"The world is hungry for a new kind of leadership," according to the Accenture Technology Vision 2021 report. The report, "Leaders Wanted: Masters of Change at a Moment of Truth," outlines how leading enterprises are compressing a decade of digital transformation into one or two years. Accenture surveyed more than 6,200 business and technology leaders for the Technology Vision report, and 92% report that their organization is innovating with an urgency and call to action this year. And 91% of executives agree capturing tomorrow's market will require their organization to define it.
Relying on a strong digital core to adapt and innovate at lighting speed, leaders are growing revenues 5x faster than laggards today, versus only 2x faster between 2015 to 2018, according to Accenture research. The result is a wave of companies racing to reinvent themselves and use technology innovations to shape the new realities they face.
The Accenture Technology Vision 2021 report identifies five key trends that companies will need to address over next three years to accelerate and master change in all parts of the business:
Accenture Technology Vision 2021
Here are very interesting and powerful research finding from the Accenture Tech Vision 2021 report that validate the five technology trends which will shape the future:
Paul Daugherty is Accenture's Group Chief Executive – Technology & Chief Technology Officer. He leads all aspects of Accenture's technology business. Daugherty is also responsible for Accenture's technology strategy, driving innovation through R&D in Accenture Labs and leveraging emerging technologies to bring the newest innovations to clients globally. He founded and oversees Accenture Ventures, which is focused on strategic equity investments and open innovation to accelerate growth. He is a member of Accenture's Global Management Committee. Daugherty has been recognized in Computerworld's Premier 100 Technology Leaders, Retail Week's Tech 100, AdWeek 50, LinkedIn Top Voices, and Business Transformation 150. He accepted the FASPE Award for Ethical Leadership for his work in applying ethical principles to the development and use of artificial intelligence and other innovative 21st century technologies. Daugherty is co-author of Human + Machine: Reimagining Work in the Age of AI, a management playbook for the business of Artificial Intelligence.
To learn more about Accenture Technology Vision 2021 report, Ray Wang, CEO and founder of a Silicon Valley-based advisory firm Constellation Research, and I invited Paul Daugherty, co-author of the Tech Vision report, to our weekly show DisrupTV. Here are the key takeaways of our conversation with Daugherty
Paul Daugherty leads all aspects of @Accenture's technology business.@pauldaugh reveals 5 technology trends which will shape the future.#TechVision2021 https://t.co/2MFx4hBV3f
— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) February 19, 2021
"The global pandemic pushed a giant fast forward button to the future. Many organizations stepped up to use technology in extraordinary ways to keep their businesses and communities running -- at a pace they thought previously impossible -- while others faced the stark reality of their shortcomings, lacking the digital foundation needed to rapidly pivot," said Paul Daugherty.
According to Daugherty, the pandemic brought momentum of truth and a new mindset, along with four new realities that all business leaders must embrace as companies shift from reacting to the new normal to creating the new normal.
Excited to share #TechVision2021, our annual predictor of the tech trends leaders need to follow as they chart a course to the future. Although this year, the future is already here. 1/8 https://t.co/pObLMvoCgy
— Paul Daugherty (@pauldaugh) February 17, 2021
Daugherty talked to us about leadership lessons learned since the pandemic. Before COVID there was a digital achievement gap. This gap has widened since the pandemic. A recent study before the pandemic revealed that digital leaders (the top 10% of companies leading technology innovation) achieve 2-3x revenue growth as compared to their competitors -- a widening divide that Accenture calls the "Digital Achievement Gap." Since the pandemic, the digital achievement gap is now 5x.
Shaping the future will require companies to become masters of change by adhering to three key imperatives, this according to Daugherty:
1. Leadership demands technology leadership. The era of the fast follower is over -- perpetual change is permanent. Tomorrow's leaders will be those that put technology at the forefront of their business strategy. Every leader must now be a technology leader according to Daugherty.
2. Leaders will not wait for the new normal, they will create it. Leaders won't wait for a new normal, they'll reinvent, building new realities using radically different mindsets and models.
3. Sustainability is the new 'digital'. Leaders will embrace a broader responsibility as global citizens, deliberately designing and applying technology to create positive impacts far beyond the enterprise to create a more sustainable and inclusive world. Humanity must be at the core. Your solutions must provide benefits for all stakeholders -- employees, customers, partners and communities.
One year later - what have we learned? Covid is compressing 10 years of change into just 1-2 years, fast-forwarding to a future defined by new realities. Result: The future is here, but are you ready? #TechVision2021 https://t.co/AWGSIvwuli
— Paul Daugherty (@pauldaugh) February 18, 2021
Daugherty reminds us that large technology companies have an obligation to ensure business is the greatest platform for change. There is an extra level of obligation for technology companies to lead the way in terms of reducing the digital divide and issues related to humanities. The technology must be used in the right way to ensure stakeholder benefit. Daugherty talked about the 360-degree value framework that is used by Accenture to ensure everyone benefits from digital transformation. Accenture is a fantastic example of how values can create value.
Daugherty shared specific use cases and benefits for some of the technology trends. I encourage you to watch our video conversation to learn more how Accenture clients are using these five trends to grow their businesses while delighting their customers. We talked about blockchain, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other emerging technologies but in the context of business outcomes. What I appreciate about the Technology Vision 2021 research is its focus on business outcomes and market trends versus a list of the technologies that will have high impact on our future.
We discussed the 'Stack Strategically: Architecting a Better Future' trend extensively -- in my opinion, this is the most important trend for business leaders to understand. Daugherty reminded us that all the trends are very important, but how you do tech matters a lot. He gave us a brilliant example of how companies use their modern technology stack providing key differentiation. Getting to the cloud, leveraging the edge, using AI, building secure and scalable capabilities, and finally designing a human-centric experience model that is flexible, adaptable and intuitive, are important elements of architecting a better future.
To learn more about the Accenture Technology Vision 2021 research, you can visit here.