How to utilize cloud computing, big data, and crowdsourcing for an agile enterprise

1. Summary

The world is undergoing unprecedented change with political instability, economic turmoil, technological shifts, globalization, and the demands of a new generation of workers. Every organization, regardless of industry, must continually reassess what it does in order to survive and prosper. This revolution will have profound implications, and all organizations need to consider how the cloud and big data impact their industry.

Rather than be drowned by the feeling of impending doom, however, organizations should look to cloud computing, the promise of big data, and new approaches for research and development such as crowdfunding to remain competitive, increase efficiency, and generate new business.

In times of change, opportunities for disruption abound. Using these new technologies as well as embracing a culture of agility will help ameliorate the risk of disruption for existing businesses and give new organizations opportunities to prove to be a disruptor in the marketplace.

Key highlights in the report include:

• Several technologies and macro trends threaten traditional organizations with disruption while offering new businesses ways to disrupt the existing vendor status quo. Examples abound of disruption occurring on an almost daily basis. This is both a threat and an opportunity.
• If organizations ignore the changes swirling around them, they will be threatened over time. Similarly, if firms don’t leverage the newer technologies and approaches, they will find it increasingly difficult to gain traction.
• Big data, cloud computing, and crowdsourcing approaches give new as well as established organizations the ability to create new products, increase their efficiencies, and deliver better products, services, and outcomes for their customers. But while big data introduces opportunities, it also creates challenges that need to be overcome.
• Organizations need to increasingly be innovative and improve their agility. In order to do so there is a move toward large enterprises mimicking the way the lean startup works and introducing similar approaches to the way it creates ideas.
• At the same time, organizations are increasingly looking outside the firm for new innovations and ideas, and there are many examples of existing businesses moving much of their R&D outside the traditional organizational confines.
• All of these technology shifts create a multitude of valuable insights that are just waiting to be harvested. While facing a fundamentally new way of doing business may seem challenging at first, firms considering this a time of exciting opportunities will be well-placed to take advantage of the opportunities.
• By leveraging new technologies, creating a more collaborative corporate culture, and focusing on opportunities to differentiate, firms can remain relevant and prosper and meet the needs of their various stakeholders.

Thumbnail image courtesy of Maksim Kabakou/Thinkstock.