News von IGI

Die or transform digital !

Digitalisation puts companies at risk, which do not respond quickly and effectively

"We are in the middle of the age of information and nobody realises this." This means that many are still on the road with a map that does not fit with the current landscape.

The next few years could therefore be very uncomfortable, i.e. the period 2023-2030 is for companies "the decade of survival". The situation is comparable to the transition from the agricultural age to the industrial age, which Gerhart Hauptmann describes in the play "The Weavers".

In the industrial age the Top 3 of an industry have often still earned splendidly and the number four to ten could realise handsome profits. This will change fundamentally in the context of increasing digitization in all industries and sectors. The "logic of the game" will be different !

The market for search engines is a very good "snapshot" of the future: One might think that there are currently only five search engine providers worldwide. But the reality is that 5,000 companies compete for customers and corporate profits. Of these companies, however, only one company makes not only "magnificent" but "indecent magnificent" profits: Google ! The new "logic of the game" thus means: "The Winner takes it all !!!" The remaining companies of an industry or sector will not disappear from the scene, but they will be insignificant.

Therefore, corporate leaders will have to face the choice in the very near future to be either "flotsam and jetsam" or "wave".

Many business owners and managers have meanwhile understood that the question is not "whether" but "when and how strongly" digitalisation impacts their industry. But companies are often still hesitant in establishing and implementing appropriate digitalisation initiatives and do not have the relevant methods.

Big Data and automation make the interaction with customers easy, fast and focused on the individual preferences, thus offer a completely new value. The automation of processes allows cost savings and quality improvements in unprecedented height, i.e. the existing core business can be improved immensely by digitalisation. In addition, digitalisation promotes the radical redefinition of business models and growth areas.

Thus, borders between industries disappear and completely new, non-industry competitors emerge in the own traditional market, possibly with completely different business models. The pressure on price, a "The Winner takes it all"-dynamic spreads into more and more industries. At the same time customer demands and expectations increase enormously. Those who do not adapt quickly enough to these changing conditions, disappear.

Workshop “Digital Transformation”

Bring your Management team and your digital transformation activities on track - Check-Point, Sharpening, Acceleration, Inspiration!

Using a 2 day modular workshop concept, we want to help corporations to develop digitalization knowledge, verify and sharpen the taken direction as well as to think “out-of-the-box” and to accelerate the transformation.

Possible objectives and topics for the Workshop

Approach

  • Experienced IGI-Scouts® plan and accompany your individual Workshop “Digital Transformation” on the basis of proven workshop modules
  • Expert presentations, case studies and innovative methods ensure knowledge building and development of fruitful results
  • Intensive pre-discussions and alignment of objectives and agenda ensure the right focal points for you

Background

Our Study “Die or transform digital” indicates that only few companies are on a really good track for digital transformation. Companies miss often adequate digitalization know-how, their thinking is trapped in the past or the focus is strongly on technology. A real transformation of the enterprise is not happening.

Contact

We are happy to discuss without any obligation the design of your individual Workshop “Digital Transformation” with you. Get in touch:

Tel: +49 (89) 790 704-80

Germany risks to loose its innovation capabilities and its long-term competitiveness

Germany ranks meanwhile only at position 8 (with regard to "innovation capabilities") in the Global Innovation Index of 2023, which is published each year by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Switzerland, in contrast, is again (since 2011 for the thirteenth consecutive year) number 1, followed by Sweden, the United States of America, United Kingdom, Singapore, Finland, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Republic of Korea.

How can this be explained? Some years ago the German "Manager Magazine" published the edition with the headline: "Why are German managers so terrible normal?" the magazine quotes Thomas Sattelberger, the former Chief Human resource Officer (CHRO) of Deutsche Telekom, as follows: "For the disruptive of entire industrial sectors we have the wrong top managers".

Fact is that innovation needs a creative destruction that destroys the old markets and creates new ones (see also the IGI studies "Innovate and Die" as well as "Die or transform digital").

Without "destruction" there is no progress. Important factors for this are the followings:

  • Diversified top management: Instead of homogeneous top managers with uniform career paths there is the need for people who are willing to take on risks. Only those, who have the courage to question the status quo and who have the boldness to enter unusual roads, are also able to create breakthroughs (breakdowns are the basis for breakthroughs). In particular courage and radicalness are more and more missing factors at the top management level.
  • Deliberate culture to accept "misapprehensions": Innovation needs the space to sustain breakdowns and failures. Both belong to entrepreneurship. Especially lage corporations are lacking this capability (see also the IGI studies "Innovate and Die" as well as "Die or transform digital"). Instead, risks are minimised and systematic controls are increades. It is contained to play around and to dare things. "Failures" are not allowed. Therefore, the existing is often only opimised. Many authors and management gurus call in this context for a culture that allows "Failures" rsp. "Mistakes".
    We from IGI have a different opinion to this: We differentiate between a "misapprehension" (when you do something wrong for the first time) and a "mistake" (when you do something wrong for a second or multiple time). Consequently, leaders should encourage "misapprehensions" and prompt fast learning, i.e. avoid "mistakes".

 

If you are interested in more details, you can download the full report from the Global Innovation Index website:

http://www.globalinnovationindex.org/