EDITOR’S QUESTION
CHARL ENNE,
BUSINESS INNOVATION
EXECUTIVE,
OUTSYSTEMS SA
“The most
important thing
that African
companies need
to consider
going forward
is the customer
experience.”
A
major challenge facing African
companies is the legacy
culture and technology factors
hampering their ability to accelerate
digital innovation. A shortage of
skilled technical resources, growing
development backlogs and ever-
increasing budget constraints mean
that companies are forced to focus
valuable time and resources on day-to-
day operations and maintenance, rather
than on identifying and capitalising on
new business opportunities through
digital products.
Digital innovation is ultimately driven
by the consumer. Consumers across the
continent are exposed to innovative
new products and services offered
by global companies, that provide a
seamless customer experience. The
result is a consumer mindset that
progresses at a faster rate than local
companies can keep up with.
As a result, there is a growing gap
in the African market – larger than
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INTELLIGENTCIO
what is seen in the US or Europe –
between the demand for new digital
customer experiences and businesses’
ability to supply it, making enterprises
ripe for disruption. Many Fortune
500 companies have disappeared
because of their inability to meet this
demand, and it is no different for local
companies. Unless they adapt quickly,
and embark on a digital transformation
journey, their extinction is closer than
they can imagine.
The most important thing that African
companies need to consider going
forward is the customer experience.
Because customers are increasingly
interacting with digital products or
platforms on a daily basis, companies
need to find ways to become a part of
those interactions. This requires a shift
from being organisational or process-
centric (inside out) to customer-centric
(outside in), to mould business models
around how customers want to engage
with the business.
There is a need to start looking at
business models as something that is
malleable, to look at where the threats lie
and how these can be turned these into
opportunities by unlocking new value for
customers, partners and themselves.
Disruption is not about doing the same
thing with a few added improvements;
companies might sometimes have
to discard models, processes or
technologies that they have invested
a lot of time and resources into, in
order to take advantage of a bigger
opportunity. They need to look at how
they can disrupt themselves, before they
are disrupted by the competition.
Gearing a business up to disrupt,
rather than be disrupted is not about
the infrastructure. Companies need
to flatten out their organisational
structures, remove hierarchies and
treat employees as key stakeholders
in digital transformation efforts. This
can be achieved by creating groups
around products, rather than skill sets
to enhance collaboration and drive
innovative thinking, enabled by mixed
skill sets.
Local businesses need to look toward
employees with new age digital skills –
not exclusively about technology – but
rather creative problem solving, user
or customer experience thinking and
pitching ideas to fundraise internally. The
more traditionally associated skills include
software programming, continuous
prototyping, delivery and testing. n
“There is a growing gap in the African
market . . . between the demand for
new digital customer experiences and
businesses’ ability to supply it.”
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