“One machine can do the work of fifty ordinary men. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary man.”
― Elbert Hubbard
Blockchain, big data/advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning—it becomes increasingly difficult for executives to stay on top of technological advances. It seems like every new technological buzz will radically change the profit pools in many industries. So, what should top executives do?
10x Results "Million $ Idea"
It almost never pays off to be a first mover on new technologies (even if you are a tech company), unless this is your core business. Many technologies will radically change until they are commercially viable at a larger scale in your business. So, avoid jumping on every technological bandwagon.
Instead, make sure that you leverage existing, mature technologies to the greatest degree. We are talking about handy stuff like video conferencing, electronic data management, and collaboration platforms. These may sound extremely “unsexy,” and this is because they are. They will not get you Wall Street Journal headlines, but they will significantly contribute to your bottom line (far more than many of the new, hot technologies could at the moment).
Checklist: Technologies that most companies should leverage
Start with the basics: A laptop that works and starts quickly. Good network connection. Excellent collaboration and work software (i.e., Office, Skype for Business, Slack). No access to private social media (i.e., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) while at work. Network printing and scanning. It’s the easy, mundane stuff that is most often neglected but brings the most significant benefits to the bottom line. Fix this stuff and you will see immediate benefits.
Reduce travel time and cost: When a senior executive travels cross-continental to a business meeting, the total costs to the company can easily run to $10,000 or more (travel, hotel, downtime). Now, the business case is simple: Reduce internal (non-customer) meetings by more than 50 percent by installing good video-conferencing equipment in your major sites. There are immersive telepresence solutions now available that will feel like you are indeed in one room. Use Skype for Business or similar apps on laptops. Ensure sufficient bandwidth, and you are good to go. To ensure compliance, require signoff from senior executives on travel for internal meetings.
Use IP telephony: Migrate your expense PBX telephony solution (equipment, system, call minutes) to IP telephony. Get rid of most desk phones—route calls either to cell phones or laptop computers. Use visual voicemail. Get people decent headsets. Test data calls on and off premises.
Reduce email and duplicated data storage: Many managers and executives get more than 200 emails a day. It is ineffective to have half of your top management team spend two hours or more a day on email when in many cases only 10 percent of the emails are critical and require their urgent attention. Implement an electronic document management system. Use collaboration platforms (like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint). They now also come with instant messaging features and allow you to keep all documents and team conversations in one place. The benefits include: (1) Always the most up-to-date documents, (2) Full access and searchability to team discussions, (3) Central task management, (4) Significantly less email, (5) Significantly less data traffic and data storage, and the list goes on. This technology is ready—use it.
Email best practices: For the email that remains, allow people to reduce the time they spend on it by more than half by teaching them how to use auto rules, auto email formatting, sorting by conversations, email search features, and effective, crisp email writing techniques.
Coming back to the topic of “super-hot” new technologies: While you will not have to implement them right away, you should still make sure that you keep on top of those new technologies. You (or your key people) should know what technological advances are around the corner and how you could profit from them a few years from now. Keep your eye on blockchain, big data, AI, machine learning, and all the other new technological advances. And when the time is right, move. Here are a few simple rules to help guide your thinking:
10x Results "Million $ Idea"
When you look at it from the perspective of the technology adoption lifecycle, the advice for 95 percent of businesses is:
Never be a first mover (unless this is your core business).
Be an early adopter of those technologies that (a) you genuinely understand and that (b) provide a sustainable competitive advantage to your business.
Be among the early majority for most relevant technologies (at a time when they are maturing, cost-effective, and stable); still a few months earlier than your competitors.
Never be a laggard or among the late majority for relevant technologies.
Moving to Action: Questions to Ask Yourself
Have you implemented all the beneficial mature technologies that are mentioned above? If not, how can you speed up the implementation to start reaping the benefits?
Which new technologies could be a key competitive differentiator for you? How do you track them? Should you “micro test” them in your organization (to learn and pilot/pressure-test the business case)?
This insight is a chapter from the book "10x Results: 240+ proven ideas to boost revenues, profits, customer loyalty, and employee engagement". The book is available on Amazon.