What distributors are saying about technology acceleration
October 27, 2020
If there’s one thing we can say with absolute certainty right now, it’s that people have very different opinions. That’s why the survey conducted by Dirk Beveridge, founder of UnleashWD, is so intriguing. He asked wholesale distributors about their priorities and plans in the wake of unprecedented worldwide disruption and some of their responses were unexpected.
Surprising consensus
The results, analysis, and recommendations are delivered in a free, comprehensive, 25-page eBook. The author engages his audience with a combination of factual analysis, thoughtful considerations, and insightful quotes from participants. It’s fascinating to see where business leaders are focused, to understand how much our current environment is impacting investments. One of the most surprising answers came from the area of planned tech investment. “Seventy-one percent of business leaders said they will increase their tech investment as a result of the pandemic…while none say they will decelerate their investments”.¹ Not a single respondent. One hundred percent said tech investment would either stay the same or more likely, increase. That kind of universal agreement is hard to come by these days.
Collective understanding
At this time of ongoing uncertainty and disruption, we might expect businesses to be more conservative in their spending. Yet all distributors who participated in the survey indicated that investments in technology are one of the most important factors for their ongoing success. In fact, “86% indicated that digital transformation was an urgent priority”.2 Companies are balancing many different priorities right now, but to overwhelmingly identify digital transformation as an urgent priority is important to highlight. There seems to be a collective understanding that organizations must move forward faster, in order to be best prepared to make ongoing adjustments in this volatile environment.
Where to invest
Dirk uncovered many other fascinating insights from the survey including which business imperatives are priorities, what functional areas are receiving the most focus, and what specific technologies are expected to have the greatest impact. Right now, leaning on peers and trusted advisors to provide clarity and insight can be very beneficial. It can also help distributors understand the extent to which inactivity or delayed action may leave them falling behind. To learn more, download Technology Acceleration: Are YOU Keeping Pace? to see how distributors can align business imperatives with focused tech investment to be most effective.
If you are ready to begin exploring specific areas of investment like customer experience, innovative services, supply chain optimization, workforce productivity, and demystifying big data, Dirk hosted a conversation series called Meet the Experts. During these brief recordings, Dirk spends time with individual thought leaders discussing how distributors can navigate the changing landscape, drive innovation, and empower productivity across the business.
¹ Dirk Beveridge, Technology Acceleration: Are YOU Keeping Pace? UnleashWD. June 2020
2 Beveridge