Are you agile enough for the new requirements?
IF 2017 is showing us anything, it’s that there is never a boring day.
With all the twists and turns globally in politics, economic uncertainty has been the only constant.In such times, it is imperative that businesses prove themselves to be resilient as well as responsive to whatever the markets throw at them.
At Accenture, I’ve been advocating that our business leaders crystalise their thinking.
Let’s start with what you should forget. Forget predictability. Nothing, as we know, is turning out to be predictable. If ever there was a time where the phrase past performance does not guarantee future results, this is it.
But this does not mean one should despair.
If you accept that we will continue to face challenges in many parts of the world, then embrace the fact that challenges can translate into opportunities. To capitalize on opportunities, companies need to be agile. Management should ask themselves: Is my company agile?
The subset questions are myriad: Can we adapt to fluctuations in costs? Are we willing to make organizational structural changes? Can we become more intimate with our clients and customers, reacting quickly to what they need and want? Can we switch to new business lines if needed? If the answer is no, then the next question a manager should ask is: How can we become more agile so that we can adapt to these new requirements?
To be agile doesn’t mean you need to be a gymnast: it’s not about twisting your business into a contorted operation. Rather, it’s about being more responsive. Start by listening to your customers.
That must be one of the oldest pieces of advice in the history of consulting (you might even say it’s predictable), but while it never ceases to be true, how you listen to your customers has changed. Your customer is always telling you something, but often when it’s a criticism, it’s couched quietly, indirectly, in hidden language. Sometimes, what your customer is saying is buried in the data, and you need analytics to untangle the truth.
Contributed by GIANFRANCO CASATI, Accenture’s Group Chief Executive for growth markets
