Agile Businesses See Benefits From Tech Adoption

Keeping up with today’s technological advancements isn’t an easy feat, especially in the workplace where new tech requires a new routine. As small businesses learn to adapt, a new study found that outside pressure to become technologically savvy may do more harm than good.

In a collaborative global study, growth partnership company Frost & Sullivan and software company Pegasystems released Why Business Agility Matters in May, questioning small businesses’ readiness to incorporate technology, such as advanced software or IT collaboration, into their work environment. The study, conducted in August 2017, surveyed about 440 senior executives in several fields, including financial services and insurance, telecommunications and high technology, public sector and government, and retail. More than half of the respondents worked for companies with revenue under $500 million.

Respondents were filed into three categories: adopters, planners and nonadopters. The survey defined adopters as businesses that embraced agility, while planners worked toward business agility and nonadopters had no plans to do so. Agile businesses—those that welcomed technology voluntarily—experienced more customer satisfaction, product quality and business and IT collaboration.

“Over 80% of strategic adopters rate overall customer satisfaction and quality of customer experience higher than their industry counterparts,” the study stated. “This group is also empowered to maintain competitive advantage in their industry with the speedy launch of new products, services and innovation.”

Readiness, speed, transparency, dynamism and aversion were key traits of agile businesses. When businesses lack executive sponsorship or have insufficient support, the likelihood of becoming agile is quite slim, respondents noted. A lack of experience and cost-to-reward ratio were also linked to nonadopters.

-Andrew Michaels, editorial associate

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