Find out what 1700 CEO's think & how it can help your business

Recently IBM released their latest Global study based on face to face interviews with 1,700 chief executive officers in 64 countries. I wanted to share it with you as it gives an interesting overview of the opportunities and challenges of running a 21^st Century business.

IBM produce a study every two years, their latest report ‘Leading Through Connections’ states that CEO’s, for the first time, see technology to be the key driver that is driving change in their organisations. Company execs are now realising the impact of social and digital and how it is changing supply chains and relationships between partners, employees and customers.

Here is a summary of some of the key findings from the report:

·         There is a shift to building open and collaborative cultures to connect and learn from each other.

·         Customer insights is a key area that CEOs are investing in, understanding individual customer needs rather than a mass need. Over half expect social channels to be the main way to engage with their customers in five years’ time.

·         Over half of the CEO’s are partnering in order to drive much needed innovation in their field.

There recommendations, based on the study outcomes, are as follows:

·         Organisations should be built around a purpose and a value system which is understood and practiced by employees. As an organisation becomes more open it needs a stronger value system to improve decision making.

·         Companies should engage customers as individuals- using better analytics to draw insight on individual customers then to be able to action this.

·         Amplifying innovation with partnerships is key in order to manage increasing levels of complexity. Companies will have to seek new partners. These will be deeper relationships than before. Not only will collaborative environments have to be shared but also data and control.

These changes have also been occurring in the creative industry for many years. Most of us, depending on what sector we are in, are used to collaborating in one way or another. It is useful to see how the rest of the corporate world is responding to changings and there is definitely a shift to building open, collaborative organisations that are more agile, smarter and have a purpose to drive their business.

In 2010 IBM completed a similar report asking ‘What will the Enterprise of the Future look like?‘

Their findings were:

·         Over 40% of CEO’s were adapting their business to be more collaborative.

·         Nearly all CEOs are adapting their business models; two-thirds are implementing extensive innovations.

·         CEOs are moving aggressively toward global business designs.

Companies that were outperforming their peers anticipated more change, and managed it better. They were global in their business designs, partner more extensively and choose more disruptive forms of business model innovation.

If you are interested in finding out about building future proof employees, suggestions on how to collaborate on a mass scale and more download the document here.

It would be good to hear from you about what do you think the Enterprise of the Future looks like. Do you agree with these studies or have you had a different experience?

cc picture IBM