Prepare for the digital future

Customers are the main people who benefit from the increased efficiency of information technology, and the benefits will increase as the economy becomes more digital. The other people who benefit are business people who take advantage of digital methods faster than their competitors. The solutions I have talked about in this book are the result of the vision and leadership of business people who used IT to serve their customers better.

Business leaders who succeed will take advantage of a new way of doing business, a way based on the increasing speed of information. The new way is not to apply technology for its own sake, but to use it to change how companies act. To get the full benefit of technology, business leaders will make their processes and their organizations simpler and more modern. The goal is to make business responses nearly immediate, and to make strategic thought a process that goes on all the time - not something that's done every twelve to eighteen months, separate from the daily flow of business.

New technology should provide better information to every worker who might possibly use it. Knowledge workers are the brains of the company. If they're disconnected from the company's important data, how can they work, how can they take responsibility? You can give people tasks and authority, but without information they can't do anything. Knowledge is the best power tool. If important information about production systems, product problems, customer crises and opportunities, lost sales, and other important business news gets through the organization in minutes instead of days, and if the right people can be working on the issues within hours instead of days, a business obtains a huge advantage. This change in the structure of processes is more important than any other change since mass production.

Every company can choose whether to lead or follow the digital trends. The Internet is changing the basis of industries in real time. Winning is not easy. Digital information flow and giving power to employees is part of achieving and maintaining competitive advantage. A belief in giving people power is the key to getting the most out of a digital nervous system. Knowledge workers and business managers benefit from more and better information, not just senior management. When employees get a couple of good tools that deliver better results, they demand more. It's a positive cycle.