Florida Pool Pro
sm
• November 2014
17
Embracing digital pool technology - Moving
at glacier speed
(part 2)
COMMERCIAL CONNECTION
By Jack Manilla, Portofino Pools /
The benefits of digital transformation - The opportunity for digital technologies
to create new businesses is real and a quarter of respondents expect digital
transformation to launch new products and services. William Ruth, vice
president of software at General Electric, is pushing an Internet of Things
service strategy that will help it tell customers how to schedule maintenance
and avoid part failures, improving operations. The company expects it will sell
related services to maintaining these products.
Companies are using technology to create real, transformative effects
across customer experiences, internal operations and new business models.
But business model transformation is also slow. A mere 7 percent of study
respondents said their company’s digital initiatives were helping to launch new
businesses, and only 15 percent said new business models were emerging
thanks to digital technology.
It could be that these technologies are so new that they simply have not had
time to be turned into new business opportunities. One respondent noted that
in his company, “The belief is that digital technologies are not that effective yet
in our marketplace.” Another said customers weren’t ready for new models yet,
because they are “highly conservative and resistant to change.” I personally
have heard similar comments from many customers.
Problem: Lack of Urgency - Complacency affects more companies than
any other organizational barrier cited in one survey; with almost 40 percent
of respondents saying that lack of urgency/no sense of burning platform is
the biggest single obstacle to digital transformation. One survey respondent
working in higher education said, “The organization has a long (70 years)
history of success ... the need to change is not clear to some members of the
old guard.”
Problem: Attitudes of Older Workers - Responses to this survey suggest a
