Recent research from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) looked at technologies employed in sectors across the U.S. economy and found a large and growing gap between sectors and between companies within those sectors. Those using the latest technologies saw the highest growth in productivity and profit margins.
Leading Industries
The technology sector comes out on top. Right behind it are media, finance, and professional services, all of which have far more sophisticated digital capabilities than the rest of the economy. Retail and financial firms were among the first movers, while mining and manufacturing firms are adopting newer technology in a purposeful way, with mobile-enabled tools. The focus has also shifted from making long-term capital investments to flexible usage-based operating systems, which explains the rapid growth in cloud-service offerings.
Usage
Companies in the leading sectors make more extensive use of secure online payments, digital marketing, and design-led product development. They are more likely to use software to manage their back-office operations and customer relationships. They take advantage of e-commerce platforms and may even operate their own. Their underlying business processes make use of social technologies to interact with customers and partners.
Employee Engagement
What really sets the leaders apart, however, is the degree to which they put new devices the hands of their employees to ramp up productivity. The gaps are huge: companies in leading sectors have workforces that are 13 times more engaged than the rest of the economy. In lagging sectors, the engagement of the workforce can be erratic; some organisations have made progress in certain areas but have not yet addressed foundational tasks their workers perform. Many health care organisations, for instance, use incredibly sophisticated technology in diagnostics and treatment but substantial parts of their workforce use only rudimentary or no technology. Fewer than 20% of payments to health care providers and their suppliers are done digitally, for example.
UK Industries
In the UK we are seeing similar trends. Again the technology sector is leading the way with media, finance and professional services right behind. SMEs will say that they need fast, reliable and affordable internet connections before they can move applications into the cloud. This is true but most don’t appreciate the pace of change in connectivity and that this is already available to them. Others may have upgraded to fibre broadband but are still only using it for web browsing and email.
If you have customers that could be making more of their internet connection or you would simply like to know what is available to them then contact Jola. We serve the channel with a range of cloud products and we integrate with every major carrier, so our automated quote tool will tell give you speeds and prices immediately.
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