Insights

Seven Phases of Post Pandemic Tech Transformation

Michael Marx, Vice President of Innovation, UST Innovation Israel

While Covid-19 has generated many challenges, it has also created opportunities for technology innovators. Communities worldwide have moved to remote working and homeschooling, while businesses across all industries have been forced to innovate and digitally transform on an unprecedented level to ensure their survival.

Thus far, throughout the pandemic, startups, in particular, have continued to play a critical role. Few industries will avoid being either reformed, restructured, or removed. Agility, digital transformation, and automation will be the buzz words for this new business era, and those who have these capabilities will be the winners.

A few weeks ago, Krishna Sudheendra, CEO, UST, shared insights at 365x’s ‘Innovation at Scale’ online masterclass on how COVID-19 has impacted the world of tech and discussed the significant phases we must go through to come out of this crisis intact and empowered.

“Predictions for industry evolutions are likely to occur as a result of COVID-19 and the digital transformation taking place in the next five years, which will spark a “massive opportunity to reinvent business,” said Krishna Sudheendra to a group of select executives from the Israeli tech ecosystem.

Phase 1 – Response

Many innovative young firms and larger companies have reacted fast and flexibly to the pandemic and have been critical in helping many countries shift towards fully digital work, education, and health services, and have provided innovations in medical goods and services.

Phase 2 – Recovery

In terms of ensuring business continuity, measures must be put in place to ensure staff safety while also continuing to fulfill core business. It is clear that enterprises with tech needed to keep their operations going and keep their staff safe through creative thinking and innovative technological solutions.

Phase 3 – Renew

According to Mr. Sudheendra, this is the most critical of all phases – adapting and executing our ‘new normal’ strategies. Technology will be a crucial disrupter and a key enabler for businesses to reinvent themselves. As a result, we will see a significant shift in focus on cutting costs and leveraging technology for new solutions to meet unique needs. As a result, successful companies will have a combination of resilience and agility.

Phase 4 – New economic models

More and more businesses understand that selling a service or full range of services as opposed to one-off products will be the key to survival and success during and post-COVID. This pandemic will force a reshaping of many industries as we all sit at home in lockdown, re-assessing and re-imagining modes of consumption, supply, interaction, and productivity.

Phase 5 – Short sprints are crucial to tech development

At the moment, startups are leading the way in being agile. They can’t afford to make speedy changes to their product or service with their limited resources. For larger companies, changes have always taken much longer—until now. COVID has forced even large corporations to shift from long-term projects to ‘lego block agile models for innovation.

Phase 6 – Autonomous Structures

The ability and now commonality of remote working will force companies to look for multiple ecosystem partners to create tech solutions from anywhere in the world. By plugging into these ecosystems, companies can get access to entire networks. As a result, they can, among other benefits, find new customers, tap into new sources of data, and improve established business processes.

Phase 7 – Talent shortage

Tech human resources are fundamental and indispensable for all types of companies and sectors. They are no longer just being used by technology-based companies but by many others who want to incorporate technology and digitization into their strategies to survive in today’s post-pandemic world. In other words, the demand for tech experts will rise, and education and training must be top of mind for the industry.

The global pandemic continues to present many challenges and many opportunities. Understanding that technology will be the enabler for successfully moving forward and coming out the other side of this tunnel victorious is critical. As such, it’s never been more important for organizations – regardless of sector – to get one step ahead by implementing the right strategies to meet the demands of each transformation phase.

To learn more about growth opportunities with open innovation, contact UST Innovation Israel.