April 29, 2024
Back in December, I wrote an article regarding the Microsoft Tech Summit in Toronto, and how “it is an exciting time to be in technology.”
Over the 2-days and 80 amazing sessions, everyone gained insight into the tremendous promise and prosperity of the emerging digital era. Regardless of the industry or sector, you are in, or whether you are part of the government or a budding SMB entrepreneur, the same digital promise holds true across the board.
Given the breadth of its impact which permeates into all areas of our everyday lives, it is no wonder that digital transformation is one of the hottest topics globally. A testimony to this fact is that the World Economic Forum predicts that the digital economy will be worth over $100 trillion by 2025.
However, with the great promise, there is an even greater responsibility for business leaders to be champions of what a recent Harvard Business Review article called “digital reinvention.”
According to a study cited by HBR, only a minority of companies have taken the necessary steps toward reinvention, meaning that in conjunction with restructuring their businesses they are also investing “more money than their peers into an aggressive digital strategy based on new platform business models.”
Based on the HBR reported findings, this means that “most incumbent firms are failing to adjust to the digital era.”
In this context, these businesses would be wise to recognize that digital reinvention is not a case of “if” but rather “when.” Or to put it more succinctly the time is now, and organizations will either transform or be “transformed.”
So what does digital transformation look like in a practical sense?
As part of his presentation, at the Toronto Tech Summit, Arpan Shah spoke with Param Singh, who is the Chief Operating Officer at Mojio. For those unfamiliar with the company, Mojio’s platform provides drivers with simple, snap-in access to the data generated by their car through the company’s app. The app enables you as a driver to plan and record trips, share driving information and better understand the health of your car. Mojio’s ultimate goal is to provide a turnkey aftermarket “connected” car solution for consumers via their business partners, e.g., Mobile operators, Auto OEMs, etc.
While Mojio experienced tremendous success at an early stage, and at a furious pace, the resulting avalanche of incoming data through their app threatened to overwhelm the company’s existing platform within the year.
In Mojio’s case, digital reinvention or transformation came through management’s proactive decision to launch a second-generation platform 50 percent faster than anticipated, while avoiding an additional $1 million in estimated development costs.
The key point that I want to stress here is that digital transformation is not a one-time event, but reflects an attitude of perpetual curiosity, an openness to new ideas, and an unquenchable desire to achieve more.
For Mojio, this mindset has seen the company grow from a bold start-up to becoming the cloud platform of choice for the deployment of secure, connected car apps and services. In fact, Mojio, who is currently live in 5 countries, is now connected to more than 5000 unique vehicle models, with 500,000 paying subscribers who have driven 5,000,0000+ miles making them the leading platform in the aftermarket for connected cars.
Similar to the Microsoft Tech Summit in Toronto, which is what I referred to as being a “great coming together of innovative IT minds and creative solutions,” I am equally excited about sharing how your organization can make digital transformation real at Long View’s ACTIVATEDIGITAL2018 Conference in Guelph on the 27th of February.