The frequent upgrading of IT systems is no longer termed better; it is rather tagged as essential. Coping up with IT advancements ensures that you are not rendered obsolete. One of the most discussed technologies is Cloud, which has evolved itself from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a ‘must-be-there’. Unlike the Legacy Era, Cloud is no longer seen as an investment, it is rather seen as a tool that brings circumnavigated and balanced overview and as a platform for innovation and a means to achieve competitive advantage.
Cloud adaptation can help SMBs in three different ways:
- Facilitate innovation, lowering total cost of ownership,
- Enhance operational efficiency and;
- Enable them to more readily meet customer expectations
It is no longer a belief but a fact that adopting Cloud-based services will lower operational costs. It is not just the cost effectiveness that is making Cloud adaptation imperative for companies; the emphasis here is on value addition. Successful organizations understand that visionary technologies like Cloud Computing and Cognitive Computing are key to improving operations, customer experiences, and are basics of any business.
The flexibility that Cloud provides ensures swift operations and better business performance. Cloud is the way for small organizations to have a level playing field and to enjoy tailored services with enterprise-class infrastructure supporting their endeavors. Vesting in modern technologies in the organization also resists dwindling of the talent pool.
Development of the business world is and has been exponential; this, for clear reasons, has its own advantages. Since the development rate is quickly growing, any player in the market can become wildly successful in a little traverse of time. The market is more competitive, for big players, the reason being exponential development, which affirms rapid change, considering the large size and rigidity of these firms; they are often slow in implementing changes. Lack of endurance in coping up with technological advances can bring about the downfall of any prominent organization.
What do the companies in these three groups have in common?
Group A: American Motors, Brown Shoe, Studebaker, Collins Radio, Detroit Steel, Zenith Electronics, and National Sugar Refining.
Group B: Boeing, Campbell Soup, General Motors, Kellogg, Procter and Gamble, Deere, IBM, and Whirlpool.
Group C: Facebook, eBay, Home Depot, Microsoft, Office Depot and Target.
All of the companies in Group A were in the Fortune 500 in 1955, but not in 2016.
All of the companies in Group B were in the Fortune 500 in both 1955 and 2016.
All of the companies in Group C were in the Fortune 500 in 2016, but not 1955
So what happened to these companies, in short, is Darwinism. In order to survive, you need to evolve. If you look at recent business history, as the above statistics revealed, that more than 80% of the businesses that were in the Fortune 500 list, 20 years ago, are no longer making it into that list due to lack of endurance in coping up with the emerging technological advancements in 1990s. The ranks were snatched by organizations born in last 20 years instead.
The same fundamental transformation is happening now. Instead of a shift to online business, it is a shift to digital business models and modern digital infrastructures. If you stick with your legacy technology, you will face losing relevance and suffer the same fate as those companies from group A. Therefore, there is an imperative need for constant upgradations, giving a whole new meaning to competitive survival
“Survival of the Contemporary”.
