Omentra holds talk show on how to disrupt and thrive through innovation
The second in the Omentra Talk Show series ‘58 minutes with’, held recently at the Chartered Accountants Auditorium with MAS Holdings Chief Growth Officer and Apparel Board Member Nathan Sivagananathan, once again concluded on a high note, with many of the participants requesting for similar talk shows in the future.
Nathan spoke on the topic of ‘Disrupt and Thrive through Innovation’. He began the discussion by outlining that disruption today is having a direct impact on technology, business strategies and decisionmakers in every industry and that it’s fuelling innovation.
He commented that therefore future business leaders needed several things to succeed, which included the right talent, focus on both innovation and operational excellence and the agility to adapt quickly to changes all around them.
This, he said, will enable companies to hedge against sudden industry disruption and pivot toward new opportunities and continually remain at the forefront of disruptive innovation, regardless of where those disruptive forces originate.
“Therefore, companies that understand how to harness the power of disruption are the ones that will still be operational beyond the next couple of years,” stated Nathan.
He further explained that leaders of companies need to challenge their management teams and workforces to revisit their products and processes, and to look outside the traditional enterprise walls for innovative approaches. He said that peer-to-peer innovation, just like peerto-peer networking, benefits from pooling resources and talent is becoming more and more popular thanks to the sharing economy.
“New technology tools, new methods to innovate and new revenue models can all be managed and tied together to become a lever to innovate and grow.”
He added that a company must consciously decide how to position their capabilities to stay continually relevant.
“They must be willing to plan for the future with a focus on capabilities that appeal to a broader and more diverse array of potential clients. Companies must also learn to adopt digital solutions to foster realtime collaboration with partners, customers and even competitors. In doing so, they re-examine both their entrenched business processes and their corporate culture in order to make them effective and relevant.”
Citing examples from his own company, Nathan gave an insight to the audience of the innovative projects undertaken by MAS to understand the evolving market landscape and in reaching out to the customer of the future.
In conclusion, he stated that the message to take way from the discussion was clear. It meant that disruption isn’t new but is everywhere and businesses need to remain innovative and agile to survive.
He affirmed, “The most innovative companies thrive when people disrupt themselves. Therefore, the only survival methodology today is to Innovate, Disrupt and Grow.”