Is it time to reinvent ourselves and identify where real defensible value lies?
We had the IT Leaders meeting this week. It was the usual crew of CEOs, founders, private equity and other specialists.
As you would expect AI dominated the conversation. During the afternoon and evening we also talked about business valuation, operational discipline, the changing role of marketing and the growing importance of data sovereignty. The general buzz seems to be excitement with a frisson of existential dread. Plenty of examples of how we’ve all gone AI bananas.
All very useful fodder for the Growth Forum discussion
A big takeaway was that some businesses will need to reinvent themselves and identify where their defensible value really lies.
Technology is changing the economics of delivering products and services. But the fundamentals of building a successful business, clarity of purpose, differentiation, good management, accountability and understanding customers, seem more important than ever.
Perhaps the biggest risk isn’t that AI replaces us. It’s that we become so fascinated by what the technology can do that we forget to ask what our businesses need.
Discussion themes for the next Growth Forum
AI is brilliant. AI is terrifying. Now what?
If AI can do 85% of a task to an acceptable standard, where should we be investing the remaining 15% of human effort? And how do we decide which workloads to prioritise?
Time to reinvent ourselves
How much of what our businesses currently charge for will become commoditised? What will customers still value enough to pay a premium for?
Conclusion: “Sell on outcome or you will die.”
Marketing is the conductor. AI is the orchestra?
What would a growth team designed from scratch in 2027 look like? Which roles would you recruit, which capabilities would you automate and what would you stop doing altogether?
What will the ratio of humans to agents be on your org chart?
Stop, start, keep…
Are we too easily distracted by new growth initiatives when the biggest opportunity might be doing the basics consistently well? Have you got a process, do you follow the process, do you trust the process?
There is strong support for the role NEDs, fractional CXOs, PE shareholders play in holding teams to account and keeping eyes on the prize.
Mind the gap
If a potential investor started due diligence on your Growth Engine tomorrow, where would they find the biggest weaknesses? Could an annual ‘investment readiness’ review become a valuable growth planning exercise? For Private Equity investors, due diligence often provides the basis for a value creation strategy. Should we be applying the same discipline to our growth planning every year?
Final food for thought
Will data and AI sovereignty become a genuine commercial differentiator? And how much should we be worrying about the information our businesses are already sharing with AI platforms? Are Microsoft partners under existential threat as more enterprise clients look to non-US solutions.
Will concerns about data sovereignty drive a resurgence of private AI environments, open-source technology and greater demand for European alternatives to Microsoft and other US technology providers?
Plenty of food for thought. We’ll be picking up some of these questions at our next Growth Forum on 9 December. If you’re a commercial leader in a technology business and would enjoy exchanging views with others wrestling with similar challenges, we’d be delighted to hear from you.