A new study from Harvard Business Review (HBR) Analytic Services sponsored by Verizon Enterprise Solutions demonstrates that early adoption of new technologies leads to better business outcomes. According to the study, the IT companies called ?pioneers?, which believe in the benefits of adopting new technologies and pursue first-mover advantage, are more likely to lead in both revenue growth and market position than their peers. As per the results, twenty percent of such pioneer companies experienced more than 30 percent revenue growth. This is more than twice the growth experienced by the ?followers? companies identified as those that watch and invest once benefits are proven and three times the growth experienced by the ?cautious? companies that wait until a technology is well-established.
The study surveyed 672 business and technology leaders from around the world on the impact of the Big Five technologies namely mobile, social, cloud computing, advanced analytics and machine to machine communications. The aim of the study was to understand how these tools are transforming organizations and helping them innovate to derive shareholder value.
?Organisations need to be constantly innovating in order to stay ahead of the curve, and this study shows that technology is a key enabler of business growth,? said Tony Recine, chief marketing officer, Verizon Enterprise Solutions.
The study defined three attitudes towards technology adoption: IT Pioneers (34 percent of those surveyed); Followers (35 percent) and Cautious (30 percent). Fifty seven percent of all respondents viewed IT as an investment that drives innovation and growth. Fifty-four percent of IT Pioneers identified technology as leading to a significant change to their business models, with 52 percent seeing it as leading to a significant change in the products and services they sell. By contrast, only 29 percent of the companies in the Followers category and 10 percent of those in the Cautious category saw technology leading to changes in business models.
However, the survey found significant adoption of various forms of technology among all of the survey?s respondents. 73 percent use cloud computing, 61 percent have extensively adopted mobility, 83 percent use social media and collaboration tools for business and 20 percent use M2M extensively.
The survey also identified obstacles to adopting new technologies, with 34 percent of the respondents saying legacy technologies get in the way of innovation, and 44 percent saying they need more cultural flexibility to adapt and take advantage of new technologies to drive new ways of doing business.
The research shows that interdepartmental collaboration is critical and that segregating IT from business operations or operating in functional silos can be a significant disadvantage to a business. On the positive side, an increasing number of people state that they are now involved in technology decisions ? 25 percent the survey?s respondents saw themselves as ?very involved,? while 48 percent thought they were ?somewhat involved.?. Of these, 42 percent were defined as executive leaders; 30 percent as senior managers and 14 percent as other managers. Less than 10 percent of survey respondents worked in IT functions, demonstrating that IT is now becoming firmly integrated in the overall business ecosystem.
?New technologies can provide a genuine competitive edge, but the organisation has to make the commitment to use technology to build new processes and business models,? commented Angelia Herrin, research and special projects editor of Harvard Business Review. ?Companies need to become more flexible in terms of technology implementation and make innovation part of their culture in order to realize the real business value.?
