IBM CEO Study Finds ‘Connectivity’ Essential to Fueling Innovation
Posted on Fri, Aug 03, 2012
IBM’s latest study of more than 1700 CEOs across 60 countries and every industry suggests CEOs are looking to new and deeper ‘connections’ with employees, customers and partners to fuel innovation, grow market share and dive into new markets.
To achieve competitive differentiation and address customers’ increasingly complex needs, IBM’s study found ‘outperformers’ are:
- Bolder innovators.
Outperformers are far more focused on disruptive innovation – 94% more likely to create entirely new industries and 48% more likely to move into different industries outside their own. More than ever, CEOs are looking for ways to anticipate and create disruptive innovation.
- Partnering to innovate.
Partnering is becoming more and more pervasive with over 50 percent of the CEOs surveyed are partnering extensively to innovate with over two-thirds of CEOs intending to do so. Companies are establishing and leveraging global business partners to expand rapidly into new geographic markets, meet customer requirements and extend innovation.
- Translating insights into action.
Outperformers are 108% better at accessing and drawing insights from data than their underperforming peers.
- Turning to technology as ‘connectivity’ enabler.
CEOs are looking to extend collaboration and data sharing tools to employees and partners to foster innovation. By integrating data sources across departments, companies, partners, industries, etc., companies can reveal unexpected and mutually beneficial insights that improve customer experience and drive innovation.
CEOs are looking to better connect and collaborate - inside and outside the organization – to meet the staggering complexity of the challenges their organizations are facing. Leaders recognize the opportunity and, per the study, find technology as the single greatest driver of change in their organizations over the next three to five years.
Access the study: IBM’s 2012 Global CEO Study