The arrival of the Information Age completely shifted the paradigm from the old Industrial norms, changing our tasks, how we work, and how we lead within our companies. Employees now seek more autonomy and opportunities to leverage their expertise for optimal outcomes. Echoing this shift, Steve Jobs famously stated, “It doesn’t make sense to hire smart people and tell them what to do; we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.”
Many companies, as observed by myself and my colleagues, appear stuck in the Industrial Age, leading and organizing as though they’re still operating assembly lines, despite being heavily reliant on knowledge work. These companies often dictate tasks without valuing input from their knowledgeable employees.
Characteristics of these organizations include:
- Hierarchical structures
- Restricted information flow
- Micromanagement of tasks and methods
- Resource optimization
- Outdated technology and inflexible tech stacks
- Limited data management, with data access restricted to a few
A fundamental issue these companies face is the failure to embrace that success in the Information Age requires leveraging the best technology to process data, forcing a complete overhaul of their business models.
Many businesses have reluctantly seen IT—Information Technology—as just another annoying cost, something for others to handle. They’ve tried to go digital, but this often just leads to below-average internal tools and a public website or app. However, IT should really be central to any business trying to succeed in the Information Age. Being good at technology is becoming more and more important to stand out as a leader in the market.
Today’s leading companies are those that have embraced technology to harness data and information, recognizing that their primary product is likely digital and continually evolving their business across various sectors.
As we swiftly approach the AI Age, mastering your technology and data becomes a prerequisite for harnessing AI effectively. Organizations still wrestling with these fundamentals are far from ready.
The Product Operating Model alone won’t automatically prepare you for AI, but it will help you gain mastery over your technology through the use of small, modular components managed by teams committed to excellence and informed by data-driven insights. The next logical step could very well be leveraging AI to enhance these capabilities.
If these challenges resonate with you and you’re ready to turbocharge your digital transformation, reach out to us at Snowdrop. We can help you evolve into a tech-centric company ready for the future.