How Will the 4th Industrial Revolution Impact Your Business?
Welcome to 2021!, many have placed huge expectations on this year, hoping it will be better year, however I fear at least for the first part of the year, it will be more of the same. I am cautiously optimistic. Never the less this is the best time to relook at how digitally ready your business is in this rapidly changing world. It is a New Start or Beginning so with that in mind, my first article of the year will focus on the impact of the 4th IR on your business.
In 2020, the pace of digital transformation started accelerating due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As businesses and societies as a whole needed to leverage technologies across virtually all aspects of business and even our private lives, we saw several – obvious – areas get more “DIGITAL” than before.
Nicolas Windpassinger, author of IoT book “Digitize or Die” looked at some of the areas where change would be more and less lasting, and according to him. Examples include:
- The fact that many people started using digital channels for specific purposes for the first time (and will often continue to do so because they can),
- the inevitable shift – where possible – to remote work (and hybrid work),
- further digital transformation in sales and marketing,
- a change to “remote everything,” at least where it makes sense.
PREDICTION
Through the course of the different Industrial revolutions:
- 1st IR –
- 2nd IR – .
- 3rd IR –
What Impact Will the 4th IR Have On Your Business?
1. Product Enhancement
Products and services will be given additional capabilities through digital enhancements, which will increase their value, and through this and other innovations, new technologies will emerge that cause existing products and items to be more durable. Ikea created an augmented reality app that allows customers to visualise 3D versions of its furniture in their homes.
2. Customer Expectation
With customers at the centre of the economy, everything is and will continue to shift towards improving customer service.
3. Organisational Forms
New business models and platforms create a need for new talent, culture and organisational structures.
4. Collaborative Innovation
Connectivity and innovation enable and require collaboration and partnership, much like open source technologies such as Python enabled access and collaboration to analytical solutions.
Why is this Important?
By it’s nature technology is a potential direct/indirect source of disruption.
More recently, consider how technology has caused disruptions to the photographic, music and movie industries, changing these industries forever. Social was a big game changer as well as Mobile.
Technology is in part a strategic solution to solving challenges among which can be disruption.
So, digital transformation is certainly not just about disruption or technology alone.
The essential aspect of Digital Transformation is the interdependency & interconnectedness of everything. Businesses need to think holistically, across industries & with present and future shifts in mind.
Contact Content 360 to digitally transform your business and make sure you are ready for the “disruptive” 4th Industrial Revolution.
References
website: i-scoop- digital transformation article
website: insights.principa.co.za/what-does-the-fourth-industrial-revolution-mean-for-your-business