{"id":3771,"date":"2017-04-18T12:39:36","date_gmt":"2017-04-18T19:39:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=wherenext&#038;p=3771"},"modified":"2024-05-10T06:04:20","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:04:20","slug":"where-next","status":"publish","type":"wherenext","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/where-next","title":{"rendered":"Where Next?"},"author":501,"featured_media":6421,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"department":[488812],"wherenext-category":[],"industry":[],"class_list":["post-3771","wherenext","type-wherenext","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","department-emerging-technologies"],"acf":{"short_description":"Executives face the recurring question of where to take their business next. An array of technologies can help or hinder that journey. ","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In a <a href=\"http:\/\/www-935.ibm.com\/services\/c-suite\/study\/study\/\">2017 survey of C-level executives<\/a>, IBM explored the effect of digital disruption and competition on senior business leaders. At 40 pages, the study offers significant depth, but a single caption sums it up well: \u201cCXOs are terrified of outsiders making a land grab.\u201d\r\n\r\nThis kind of fear is new, in two fundamental ways:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Competitors are now as likely to come from outside an industry as from within.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>They almost always use new technology to disrupt the status quo.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIan Cunningham, COO of Tangerine Back in Canada, told the researchers, \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to predict the rapidly changing technology environment. You don\u2019t know what you don\u2019t know, but you\u2019re still trying to stay ahead of it.\u201d\r\n\r\nAgainst that backdrop, the mood among executives is tense. But while uncertainty and fear are inevitable, even acceptable, hesitance is not.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Executive Trepidation<\/strong>\r\n\r\nToday\u2019s competitors emerge from familiar places as well as unexpected quarters. With speed and ingenuity, they force companies to respond. The IBM study captured this phenomenon succinctly:"},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"Innovations that harness new technologies or business models, or exploit old technologies in new ways, are emerging on an almost daily basis. And the most disruptive enterprises don\u2019t gradually displace the incumbents; they reshape entire industries, swiftly obliterating whatever stands in their way."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Amid such upheaval, each business executive faces an urgent question: <em>Where do we go next?<\/em>\r\n\r\nAcross industries, executives believe technology will be a critical part of the answer. Among the more than 5,000 C-level executives IBM surveyed, 72 percent said technology was the dominant force transforming their competitive landscape. No other factor ranked higher\u2014neither market forces nor macroeconomic conditions."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Left","content":"<h2><a href=\"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/digital-transformation\">Learn more<\/a> about digital transformation.<\/h2>\r\n<h2><\/h2>\r\n<h2><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-19451\" src=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/app\/uploads\/2017\/04\/small-image-to-embed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" \/><\/h2>","snippet":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Technology\u2019s role is hard to miss among disruptive companies. Scroll through a list of business-model party crashers\u2014iTunes\u2019 effect on the music industry, Amazon Web Services\u2019 impact on corporate IT, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/s\/600868\/the-artificially-intelligent-doctor-will-hear-you-now\/\">artificial intelligence\u2019s emergence in medical diagnostics<\/a>\u2014and it\u2019s clear that creative use of technology can drive growth.\r\n\r\nFor some established companies, the role of tech is still unclear. IBM\u2019s survey found mixed feelings among C-suite executives. For instance, the CFO of an Indian insurance company told researchers, \u201cWe\u2019re counting on technology to fuel our next wave of growth.\u201d On the other hand:"},{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"CXOs are desperately trying to cope with a \u201ctechnological onslaught,\u201d as the CIO of a Malaysian healthcare provider put it. And the stakes are extremely high. \u201cIf we gamble on the wrong thing, it could have a really negative impact on our business,\u201d the COO of a Belgian electronics firm commented."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Their trepidation is real. It grows every time a disruptor uses technology to accelerate innovation, foster customer-centered collaboration, or launch a new business model. Legacy companies that hope to succeed in the digital age must convert fear into action, recalibrating their approach to risk, information silos, and even corporate identity\u2014with technology leading the way. If companies lack the tech fluency of digital natives, they must learn the language.\r\n\r\n<em>WhereNext<\/em> aims to help. Through stories, interviews, and commentary from subject matter experts, we will reveal how leading executives and companies are embracing strategic and technological change."},{"acf_fc_layout":"quote","image":6401,"text":"Today\u2019s competitors emerge from familiar places as well as unexpected quarters. With speed and ingenuity, they force companies to respond. Amid such upheaval, each business executive faces an urgent question: Where do we go next? ","author_name":"","author_profession_organization":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"<strong>Tech Exploration <\/strong>\r\n\r\nTechnology itself is not a business strategy, but it can accelerate a company\u2019s plan.\r\n\r\nMany of the technologies an executive must grapple with are defined broadly and applied widely. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/mining-new-business-insight-internet-things\/\">The Internet of Things<\/a>, for example, has delivered new communications and intelligence capabilities to retailers, utilities, and manufacturers, among others. Artificial intelligence enjoys diverse applications as well. It helps Amazon\u2019s Alexa provide better customer service, allows carmakers to build ever-more autonomous vehicles, and helps <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/new-business-intelligence-emerges-geo-ai\/\">Kuwait understand traffic patterns in its capital city<\/a>.\r\n\r\nOther technology trends are complex and multi-tiered, like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/digital-transformation-walk-guide\/\">digital transformation<\/a> with its social, mobile, cloud, and analytics layers. Still others are bit players now but could be core to business success tomorrow: augmented reality, drones, 3D visualization, and more.\r\n\r\n<em>WhereNext<\/em> magazine will explore them all, with the goal of helping executives make sense of their strategic possibilities. We\u2019ll also examine the intersection of these trends with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/enterprise-technology-behind-big-business-decisions\/\">geographic information system (GIS) technology<\/a>, which holds the unique power to help a company see where it is and where it might want to go.\r\n\r\nWhich brings us back to the original challenge: <em>Where do we go next?<\/em> It\u2019s the obvious question for an executive to pose when disruptive forces threaten. The better time to ask, though, is when revenue is growing, customers are pleased, and competition is under control.\r\n\r\nIf you don\u2019t answer it then, the disruptors probably will."}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Business Executive&#039;s Guide to Answering the Question: Where Next?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Business executives face the recurring question of where to take their companies next, and an array of technologies can either accelerate or inhibit that journey.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/publications\/wherenext\/where-next\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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