Almost six out of ten respondents 59% agree with the statement that “failure to adapt to hyperconnectivity is the biggest risk that our organisation faces”.. A clear majority of responde
Trang 1Human society is becoming ever more
interconnected, with the number of connected
devices expected to increase thirtyfold between
2009 and 2020
The sharp increase in interconnectedness that
results from the Internet, mobile technology
and the Internet of Things (IoT) is referred to
as “hyperconnectivity” This is not merely a
technology trend It is the era-defining cultural
milieu in which we live—and in which businesses
operate—in the 21st century
The hyperconnected economy is a multi-phase
research programme conducted by The Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by SAP The
first phase reviewed the existing literature
and interviewed experts and academics on the
economic consequences of hyperconnectivity
Phase two examines how hyperconnectivity
applies at an organisational level For this, the
EIU surveyed 561 business leaders from across
the globe and from a range of industries, job
functions and company sizes
The results of the survey are presented in this executive summary A forthcoming report will analyse the findings in greater depth
The key findings are:
Organisations recognise that adapting to hyperconnectivity is crucial for their survival
Almost six out of ten respondents (59%) agree with the statement that “failure to adapt to hyperconnectivity is the biggest risk that our organisation faces” This response is most common among retailers (68%) but unusually low among consumer goods companies (45%)
A clear majority of respondents nevertheless believe that hyperconnectivity has been positive for their organisation (86%) and for their industry (83%) so far However, nearly one-third agree that it “presents more threats than opportunities” This view is more common among retailers (44%) and companies from the Asia-Pacific region (44%) Organisations generally believe that they are meeting the challenges effectively, with 69% of respondents agreeing that their company “is doing a good job of
A report from The Economist Intelligence Unit
THE HYPERCONNECTED ECONOMY PHASE 2:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
HYPERCONNECTED ORGANISATIONS
Human society is becoming ever more
interconnected, with the number of connected
devices expected to increase thirtyfold between
2009 and 2020
The sharp increase in interconnectedness that
results from the Internet, mobile technology
and the Internet of Things (IoT) is referred to
as “hyperconnectivity” This is not merely a
technology trend It is the era-defining cultural
milieu in which we live—and in which businesses
operate—in the 21st century
The hyperconnected economy is a multi-phase
research programme conducted by The Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by SAP The
first phase reviewed the existing literature
and interviewed experts and academics on the
economic consequences of hyperconnectivity
Phase two examines how hyperconnectivity
applies at an organisational level For this, the
EIU surveyed 561 business leaders from across
the globe and from a range of industries, job
functions and company sizes
The results of the survey are presented in this executive summary A forthcoming report will analyse the findings in greater depth
The key findings are:
Organisations recognise that adapting to hyperconnectivity is crucial for their survival
Almost six out of ten respondents (59%) agree with the statement that “failure to adapt to hyperconnectivity is the biggest risk that our organisation faces” This response is most common among retailers (68%) but unusually low among consumer goods companies (45%)
A clear majority of respondents nevertheless believe that hyperconnectivity has been positive for their organisation (86%) and for their industry (83%) so far However, nearly one-third agree that it “presents more threats than opportunities” This view is more common among retailers (44%) and companies from the Asia-Pacific region (44%) Organisations generally believe that they are meeting the challenges effectively, with 69% of respondents agreeing that their company “is doing a good job of
A report from The Economist Intelligence Unit
Trang 22 © The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited 2015
The hyperconnected economy: Phase 2 Hyperconnected organisations
adapting to hyperconnectivity” The industry with the
least support for this statement is healthcare, with
65% of respondents agreeing
Digital offerings from established competitors, not
digital start-ups, are the most signifi cant source of
competitive pressure Disruption at the hands of a
Silicon Valley start-up is the business bogeyman of the
current era, but so far companies have experienced
more competitive pressure from established companies
launching digital products Over half (57%) of
respondents say they have experienced “moderate”
or “severe” competitive pressure as a result of
digital offerings from established competitors This
proportion is highest among IT and technology fi rms
(81%) and companies from Asia-Pacifi c (74%)
Start-ups based on digital technology have been the source
of this kind of pressure for just under half (49%) of
respondents today Looking ahead to the next three
years, again more respondents expect “moderate”
or “severe” competition from the digital offerings of
established competitors (69%) than from digital
start-ups (58%)
The acceleration of business processes is pushing
companies to automate The most widely cited
organisational impact of hyperconnectivity is that
“business processes have accelerated” Healthcare
providers and manufacturers are especially likely
to have experienced this (in both cases 53% of
respondents) It stands to reason that “automat[ing]
business processes” is the most commonly cited
organisational response (46%) Healthcare companies
are particularly eager adopters of business process
automation (58%) In future, respondents believe that
hyperconnectivity will make their organisation more
agile, more innovative and less centrally controlled,
the most popular prediction being that “the ability of
central management to control the organisation will
be reduced”, cited by 46% of respondents
Working methods and skills requirements are
evolving Nearly four out of ten respondents say their
organisation has introduced digital skills training
(39%), refl ecting the changing nature of everyday
work in the hyperconnected age This training is
especially common among manufacturers (45%) The
way in which work is organised is also changing, and
the same proportion (39%) say they have “adopted agile development and/or project management techniques” This proportion is highest among IT and technology fi rms (53%) The least common of the organisational responses offered is “having appointed a chief digital offi cer” Cited by just 19%
of respondents, it is most common among fi nancial services (25%) and manufacturers (25%), and least among healthcare companies (10%)
The most common response to increased competition resulting from hyperconnectivity
is to enter new markets, as adopted by 47% of
respondents Luckily for them, hyperconnectivity has also made it easier to identify new markets that are suitable for companies to enter (41%) Organisations are looking to other geographical locations for suppliers as well as customers, and 38% of respondents report that hyperconnectivity has improved their ability to work with international suppliers This is especially true among manufacturers (44%) Looking forward as hyperconnectivity grows, 45% of respondents believe that an increasingly globalised supply chain will allow them to reduce costs signifi cantly Interestingly, this view is widely held among healthcare (including pharmaceutical and biotech) companies (59%)
Hyperconnectivity is driving a move towards mass personalisation Half of respondents (50%) believe
that the continued growth of hyperconnectivity will mean that “products and services will be increasingly tailored to customers’ individual needs” Surprisingly, this view is less widely held by retailers (36%) than
by other industries To date, the most common consequence of hyperconnectivity for customer relationships has been that “digital channels have allowed more direct contact between customers and employees” (39% of respondents)—a view that is actually more widely held among retailers (50%)
In second place is “customers typically check online reviews or social media before purchase” (38%) Nearly half of the organisations surveyed (48%) have responded to hyperconnectivity by “tak[ing] efforts to improve our visibility and reputation on social media that have improved our business” This approach
is particularly popular among fi nancial services companies (54%)