First let me agree with professional board member Katarina Bonde (interview in Swedish): “Company boards have disastrously poor knowledge of IT issues.” Second let me just add one thing to the problem; “IT professionals” can’t help them.
Yesterday’s interview illuminates an urgent matter of survival. The Internet is just a teenager and already we can see structural changes in a variety of industries, totally in line with all the visions of the dotcom-era.
The difference this time around is that development comes from behavioral changes rather than technological potential. Today a majority have broadband access, many via mobile devices and we dare to pay online. That was not the case back when the bubble burst.
Companies who can distribute their product digitally were first to go. Leaders of the media industry who only a decade ago differentiated with great content production and distribution are now beaten by baby companies (age and size) who aggregate content and know all about collecting, analyzing and presenting data.
While newspapers administers their closure, new media companies (read: Google, YouTube, Facebook etc) don’t employ their own content producers (eg journalists) nor carry distribution costs. Advertising money accordingly is moving from Europe to California in a dramatic shift which in turn leads to new waves…
The Internet tsunami didn’t lose any power. Travel agents, the mobile phone industry…everything possible on the boundary between digital and physical is already disrupted and forever changed. By now the wave has reached even those who can not distribute their products digitally. Retailers are losing customers to online shops with double-digit growth every quarter. And if we look beyond products to study how consumers make their purchasing decisions all b2c companies by now have wet feet. Put the spotlight on HR-related issues and b2b companies are included as well.
As an adviser focused on business development, I see the constant lack of understanding as the single biggest problem. The subject is often approached like Katarina Bonde puts it as “a technical issue that should be delegated down the organization”.
This gap of knowledge is actually an effective way to illustrate my speeches.
I usually ask the audience to raise their hands if they 1/think Internet is changing society, 2 /think of Internet as a strategic issue and 3/believe the boss understand the Internet. Such a game always result in 100% raised hands down to 90% down to 2% and a great laugh…
Another dilemma though is that I am experiencing this same lack of knowledge from many IT professionals. In fact, they often provide the greatest speed barriers out there, simply because they are so focused on technology and risk. Technology sure changes society but the lack of knowledge is about all but technology. It’s about business models and philosophy.
Business Models and philosophy from B.C (before dotcom) are – just like North African dictatorships – based upon ownership, protecting, controlling… Winners of tomorrow believe in crowdsourcing, partnerships, transparency and cognitive skills.
My simple message to all nominating committees out there is to obey Katarina Bonde’s advice, go hunt for IT-generalists it’s urgent! But remember the word generalist rather than IT.
If you read this far the subject of disruptive business models and change probably is your kinda’ tune. Go check Ronnestam’s great manifesto. Johan is one of these generalist (who do know some technology as well;) It’s in swedish so Google Translate will help if you’re not.
