Realization of a New Vision for Business in the era of Rapid Innovation

Enterprises have always had to adapt to both opportunities and threats related to technological changes. However, at present innovation is being introduced at an unprecedented pace. Responding to these changes and preparing for further market disruptions caused by them has become a key success factor for current business and political leaders.

Many Central and Eastern European countries are experiencing strong economic growth, especially the Visegrad Group countries: it is expected that in 2018 the combined economies of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia will grow by almost 4% on average. However, the region also faces some challenges. Companies have problems with shortages of labor and labor costs are rising. These are important risk factors for the region, which has so far attracted foreign investment to a large extent by cheap and easily available workforce.

These countries will soon realize that investing in innovation and in a workforce with better digital skills rather than in more traditional qualified staff can be an important element of any competitive strategy. This also applies to businesses in general, as technology and digital competences are becoming increasingly important for competitiveness.

Companies are increasingly using new IT innovations not only to automate and streamline back office processes or operational processes, but also to create entirely new business areas and new technology-oriented products and services that were not previously possible. In this way, traditional companies are transforming into technology companies.

As the boundaries between business departments and the IT department are blurring, decision makers who do not have a clear vision of the digital transformation of their business strategy can be overtaken by more forward-thinking competitors and even driven out of the market due to extensive technological changes.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) study, expenditure on digital transformation in Central and Eastern Europe will exceed USD 21.3 billion in 2018, an increase of 17% compared to the previous year. As interest in transforming business procedures, products and enterprises increases, the main challenge will be to ensure that technology meets the daily needs of enterprises and helps them develop. But how do IT directors and other executives ensure that their IT investments meet their hopes?

One of the interesting trends we see in connection with these challenges is that companies are using completely new KPIs that help them manage digital transformation, measure its effects and better support innovation. When it comes to financial plans, enterprises can reduce the portion of IT budget allocated to regularly maintaining and updating older infrastructure, and increase the portion allocated to completely new and innovative technologies. The portion allocated to new and innovative technologies should increase over time.

Business KPIs can combine investments in technologies with measurable indicators regarding customer experience, such as Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) or Problem Resolution Time (PRT). This can motivate IT departments to continually examine the effectiveness of technology and its role in directly increasing customer satisfaction and retention.

Another key success factor will be imitating the innovative platform-based business methods that underlie many successful global startups. Such companies focus on offering their solutions in the form of services and do not invest a lot of money in infrastructure.

This approach works not only when providing services and solutions to clients, but also when providing employees with applications that are critical. CRM , ERP and HR systems are increasingly being transferred to the cloud, which reduces the demand of enterprises for complex equipment and servers as well as their management. By using this flexible approach, you can share business solutions and applications virtually on demand throughout your enterprise.

IT tech support engineers will need to transform their activities to respond more flexibly to new business needs. This will not only break the traditional IT silos, but also lead to significant investments in new competences in the field of management and communication. Soon there will be a new type of IT director who will be less focused on technology and more on people.