Web Exclusive: Road to recovery

Midsize companies that have developed a clear vision may very well be positioning themselves more favorably for the economic rebound

The magnitude of change that is affecting industries today is unprecedented. Difficult economic conditions, a broader set of business imperatives, and evolving technology requirements are presenting midsize companies with as many threats as opportunities. At the same time, fundamental shifts are taking place in the way people everywhere live, work and interact. It’s becoming increasingly clear that innovative, forward thinking organizations can do more than survive in this environment, they can flourish.

These companies have been the engines of economic growth fuelling a smarter planet for a long time. To continue that path to success, they must embrace new and better ways of doing business. The good news is midsize companies in India are constantly innovating while deploying resources to create sustainable business value. They are investing in the future – making changes and taking risks to survive, compete – and bloom.

Driving strategic focus
Leaders of these organisations are being counted on to find new growth opportunities and deliver innovation to support the accelerating rate of change. At the same time, they must improve efficiency and manage an effective, secure and resilient IT infrastructure to ensure the organisation’s survival and success. These parallel forces are shaping the mindset of midsize businesses across geographies. Corporate culture, available resources and business environment each play a major role in influencing which approach is most appropriate for a company, by industry or country. However, each presents different challenges requiring careful planning and execution to ensure a successful outcome.

Enhancing efficiency and productivity, improving customer focus and sharpening business agility are emerging as the leading business challenges. Companies can survive, and grow in this climate by using information, relationships and technology in new ways to create greater value and efficiencies. Organisations can improve the way they manage and run their own business and gain a competitive advantage. As a result, companies can achieve measurable and sustainable improvements through cost reductions, service-level increases and productivity gains – ultimately leading to stronger profit margins.

Harnessing business insight
Significantly, if there’s one area where there is no shortage in today’s environment, it’s data. Data is exploding, everywhere. The problem for many businesses is that their data is in varying formats and locations. It’s nearly impossible to draw meaningful conclusions when information is so scattered. Transforming data into insightful and actionable intelligence can help companies make better, sharper, timelier business decisions. Information is a strategic asset – if it can be harnessed and analysed. Given that growing dependence on reliable and useful information, it’s no surprise that information management is cited as both a critical IT and business priority for the majority of companies surveyed.

The increasing pace of global connectivity improves access to information and collaboration, but also brings additional IT security risks and exposure to data loss and theft. Despite pressure to reduce cost, midmarket companies continue to invest in information security to better understand, monitor, assess and respond to external and internal threats in near-real time. Another key driver of security spending is the growing need for companies to meet compliance requirements. This is the reason, many companies are scouting for a technology partner who can help them work smarter, build an infrastructure to support their growing business, and identify ways to use the information they have to make better business decisions. A significant number are focused on corporate social responsibility and in need of guidance around energy, environment and sustainability issues. These are vital initiatives, ones that can be game-changing for businesses with the vision to apply new approaches and harness the power of an increasingly smaller, flatter and smarter planet.

Evolving smarter economy
Clearly, growing and innovating in today’s environment is dependent on successfully managing, improving or, in many cases, transforming core business operations. Despite the current economy and myriad barriers facing midsize companies, the majority still are proceeding with critical IT plans to improve their infrastructure, work smarter and make better use of information. They “intend to implement or have established goals” for knowledge management solutions to better mine and share organisational intelligence as a source of competitive advantage. Midsize companies that have developed a clear vision, and begun to act against it, may very well be positioning themselves more favorably for the economic rebound. While the greatest numbers of businesses want to maximise their infrastructure, they are demanding more than just an increase in efficiency. They want solutions that can help their organisations work smarter.

In today’s globally integrated economy, it is imperative to enhance customer relationships and collaboration, and to create efficiencies across supply chains and core business operations. By using information, relationships and technology in new ways to create greater value and efficiencies, organizations can improve the way they manage and run their own business. These organizations can gain a competitive advantage, even in a challenging environment. However, this requires strong commitment to progressive, innovation-based agendas; to building organisational cultures and processes that welcome and engage the wisdom of communities and broad societal ecosystems; and to continual adaptation and re-skilling. It also requires collaborative approaches that are vastly larger in scale, more diverse, more emergent and less predictable than those of the past.

Indeed, for the smart enterprises, the economic recovery will not necessarily be a long, tough and bumpy road with too many twists and turns.

The author is Director, General Business, IBM India/South Asia