The Business Agility Paradox
In preparation for a keynote speech I’m delivering next month to a large number of CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and COOs from a wide range of Fortune 500 companies, I talked with the meeting planner who told me that he surveyed the audience ahead of time and asked them what topic they were most interested in. At the top of the list was Business Agility. As the pace of change continues to accelerate, the ability to change quickly, in the face of new technology enabled capabilities can easily separate the winners from the losers. In addition to the challenge presented by the accelerated pace of change are the constantly shifting customer and consumer interests and demands.
THE PARADOX
Paradox is defined as a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth. Putting the word “business” together with the word “agility” seems to fit the paradox definition. A business should be able to achieve agility, yet anyone in business knows that the ability to change quickly always takes much longer than anticipated.
THE REAL-TIME DASHBOARD
Information can be collected and communicated in real time, allowing the right people to see the earliest possible signs of consumer, or customer change, and then implement immediate responses. The best way to get this vital information past the e-mail and document overload we face is to have it sent to our personal digital dashboard.
A digital dashboard is a Web page that is connected to your internal computer network. It provides you with the real-time information you need to monitor to help you take immediate action.
Instead of containing just text, the dashboard will graphically represent the information you need so that you can quickly see changes as they are occurring. For example, a product might become hot and start flying off the shelves. As the increased sales happen, the color of a graph might change or even flash, letting you know an immediate re-stocking or re-order must take place.
If your organization does not provide you with a dashboard option, it’s time to get one. The cost is low and the positive impact on agility is high.
In this article, I separated customers form consumers because a consumer may not be a customer. It is amazing how many companies, both large and small focus on customers, but fail to focus on consumers who can be converted into new customers.
Daniel Burrus, one of the world's leading technology forecasters, business strategists, and author of six books
Copyright 2007 Author retains copyright. All Rights Reserved.
