The combination of such technological advances as low-cost data sensors, computing power, and storage, AI, mobility, and robotics means that an enormous number of business processes will be automated in the next few years. These very real technological possibilities are creating huge amounts of business value and disruption today. They are already driving new customer engagement and growth opportunities, radical cost efficiency opportunities, and fundamentally new business models. Leaders of the company of the future need a new agenda.
Value will be determined more by the number and quality of customer relationships than the number and size of product or service transactions. The lines between products and services will blur, and for some, disappear. While the changes have already been far-reaching, the seamless customer experience is still in its adolescent years.
As machines and AI take space in a company’s operations, the role of humans will change. Many new jobs will be created for people to design augmented and automated processes and continuously improve them. Over time, we expect to see a shift from processes operated by humans to processes designed and audited by humans. The implications for talent and organization are profound.
For companies of the future, data will become a huge asset and learning an essential capability. Data is likely to be the most unique or protectable competitive advantage of the future, the “senses” of a company’s machines and AI. To fully capture the benefits of AI and learning, and to make the economics of investing in technology work, companies need to be smart about how to build their data and digital platforms in light of their legacy systems.
Digital natives are already pointing to a future, not many years away, in which business processes are automated machine-first activities. Many core company processes, technology, data, and thus governance and operating structures, will need to become end-to-end and centralized and, for some, globalized. This shift will cause real disruption in most companies.
It’s a radically different future, and it’s already starting to take shape. Companies that want to lead need to plan for a multi-year journey and start now.
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Managing Director & Senior Partner; Global Leader, DigitalBCG; Chair of the Practice Areas
New York
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Atlanta
