Volatility. It’s here to stay for the next unforeseen number of years, so get comfortable with the uncomfortable. While some may argue that planning in today’s market is impossible to do, the most effective way to navigate and win is to take a pragmatic approach to investments, risk management and workforce planning.
As a seasoned technology executive of 25 years driving successful digital transformations for several highly regarded brands across Asia-Pacific, Europe, Middle East and North America, I’m here to share my practical advice for IT and finance leaders who are on a mission to face global volatility head on, and win.
Flexibility as a Winning Strategy
For most CIOs, it is becoming more difficult to forecast the impact of technology and AI. Yet, the demand from the top and throughout the organization is to usher in transformation that can effectively reduce operating costs, improve margins and enable growth while keeping systems secure and running optimally – and to do so with less resources than comfortably needed.
Against rising costs and fast-evolving technological advancements, many of the executives I’ve spoken with in recent times have shared both their excitement for the changes happening in the field of technology, and paralysis in deciding which investments to make to yield the highest ROI for the business.
Recent examples and a long history of failed implementations that have severely impacted – and have even bankrupted – organizations, serve as reminders that not every technology decision is guaranteed a win.
The most successful leaders of the future will be those that are flexible and adaptable to constant change, keeping the organization on a path to sustainable evolution. This means investing in technology and ERPs for long-term benefit may not be in the best interest of the business, especially when the near-term future of IT will be vastly changed by AI. What you invest in today may be moot technology tomorrow.
As more gravitate towards the composable, modular model of best-of-breed selections and demand faster time to value realization, the technology landscape will also look very different in the near future, even for monolithic software vendors.
Harnessing more benefits from existing assets and extrapolating value from outside the core, rather than replacing the core, will keep systems flexible and resistant to external volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) which could unexpectedly drive up costs and introduce new risk to the business.
Now more than ever, executives need to prioritize benefits realization and ROI, ensuring every IT investment delivers tangible, measurable value and is low risk for failure. CIOs and CFOs should partner together and look throughout the entire operation to find opportunities for cost reduction, netting savings needed for meaningful investments of flexible innovation.
Going hat in hand to the board to ask for additional funds during volatile times will be difficult, however, discovering savings within the organization and going to the board with a plan in hand on how to best reinvest the funds for growth and innovation will raise the executive’s profile to new heights.
End-to-End Risk Management
Risk management now has a greater weighting given the multiple impact of geopolitical and economic uncertainty. This necessitates taking a more flexible approach to risk management, incorporating new methods to combat supply chain disruption, rapid changes to interest rates, pressure on margins, and mercurial trade agreements.
The traditional global order that has been the standard for many decades, and the globalization of free trade agreements are starting to fragment towards a more national-interest approach. The impact to an organization’s ability to operate in certain geographies and the risk to profitability, costs and supply chain must be considered and planned for accordingly.
On top of scenario planning, developing and adhering to risk framework and registers, securing secondary supply chain options and building up inventories, I recommend executives and stakeholders collaborate on strategies to increase business resiliency and agility throughout the organization.
The net results should yield business continuity plans, augmentation of workforce and resources, process improvement, and for industries such as manufacturing, could mean the securing of alternative sourcing suppliers and investment in dual production capabilities.
On the technology side, look for proven solutions and partners to extend the life of existing systems, as many are intricately woven throughout the organization and have the potential to run for years and even decades into the future. With each upgrade, especially for those who have customized their systems to best fit their business needs and create competitive differentiation, the introduction of potential breakage can bring on a host of challenges including downtime.
Reliance solely on vendor patches could also leave doors open for cyberattacks and devastating vulnerabilities. I advise organizations to take a proactive security approach that includes zero-day protection, working to prevent and protect without impeding the operation. This applies to applications, databases, middleware and programs such as hypervisors.
New solutions to optimize mission-critical systems also include expert third-party support which also has the remarkable savings effect of up to 90% total cost of annual maintenance while keeping systems compliant and up to regulatory standards, managed services that can address backlog tickets and maintain application stability, proactive security services that makes waiting for vendor patches an archaic process, and robust interoperability solutions. This helps existing software to work seamlessly with the latest OS, browser, Java or email without the need for upgrades, and monitoring and health check services that help identify and resolve potential issues before they happen.
The ability to have all these high value solutions and services from one single partner with a global footprint and workforce adds tremendous leverage for organizations who already are juggling too many vendors. The right partner will effectively add advanced capability, agility and resiliency to the organization, further reducing cost and risk to the business.
Revolution-ready Workforce Planning
AI is causing the next industrial revolution to the workforce. In the 1800’s, machinery and mechanization displaced manual labor in factories. In the 1950’s, the agricultural revolution modernized and mechanized farming techniques, once again displacing much of the manual workforce. In the 1990’s, with the advent of the internet, businesses and companies took off as a precursor to the digital age. A new industry of tech was born.
With the advent of AI, the knowledge workers in society are now at risk. AI can deliver more relevant output and automate most routine tasks by knowledge workers and is growing more competent as the technology evolves. The use of chatbots, ChatGPT and Agentic AI will quickly and flawlessly automate interactions in this new digital age. Computers will move up the intelligence chain, but not the creative chain. Human creativity, arts and physical trades will still be primary inputs into any AI computation or innovation.
The next big evolution that is not too far away is the ability to infuse AI intelligence with robotics to create a new workforce. Robotics with intelligence may take over more manual tasks in factories and warehouses. New AI offerings may also eliminate roles we consider critical or strategic today.
A forward-thinking workforce plan is a combined effort of every executive and manager across the organization, upskilling, reskilling, reimagining and redefining the roles and responsibilities needed to take full advantage of what AI has to offer.
Key Takeaways
While the future may be uncertain, I stick to my ethos of nurturing a culture of flexibility, creativity, collaboration and authenticity. The latter will be the difference between brands of loyalty or ones of yesteryear.
Whether in volatile times or predictable times, the responsibility of executives continues to expand as technology and global changes add complexities we’ve not yet even begun to imagine.
But leaders who chart a smart path that can flex and evolve with inevitable changes of the future, collaborate with the right partners to enhance their capabilities and run faster, invest in technology that offers competitive advantage and innovation without lock-ins, and invest in people and processes to create a robust workforce – will always come out winners.
