Digital Action Field 2: New Technologies
The benefits of digital technologies range from automated data exchange, new business models, new communication platforms, to robotics and artificial intelligence. There is awareness of the fact that the introduction of new technologies is not sufficient on its own, but that employees must be introduced to the new devices and applications so that the opportunities held by these technologies can be exploited properly, successfully and sustainably over the long term.
The starting point to capture strategic opportunities from technologies is a technology radar: it is a tool that helps an organization to identify, evaluate and monitor relevant technologies. As a monitoring tool, it supports management in the strategic planning of technology developments. It not only points out which new technologies are on the rise, it also provides an early warning when old technology is about to be replaced. It can also highlight gaps in technology development.
The usefulness of such a radar depends strongly on how it is integrated into the internal processes of the organization. It is important that the technology radar is also actively used in discussions on the organization’s strategy, for example, to plan specific activities or research projects to launch in certain markets.
To build a technology radar, the following steps should be taken:
- Identify relevant technology and application areas.
- Gather information on these technology and application areas.
- Evaluate these areas and future opportunities.
- Visualize and communicate the results in the radar.
The technology radar helps to evaluate technologies and present them as a future technology roadmap (Marc K Peter, https://the-digital-transformation-canvas.com/).
Using various methods, digital technologies can be tested within the organization or with partners (e.g. start-ups or universities). The following methods are used in practice:
- A proof of concept is the technical implementation of an idea to demonstrate its feasibility or to check whether the general idea/concept can be implemented in practice.
- A prototype is a technically developed solution (product or service) with a limited range of functions.
- A pilot is a technical solution that can be tested in a limited circle and with limited use cases.
- A minimum viable product (MVP) is a technical product with sufficient (i.e. minimally usable) functions to test a product idea in the market and often with selected customers.
In the next blog post, we will introduce action field number 3, data and the cloud, as the strategic enabler for digital roadmaps, automation and AI.
Strategy questions for the digital age:
- Do you regularly identify technology trends (for instance, with a technology radar)?
- Who supports your organization in the evaluation and testing of new digital technology?
- Did you define and implemented IT and data security measures?