Australians, Be Prepared for Technological Tsunami!

Digital revolution has taken over the entire world these days. Shocks and reverberations are felt in countries across the globe and everyday there is a new evolved piece of technology ready to change our lives forever. Just think about how your life would be without all the apps to get you through your day, particularly those that enable you to keep in touch with the loved ones no matter where they are. Do you like the idea? No, definitely not. 

Just like our daily lives, technology is becoming integral to the way we conduct business. In fact, it has almost transformed everything completely. The future is all about progressive and evolving markets, new enterprises and radically changed ways to live life to the fullest.

Amongst all this, how are the Australian organizations doing? Are they able to keep up with their peers? The Accenture Technology Vision for 2016: An Australian Perspective, highlights the idea that Australia is not just about welcoming or embracing the innovative technology. It is also trying to effectively combine the technical changes with business and digitalizing every aspect of it from clients to customers and partnerships.

The time has come for an ever bigger change

As far as our workplaces are concerned, technology has been highly dominant in transforming those. I mean, do you even remember using a fax machine in the recent times? Now this change has taken on even faster pace and almost 86% of Australian businesses are getting ready to experience it.

Let’s take a closer look. Up till last year, our businesses were investing around 29% in digitalization and technology, which was way behind everyone else, the global average being 35%. However, this year, a drastic surge in technological investment occurred; bring the increased percentage to 49, matching that of international businesses.

According to our research, a number of executives project that this pace of technological change is going to accelerate even more and surpass the global figure which is at 28%. All this shows how our digital strategies have progress and matured with time.

These up and coming technologies are providing businesses with opportunities to thrive, innovate, be cost effective, increase efficiency and compete within the global markets.

Liquid Workforce is important

Due to the technological revolution, the particular skill set required amongst all field in the industry has also changed. It is not just subjected to technical skills anymore but also involves the employment of adaptable, multi-tasking and proficient candidates.

Organizations or companies that invest in making sure that their employees develop the required skill and have adopted a people first strategy will be the ones to thrive in future. The newer models of our workforce are expected to be more flexible than before, with a lot of Australian executives expecting to fill up only 51% of their internal permanent positions as opposed to the global 56%. According to our research, around 84% of the workforce in the future will comprise of people partaking individual projects instead of functional jobs.

The dawn of intelligent automation

You may already have heard of artificial intelligence that powers most of the automation within technical innovations. It is actually a radical change in technology which has transformed the way people interact and work with machines.  Machines have been taught and programmed to recognize patterns as well as associate with the humans in a certain way. Gone are the days they used to function according to coded or instructions.

2015, in particular was the year of breakthrough for AI (artificial intelligence). New algorithms and intelligence was introduced, such as that which can identify fraud or credit card theft within minutes, automatic farming systems aimed at increasing crop yields and innovations in transport which can ease the problem of traffic.

Australian companies have taken to the AI system, with almost 42% of them stating that it will be revolutionary for the industry. Half of the executives say that they are cost effective and have helped hem save over 15% of their yearly earnings, while approximately 44% have shown an interest in learning more about machines and investing in automation.

The potent power of platform economy

Australia’s business landscape has been strongly impacted by the platforms and their ecosystems which are completely digitalized. Like Apple’s OS triggered a revolution in distribution of software, platforms are following a similar pattern and focusing on developing new and innovative business models.

Almost 43% Australians have admitted that platforms are integral to the success of their respective businesses. The Managing Director of Accenture Technology Lead Australia and New Zealand couldn’t help but rave about new opportunities and exciting times to come in the future. Jane Livesey said that not only the consumer could benefit from the platform and ecosystems but also everyone who did business a certain way.

Opportunity and Risk

These platforms also open up more opportunities for small scale businesses as they can enter global markets and compete on a higher level. However, organizations should know which step to take at what time. According to our survey, around 46% of the executives have said that industry lines are ‘blurring’ and the platforms have given rise to new developments in various sectors which help businesses thrive.

The digitalization keeps on moving forward, with Australia’s digital economy expecting to contribute a third of the GDP by 2020. In order to make profits, businesses need to take advantage of every opportunity and minimize risk in all ways possible.