TALKING

When speaking to IT executives , however , I often hear the same thing – they ’ ll say that one of their top priorities is to harness technology to drive innovation and build better customer experiences . Unfortunately , having ‘ innovation as the top priority ’ usually means having one or two initiatives that may be considered as ‘ innovative ’ – but are effecting little change .

To truly make a difference , CIOs need to reorient their business ’ entire culture around uncertainty and disruptive ideas . By doing this , organisations can continue to adapt to shifting circumstances how ever volatile the current environment might be .

Here , I explore three goals you should move to the top of your priority list if you want to create an enterprise that is ready for the future .

Make good predictions by embracing uncertainty embracing uncertainty , you ’ ll be better positioned to catch opportunities that you may not have found otherwise .

Promote challenging the norm to empower transformation

To put it bluntly , innovation will most likely not come from senior leadership , and it will not come from directions such as ‘ create something innovative this year ’. Instead , it will come from your frontline workers and their deep understanding of what customers expect , want and need . It ’ s up to you as a leader to foster an environment that values challenging ideas .

Spend some time thinking about what kind of environment you have . Do your teams feel empowered and comfortable bringing new ideas to further business goals ? Do they feel that they have a voice and that they are being heard ? Look around during a meeting – if everyone is nodding instead of speaking their mind , there ’ s a missed opportunity to improve .

Most ideas take months , if not years , to get approved if it needs to navigate most companies ’ internal approval procedures . You also have meetings , roadmaps and politics on top of approvals – all before testing a core

Felipe Demetrio de Souza , Business Director at CI & T

Though uncertainty has always been a part of the equation , COVID-19 has jump-started inspiring innovative responses from businesses , proving that necessity is the mother of invention .

Dealing with uncertainty is all about your ability to be nimble , to be able to respond quickly to new trends and opportunities . But , as important as knowing when to jump into an opportunity is , knowing when to jump out of one is crucial too . Think small experiments – the ones that you are not betting your whole company on , quick cycles whereby at the end of it you have something concrete to look at and reflect , and also the power to pivot or even stop any initiative . Innovative ideas need room to mature and evolve , so give it the environment to do so .

To get the most out of an experimentation culture , the perception of success and failure also needs to shift . Put value learning over outcomes . Having multiple small experiments will not yield the expected result , but they will help shape the ones that do . By

In order for your entire organisation to be driven by customer needs , every area of your business should have a single view of customer data .

concept of a project . By creating an atmosphere that enables multiple ideas to be tested and validated quickly , you ’ re able to rapidly scale what works .

Create a consumer-centric business by empowering your teams

Get closer than ever to your customers . So close that you tell them what they need well before they realise it themselves . – Steve Jobs

This quote encapsulates the point that by understanding customer needs , you are able to

www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO APAC 37