Ask this question to any seasoned entrepreneur, both successful and unsuccessful, and they will happily give you the same answer – the visionaries. It is always the visionaries that take a business model from the whiteboard and transform it into a blockbuster hit of a business. They are able to see things that most people simply cannot, despite being in the same business and in the same organization. So, how do these visionaries manage to do things consistently that others fail at? How are they able to leverage the right technologies to support their IT infrastructure? The answer, like it usually is, is more simply than it appears. Here’s how.
- They never grow complacent. They do not get too comfortable with any one business model. They are always on the lookout for new trends, and new ways of solving the same problems more efficiently and effectively. This brings them across new business models and solutions that the others miss routinely.
When they find new and better ways of doing things, they do not give in to their ego and stick to their old ways. This is a gem of a leadership quality in the complex and rapidly changing digital environment. This allows the visionaries to address the latest changes in their business, without giving enough time and leeway for new businesses to challenge them in their areas.
- Visionaries are hardly ever surprised. That’s because they expect beforehand everything that a business environment might throw at them. They have a bimodal view of IT, wherein they design their infrastructure to operate smoothly at all levels of demands. As far as they are concerned, IT should be agile and welcoming of sudden changes without disruption its everyday operations.
Under bimodal IT, there are two distinct modes of IT delivery. Mode 1 takes the traditional approach, wherein the dependency is high on the traditional IT infrastructure such as ERP, which are critical to the smooth functioning of routine business operations. Mode 2 takes a modern, agile approach wherein the dependency is high on digital applications which can be initialized with minimum downtime, such as cloud applications. Mode 2 helps in tackling extreme variations such as seasonal demand changes. Whenever there is an unexpected or unprecedented rise in demand, Mode 2 comes to the rescue.
- Visionaries feel home amidst all the chaos. The biggest problem inherent to any future projections and predictions is the uncertainty. Things do not always pan out the way they are planned. When something doesn’t work, they simply try new ideas to address the problem. Each time, they have a strong conviction in their solutions, and are not afraid of implementing them, despite repeated setbacks.
To summarize, much of the action in the business comes from people who are comfortable with the chaos and uncertainty of the environment. The biggest impact of their decisions are felt when the business environment changes suddenly, but thanks to these people, organizations will have prepared beforehand to rise and meet the changes head on.
-Todd
Todd Ringleman
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