This year’s World Economic Forum in Davos has once again been a place of reflection for world leaders and heads of industry. The topics of “Tech for Good”, “How to Save the Planet” and “Better Business” have been centric in the discussions. Taking on board the messages from Davos, CIOs and heads of technology have a strong role to play in achieving the ambitious goals facing governments and industries around the world:
TechQuilibrium
instead of fear of technology
Repelling technology for fear or lack of investment is not a future winning
strategy. TechQuilibrium helps
you define how digital your organization needs to be to compete or lead in a
digital society, having in mind all vectors of possible instability. Not all
needs to be digital, but CIOs should focus on achieving a balance point on
enterprise decision-making, leadership, customer experience and digital
society.
IT governance hand
in hand with business foresight
IT should adopt strong and encompassing
governance policies, not with the purpose of being restrictive, but
aiming at helping business achieve greater goals. This governance should
ensure ethics and compliance are
embedded into the foundation of every new technology project to be deployed.
Monitor and measure
to optimize
Technologies like blockchain,
connectivity, location-based services,
RFID and NFC allow you to greatly monitor your supply and value chains.
Pressure on companies to reduce environmental impact will grow consecutively
going forward. This calls for greater granularity in understanding further
sources of waste in order to continuously improve. Even that this investment
may penalize your balance sheet on year zero, waste reduction will directly
translate into cost savings. You should fully capture this equation in order to
secure investment.
IT as a powerhouse
for climate protection and cost reduction
Technology offers a great deal of alternatives for reducing environmental
impact and costs. AI and IoT are
still evolving and will offer many opportunities to reduce impact, waste and
cost when strategically applied to the value chain. Quantum computing,
which is becoming more available to industry and academia, will help address
several complex problems that previously have been put aside. Just think on how
it could improve battery performance or optimize the movement of people and
goods around mega-cities and countries.
Mobility requires
holistic thinking and cooperation
Due to its significant impact on emissions and resource usage, mobility of
people and goods should start from a holistic perspective on impact and
benefits. This implies that supply chain and full lifecycle assessment should
be carefully monitored using blockchain and connectivity for greater precision
– from raw material exploration to end-of-life disposal.
When choosing mobility solutions, CIOs should consider both their convenience to citizens and overall environmental impact. The planning of mobility in urban areas should be fully integrated and seamless, embodying a principle of MaaS (Mobility as a Service) that privileges environmental goals.
Mobility faces major challenges that can only be overcome with tight collaboration. Mobility providers, equipment manufacturers, energy companies and governments all have to work together to achieve these goals. The creation of regulation promoting standardization, open source and technology sharing will be key steps to enable future success.
This post first appeared on the Gartner Blog Network.
