australian companies recognise the importance of trust: 86% consider trust to be the cornerstone of the digital economy.
Businesses that fail to take cyber risks into account are letting their customers down and exposing their businesses to financial and reputational risk, Accenture warns.
As the business value of data grows, 85% of Australian executives believe that the risks companies face from improper handling or disclosure of data are growing exponentially.
Managing that risk and building trust starts with data ethics and security. It’s not only customers and regulators who are demanding it: 87% of Australian executives say their knowledge workers are demanding stronger ethical controls on data.
Success will deliver benefits not just to investors but to everyone along the value chain: employees looking to acquire skills and build careers with companies and industries that complement their values and aspirations; customers that demand service providers they can trust; suppliers and partners who increasingly look to joining supply chains as trusted partners; and ultimately the communities in which these companies operate.
To learn more about Accenture Technology Vision 2016, visit the website.