I came across a podcast that interviewed Riccardo Basile of Permira. Riccardo talked about technology as a key value creation driver.
I liked that. So, I’m writing about it.
Technology has becomes a key element of value creation
Value creation has moved beyond sales growth, expansion, risk reduction etc.
Meanwhile, technology has moved beyond sector boundaries.
Today all business is either tech or tech enabled. There is a key relationship between technology and value creation. Riccardo talked about tech offensive and defensive tech strategies which make complete sense.
The defensive work tends to be a bit more urgent.
How easy or difficult is for someone to disrupt your business using technology? How much would disruption impact you? How can you make it even more difficult?
A good starting point is to fix the often overlooked but critical issues:
- Technical points of failure that need fixing
- Software licences that have expired
- Technology that is being phased out by vendors
- Technical bottlenecks that stop you being able to scale
You’ll then want to make sure you are using modern approaches to software development. Putting the right building blocks in place for growth.
Always look for ways to reduce the risk of defensive side disruption.
What is the risk of disruption by tech on the offensive side?
Opportunities to leverage technology on the offensive side tend to be commercial.
This could be bringing a new product to market that never existed before. Or improving eCommerce conversion using AI-based personalisation.
Or even better, something no-one has even thought of yet.
This can only happen if the defensive foundations of the business are solid. You always want the business to look on the growth side, being offensive is a great way to do that.
Defensive is good. Offensive is great. Data makes it all possible.
Riccardo talks about how it’s paramount that you find ways to drive efficiencies and leverage data.
- You can use data to drive consumer insight.
- You can use data to drive internal improvements.
- You can use data to improve your ability to operate in the market.
That way you can be comfortable taking a business and playing with it. That’s where the value is made.
Thomas
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P.s. I wanted to get into the distinction between the CIO/CTO as there were some really insightful points made. Perhaps that would make a great follow-up piece?
You can find more at the Private Equity Technology Podcast here, It’s been used as inspiration on this blog. You can find out more about Permira here.
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