This is the first in a 3-part series by Sopheon's CEO, Andy Michuda. Read Part 2 >
Sopheon has been in business for over 15 years. In that time we have witnessed huge corporate transformation, with our clients shifting from R&D silos to enterprise innovation-centric organizational structures. This movement addresses the core challenges for company growth in the face of "new norm" economics and the corporate capabilities required in a digital age. While uncertainty is nothing new, what has changed in the past decade is the unprecedented rate of change in the competitive landscape.
We are seeing two key market influences that stand out as driving forces behind the wild rate of change, or "new norm," that organizations are experiencing worldwide:
The extent to which consumers influence the market and the rate at which they are demanding product and service change is daunting to large, complex enterprises and has fundamentally changed the game for how companies innovate, develop new products, and manage existing products.
Successful businesses have reacted to this age of consumerization by increasing their ability to pivot and adapt to client whims, needs, and demands. Stability is no longer always a good thing; controlled instability is on the rise. Gartner estimates that by 2017, 70% of successful digital business models will rely on deliberately unstable processes designed to shift as customer needs shift. 1
The age of digital business has opened the floodgates of commercial opportunity. With the confluence of small and powerful mobile devices, always-on connectivity, and mainstream Internet of Things (IoT) technology, corporations are scrambling to capitalize on the enormous potential of connected products and services. Gartner believes there will be 6.4 billion connected "things" worldwide by the end of 2016, up 30% from 2015, and expects this number will reach 20.8 billion by 2020. 2 Goldman Sachs has likened IoT to the industrial revolution.3
While no longer considered “new” trends, the highly disruptive nature of consumerization and the digitization of business compels transformational corporate change and directly impacts business strategy, planning and realization. As management consultant Peter Drucker said, "The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence, it is to act with yesterday's logic."
1 Plummer, Daryl C. and Cantara, Michele, "Predicts 2015: Innovators Must Develop a 'Split Personality' to Support Fast and Safe Digital Business", Gartner, 12 December 2014
2 Gartner Press Release "Gartner Says 6.4 Billion Connected ‘Things' Will Be in Use in 2016, Up 30 Percent from 2015", 10 November 2015
3 Goldman Sachs website, "The Internet of Things: Making sense of the next mega-trend"