---
title: "The future happens all the time"
description: "The International Data Corporation estimates that spending on digital transformation technology will have increased to $2 trillion this year. And for every $1 billion invested in new technology, according to a 2018 study by the Project Management Institute, $112 million is lost to projects that fail. This means that by 2020, companies across the globe had wasted a collective $224 billion on failed technology transformations."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "Sponsored Content"
author: "iOCO"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/ioco/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-11-12-the-future-happens-all-the-time/"
published: "2020-11-12T21:28:51"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 569
---

# The future happens all the time

> The International Data Corporation estimates that spending on digital transformation technology will have increased to $2 trillion this year. And for every $1 billion invested in new technology, according to a 2018 study by the Project Management Institute, $112 million is lost to projects that fail. This means that by 2020, companies across the globe had wasted a collective $224 billion on failed technology transformations.

By iOCO · Published 12 November 2020, 23:28 SAST

## Content

**Software as a competitive advantage**

As the digitisation of industries and e-commerce expands globally, the world’s biggest software developers, such as Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon, have impacted the business models of companies of all scales across the globe. We need to be able to interact with them, leverage their capabilities, and also compete with them. For us to compete globally in a digital era, we need to be able to build software as well as they do, while ensuring that ethical design and development considerations are top of mind.

> “At iOCO, we speak of “Devanything”, because literally, anything is possible with modern technology, software, data, analytics and integration. Software is no longer about a business requirement spec that gets handed to an IT team. It has become an integrated, continuous process that enables business to develop creative and innovative solutions.”

At a high level, every modern CEO needs assurance that their organisation is able to deliver on three crucial components: design, agility, and interconnection.

**Design**

Consumers in the digital age have become far more demanding in pursuit of the frictionless experiences and instant gratification that digital can offer. Companies need to place customers at the epicentre, first gaining insight into their needs and problems and then deploying human-centred problem-solving and design techniques to solve their biggest business challenges. This ‘design thinking’ approach redefines how we build products and customer experiences. Software designed to solve real problems, and for the customer, is a critical success factor.

**Agility**

The only strategic response to the accelerating pace of technological change is to build radical agility into your software development processes. Agility is, increasingly, the only meaningful currency when building resilient, anti-fragile organisations that can adapt to change.

CEOs need the assurance they are developing software in ways that will truly allow their business to deliver products, features and processes, from design through to development and testing, at a predictable cost and at the scale and pace expected in the digital era.

Forming strategic partnerships with software development companies that can understand and translate end-user requirements, and that can scale up or down in response to immediate needs while delivering exceptional software, allows companies to quickly pivot and respond to strategic digital opportunities.

**Interconnection**

The third crucial component – interconnection - is deeply connected to agility. The new world of business is fuelled by the ability to rapidly connect internally, with partners, and with other third-party networks to offer new products, services, and business processes. New customer experiences are being delivered and enhanced by accessing specific data and services (e.g. location-based services, and operations) available from third parties.

To truly lead in a digital age, your CIO should be creating an API-first organisation that builds software based on its ability to connect. Adopting an API-first philosophy and having the platforms to facilitate the smooth exchange of APIs with other businesses, can revolutionise the quality of products and innovation, and rapidly accelerate your time to market.

Digital transformation has earned its place on the board agenda. Practically, CEOs need to know they have a range of critical capabilities in place to ensure they are able to develop world-class experiences for their customers, and automation and enablement for their businesses that will allow them to remain relevant and competitive. Strategic focus on design, agility and interconnection will ensure they are building platform businesses fit to compete in a modern digital world. **DM**

Solve with [iOCO](https://ioco.tech/solutions/appdev/)