The new report multinational professional services company Accenture warns organizations that business evolution must be in synergy with post-digital people. According to the 2020 report “We, The Post-Digital People: Can your enterprise survive the ‘tech-clash?”, companies might be using an antiquated playbook that is more tech-driven rather than people-centered.

Today’s digital natives are more discerning — or discriminating — of their technology needs. There is no room for mistakes or shortcomings in terms of tech products or innovations. That is why businesses need to update their strategies in creating new products and services.

Eighty-three percent (83%) of the 6,000 business and IT executives Accenture surveyed worldwide acknowledged that “technology has become an inextricable part of the human experience.” For this report, the firm included 2,000 consumers with “70% of whom expect their relationship with technology to be more or significantly more prominent over the next three years.”

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“Dazzled by the promise of technology, many organizations created digital products and services just because they could, without fully considering the human, organizational and societal consequences.”

– said Paul Daugherty, chief technology and innovation officer, Accenture, in a media release

“Today we’re seeing a tech-clash caused by the tension between consumer expectations, the potential of technology, and business ambitions — and are now at an important leadership inflection point. We must shift our mindset from ‘just because’ to ‘trust because’ — reexamining our fundamental business and technology models and creating a new basis for competition and growth,” said Daugherty.

Tech-clash

Using the coined term “tech-clash” or a clash between business and technology models that are incongruous with people’s needs and expectations, Accenture said companies might be “leaving people out of the loop on decisions.” There are also other aspects that keep consumers wary of digital innovations that companies may not be prioritizing such as ethical issues, privacy, and security.

While the report noted the businesses’ efforts to create the best products and services for customers. However, C-suite executives are faced with the challenges of tech-clash in the coming years because some roadmaps followed the ones from decades ago, which by digital speed standards, is antiquated by now.

Because innovations are expected to be more people-centered, Accenture company roadmaps must be “customized” according to their customer demographics.

Key trends

The report said businesses must rethink their “core assumptions” rather than look for a tool or make small adjustments to their roadmaps in order to strengthen the human and technology connection.

The I in Experience. Organizations will need to design personalized experiences that amplify an individual’s agency and choice. This turns passive audiences into active participants by transforming one-way experiences — which can leave people feeling out of control and out of the loop — into true collaborations. Five in six business and IT executives surveyed (85%) believe that competing successfully in this new decade requires organizations to elevate their relationships with customers as partners.

AI and Me. Artificial intelligence (AI) should be an additive contributor to how people perform their work, rather than a backstop for automation. As AI capabilities grow, enterprises must rethink the work they do to make AI a generative part of the process, with trust and transparency at its core. Currently, only 37% of organizations report using inclusive design or human-centric design principles to support human-machine collaboration.

The Dilemma of Smart Things. Assumptions about who owns a product are being challenged in a world entering a state of “forever beta.” As enterprises seek to introduce a new generation of products driven by digital experiences, addressing this new reality will be critical to success. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of executives report that their organization’s connected products and services will have more, or significantly more, updates over the next three years.

Robots in the Wild. Robotics is no longer contained in the warehouse or factory floor. With 5G poised to rapidly accelerate this fast-growing trend, every enterprise must re-think its future through the lens of robotics. Executives are split in their views of how their employees will embrace robotics: 45% say their employees will be challenged to figure out how to work with robots, while 55% believe that their employees will easily figure out how to work with them.

Innovation DNA. Enterprises have access to an unprecedented amount of disruptive technology, such as distributed ledgers, AI, extended reality and quantum computing. To manage it all — and evolve at the speed demanded by the market today — organizations will need to establish their own unique innovation DNA. Three-quarters (76%) of executives believe that the stakes for innovation have never been higher, so getting it “right” will require new ways of innovating with ecosystem partners and third-party organizations.

Vision-focused companies may have already explored these trends and have developed solutions that utilize technology according to what today’s people actually need and want. Having this mindset will allow companies to lay down their own roadmap for future generations.