‘Intelligent Enterprise’ brings new wave of ‘change’ for modern businesses

By Sajith Simon

In the age of digital disruption, technological innovations bring unprecedented changes to every key aspect of our lives – be it personal or professional. The impact of this disruption is visible today as it is unceasingly fuelling rapid growth and advancement across multiple industry sectors. It won’t be incorrect in stating that technology is embedded in the DNA of almost all our daily activities. 

In such a context, businesses and their leaders need to be instantaneous and creative in responding to this rapid technological change. The rise and fall of modern business will hinge upon one thing; the ability to successfully compete and thrive in these volatile market conditions by embracing new age technologies and transforming themselves into what we call an ‘Intelligent Enterprise’.

Intelligent Enterprises

When people hear the word ‘Intelligent Enterprise’, they are curious to know what it really means. Some would think that an intelligent enterprise is a large multi-national with new age technologies like AI, ML, IoT running offices in different countries. However, this is not the truth.

With the mass adoption of cloud, big data and mobile technologies organisations are generating an overwhelming volume of data. But most of them are unable to leverage this data effectively. As data becomes the new ‘oil’, most companies are simply building up larger reserves without a clear path for how to leverage it. Intelligent enterprise is a strategy that allows businesses to rapidly transform data into real and clear insights. There is a need for organisations to transform themselves by drawing meaningful insights from their data, and dynamically allocate resources in order to become relevant. 

By embracing this strategy and adopting intelligent solutions, organisations can enable themselves in ways that not only meet their business goals but also transforms them on how they communicate with their customers. 

Do note, Intelligent Enterprise is not just restricted to large conglomerates. Quite a few small and medium enterprises (SME) are continuously pursuing new age technologies to transform their business models to become more customer-focused, more flexible and more responsive to market demand. They are improving business processes and automating previously tedious and boring back-office operations with the help on intelligent solutions.

Enabling oneself

One of the key aspects an organisation has to understand is defining the ultimate customer experience (CX) that they want to deliver – both to their customers and employees. 

Building an intelligent enterprise is not only about using novel processes and strategies, powered by an intelligent suite of technology solutions. It is also about having a mindset to tap into all available human and machine-generated information to win in a highly competitive economy, by converting plain information into actionable insights. 

Intelligent enterprise means much more than better business insights and efficient decision-making. Speeding up manual tasks and eliminating time-consuming chores using automation implies that employees are enabled to dedicate more time to focus on the strategic part of their job.

A better way to serve your customers

Organisations that are highly consumer-centric in their approach, need to understand how crucial it is to transform digitally in order to match their consumer needs. Modern consumers, who are living in a digital world, expect companies to understand their needs at an individual basis; they want companies to engage with them continuously with a touch of personalisation and relevancy in the services they offer to them. This, however, cannot be achieved if your company keeps heavily relying on legacy systems or depending on old solutions.

While, intelligent enterprise delivers a best-in-class customer experience, by proactively responding to customer expectations, it also empowers employees with process automation. By starting on their intelligent enterprise journey, organisations will be able to operate with visibility, focus, and agility to achieve game-changing outcomes. This in turn will enable them to invent new business models, and revenue streams.

(The writer is the Sales Head, South India and Sri Lanka, SAP India Subcontinent.)