CHAPTER 9Driver #3: Digital Technology and Analytics“The new industrial revolution”
It’s no longer possible to think of the physical and digital as two separate worlds,” says Angela Ahrendts, SVP Apple Retail, and before that, CEO of Burberry, in an interview with the Financial Times.1 Digital technology is transforming how products are made, how they are sold, how we work, and the quantity and sophistication of a company’s information bank. For entrepreneurial business leaders, that information is power. It can help make better, quicker, smarter decisions that improve business performance as well as manage risk (see Figure 9.1).
Figure 9.1 EY 7 Drivers of Growth – Digital technology and analytics
The World Economic Forum describes this transformation as the Fourth Industrial Revolution – one that will be at least as far-reaching as the industrial revolutions that preceded it. “The Fourth Industrial Revolution – the current period of rapid, simultaneous, and systemic transformation driven by advances in science and technology – is reshaping industries, blurring geographical boundaries, challenging existing regulatory frameworks, and even redefining what it means to be human.”2
But some legacy businesses may find it harder to harness the full power that digital technology offers. While most business leaders recognize the potential value that going digital brings, some still ...