Conventional wisdom tells us that all of us encounter change. Some people fully embrace it as a new beginning and use it to create something positive or even life-changing. Others fight it along the way. And a vast majority accept the change – but only on their terms.
No matter where you fall, it is increasingly difficult to ignore how various faction of our global society views change.
Populist movements are rising globally, driven by people who are not benefiting economically from the digital economy. A glance at news headlines from the past ten years supports this view. For instance, many businesses are working to make supply chains simpler and shorter. Automation is changing how companies choose production sites and whether to outsource, making these decisions less about labor costs. The rise of 3D printing could reduce the need to transport goods over long distances.
In a recent interview with Handelsblatt Global, Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, acknowledged that more must be done to show how everyone – of any level of education, industry, and demographic – can fit in a world of globalization and digitization.
“Governments can no longer ignore them,” he observed. “Countries need to consider how to usher a large chunk of the workforce into a modern economy.”
Even though businesses are investing in technology to automate tasks that were formerly carried out by workers, McDermott believes that some jobs can never be improved by a machine or robot. However, political and business leaders still need to do more to alleviate fears of job loss and an unemployable future.
“Clearly, we are going need new forms of training and education, and companies can play an important role in that process,” McDermott shared.
Employees have a right to understand how technology will power a progression present work situation to a future of opportunity, promise, and prosperity. Businesses have an obligation to impart knowledge and guidance to their employees and a clear, sustainable, and achievable road map of their digital strategy. Ultimately, leadership teams need to side with their workforce and do everything in their power to help ensure their success.
Once the executive team and its employees of all levels and responsibilities are engaged in the business’ digital direction, the future is full of immense potential. McDermott uses his own workforce as an example of the possibilities, “We have 22,000 brilliant developers, the greatest in the world. We just needed to unleash their potential and set them on the topics that matter most. We don’t need to buy any small startup to reach our goals.”
For the entire interview with Bill McDermott, read the Handelsblatt Global article, “Computers Don’t Have a Bias.”