Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Kiwis should embed technology into their business culture, writes Andrew Jamieson, director of digital strategy at PwC digital.
New Zealand has historically been a nation of fierce innovators and early adopters. Our can-do, ‘‘number 8 wire’’ attitude to innovation is also one of the favourite stories we tell about ourselves. Innovation is in our genes and a key part of our national heritage.
The World Economic Forum (WEF) believes we are at the dawn of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, so it might be worth looking at how we have done in leveraging the most transformative technologies of the past 20 years.
In short, New Zealand isn’t leading the world in digital technology. Not even close.
We have some world class digital innovators but, in an international talent show, we are firmly in the chorus line.
The WEF ranks 143 countries on their digital maturity across a range of different areas. So how do we do?
In a word: Average. We score highly on our political and regulatory environment, but poorly on affordability and impact.
Our network coverage is poor, as is the average connectivity bandwidth, mobile data penetration and aggregate household connectivity. Obviously this will be linked to affordability, where we rank a woeful 101 overall.
We rank poorly in global e-commerce indices, our low online sales figures offshore is well documented and while we do okay on weightless goods such as event tickets, travel booking and music, we are are a long way behind on physical goods.
Digital technology offers great opportunities to build better businesses focusing on customer experience through to process efficiencies. So why are we only average?
The PwC Digital IQ Survey polled nearly 2000 business and technology leaders around the world, including 50 from New Zealand. It reveals a number of areas where we could do better.
New Zealand businesses have been slow to invest in digital technology. They have struggled to align their overall strategy with digital initiatives. We are yet to see a significant number of Kiwi firms take technology out of IT and bring it into the entire firm.
Results from the PwC survey clearly show a link between digital investment, behaviours and financial growth. This link is even clearer where digital strategy has been deliberately aligned to the business strategy.
The research also shows New Zealand businesses have a renewed desire and drive to embrace digital thinking. Many also recognise they need to invest more in this area to remain competitive and relevant.
For New Zealand, creating a collaborative ecosystem is key to closing the gap with our trading partners and our success hinges on education and infrastructure.
For organisations, the recipe for digital success is well signposted. Executive sponsorship and literacy is a key factor as is aligning digital initiatives with the organisational strategy and understanding what sustainable innovation looks like. Having a good understanding of customer priorities ensures resource is pointed in the right direction, leveraging data makes for evidence-based decisions and working collaboratively ensures benefits are delivered throughout the organisation.