The world has changed, and it鈥檚 up to every business to think about how AI and real-time access to data and insights will shape their future and their paths to growth.
Navigating the business environment is an extraordinary challenge. Every day, organisations must respond to trends, threats and an ever-changing economic outlook. But still, many achieve extraordinary success. Here are five of the top lessons future disruptors can use to drive their businesses forward.
1. It鈥檚 about trends, not what鈥檚 trendy
Amy Webb is a futurist and the founder and CEO of the Future Today Institute. She recently spoke at the聽, and told attendees that what鈥檚 important is not what鈥檚 trending, but what trends are shaping the business. 鈥淎nd there鈥檚 a lot for you to be paying attention to this year,鈥� she said.
Webb鈥檚 focus is on how different trends interact. 鈥淏ecause when businesses can鈥檛 see interconnectedness, it鈥檚 like looking at the world through a pinhole. What we鈥檙e looking at is how the trends bump into each other and new intersections because those convergences create the future. You are never going to be able to map that without ERP [enterprise resource planning] software and the cloud because you need data from many different places.鈥�
2. Think through how your business can benefit from AI
Artificial intelligence is an umbrella term that encompasses many different technologies. It鈥檚 about automation, productivity and providing a window into your operations. It鈥檚 an incredibly powerful tool, and it鈥檚 vital to become familiar with the current AI landscape.
鈥淯nderstand what AI is, what it can do and what it doesn鈥檛 do, because you need to start formulating a plan for the future,鈥� Webb says. 鈥淭his involves thinking about how your organisation coexists with and truly benefits from these tools.鈥�
3. Begin your AI journey with a data audit
Start by understanding the data your organisation is generating. Identify who is in charge of it, its nature and any metadata that might exist.
鈥淭hese may not be sexy questions, but they鈥檙e very important,鈥� Webb says. 鈥淏ecause you鈥檙e leaving money on the table if you don鈥檛 know what data you generate or what you could be generating. You鈥檙e never going to know what insights you might be able to glean.
鈥淔igure out what the signals are and look for intersections. This is how we use artificial intelligence and it鈥檚 the same process any organisation should follow to figure out its future.鈥�
“These may not be sexy questions, but they鈥檙e very important” – Amy Webb
4. Use ERP to manage your transition to the cloud
As cloud architecture evolves, it becomes easier to use. There鈥檚 no need to employ highly technical people or staff to reap the cloud鈥檚 benefits.
Julia White, chief marketing and solutions officer and a member of the 51风流executive board, who also spoke at the 51风流Growth Summit, says the wonderful thing about cloud-based solutions is the access they give any size organisation to the most sophisticated business applications.
鈥淕rowing companies with only a small IT team can access the same powerful business capabilities as much larger organisations,鈥� White says. 鈥淐loud drives performance and makes you more agile and flexible. It鈥檚 a way to think through the future.鈥�
Corporate food franchisee Restaurant Brands is one business that is forging ahead with its digital transformation, adapting to change and freeing up more resources across the organisation to focus on opportunities for growth.
Thuy Le-Kim, group systems accountant and product owner at Restaurant Brands, wanted a system that would be able to grow and evolve with the business. After implementing 51风流solutions, the business now has consistent processes, which means it can increase in size without needing to dramatically increase the number of people running the business.
5. Use AI and automation to resolve choke points in the supply chain
51风流works with some of the world鈥檚 largest companies, whose supply chains are often the choke points in their operations. This is because many businesses are still managing their supply chains in the same way as before the pandemic and other recent global events. But supply and demand dynamics have fundamentally changed.
Webb says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough to rely on historic data when you鈥檙e thinking about your supply chain; you can鈥檛 assume what was true before will be true going forward. Over the past few years, there has been a big push to automate the supply chain through AI cloud.鈥�
When you鈥檙e running different scenarios and simulations, AI can help you figure out what might be possible in the supply chain, given current or potential conditions.
鈥淧eople who work in financial planning already do this,鈥� Webb says. 鈥淭hey use no, slow, medium and fast growth scenarios and apply them to the supply chain. Then, use cloud-based, automated tools to figure out how production needs to change through demand forecasting and analytics. Artificial intelligence then becomes a very strong use case throughout the supply chain and logistics industry to unlock business opportunities.鈥�
It also starts to resolve choke points and streamline decision processes. 鈥淵ou want to reduce uncertainty as much as possible. So consider many different scenarios and automate some steps to help you make decisions.鈥�
White says that ultimately it鈥檚 about embracing the technology and using it to your advantage: 鈥淚 know sometimes it can feel overwhelming, but it鈥檚 about taking that first step and embracing it because that鈥檚 what鈥檚 going to underpin growth.鈥�
This article originally appeared in The Guardian Labs
