Closing the digital gap – video

One of the key challenges in being a digital leader is achieving faster integration of new technology into the way we work.

Technology is changing fast; new tools, threats and opportunities are emerging constantly. It’s likely that this rate of technology innovation will continue to accelerate.

As individuals, many of us are keen to adopt new technologies, we pick up the latest smartphone and instantly download the app we need. We adopt smart technologies at home, in our cars and in our hobbies.

However, with the pace of change in technology, even the most tech savvy early adopter cannot keep up with all the alternatives.

We also know that there are people who are much less comfortable with picking up new technologies and these individuals can become a significant barrier to technology driven change.

For example, if we have a common customer relationship management system but some salespeople don’t use it, then this undermines the whole system.

We need significant investment in training and the planned integration of technology as part of our normal way of operating.

Corporations are significantly slower to adapt than many individuals. It’s a much bigger challenge to introduce a technology to 1,000 people than to pick it up yourself. You may not need training yourself to pick up the latest communication app, but to have it set up in a way that is secure, supported and used consistently by large groups of people is much more difficult, even if the technology itself is simple.

When we take these factors together, we can see that there is a growing gap between the opportunities created by technology and our ability to implement them at work.

Research is already showing that people and corporate culture will be both the most significant enablers AND potential barriers to successful digital transformation – yet most investment is still going into the technology itself.

What are your plans to close this gap?

If you’d like to find out more about the skills needed to lead digital transformation why not download our download our Digital Transformation white paper  or join our webinar Leading the change from virtual to matrix and digital teams