Accenture_Technology_Vision_2014

INTRODUCTION6Big is the next big thingThis year we see something more. We see the first waveof large traditional companies starting to use technologyas a driving force—in some situations, the driving force—for how they grow strongly and effectively. If the lastdecade has been seen as the playground of the digitalstartups—overnight sensations such as Instagram andTwitter, Zipcar and YouTube, TripAdvisor and Airbnb—then the coming decade will see the emergence of thetraditional companies as digital giants. Backed by theirdeep resources, enormous scale, and process discipline,these new digerati are about to rewrite much of thedigital playbook.For business leaders everywhere, the next three yearswill be about determining their organizations’ pace inthis digital race—and their place in the new world ofdigital. Large companies are making a push to transformthemselves from followers to leaders in digital. The firstcontenders out of the gate are already poised to takeadvantage of the many recent technology advances inways that promise to upend expectations of industryobservers and consumers alike.Tesco, GE, and Disneyshow howConsider Tesco. In the last two years, the globalsupermarket chain not only has created interactivegrocery stores in airports and subway stations but alsohas expanded into new industries. Tesco now offersmovie streaming, e-books, and even its own seveninchtablet priced as low as $91. 1 The grocery retaileris well on its way to becoming a truly digital business.More than 20 percent of Tesco’s online sales now comethrough smartphones, and 10 percent of all orders fromTesco Direct come through its mobile website. 2In the manufacturing arena, GE is betting on theindustrial Internet, building cloud-based services withintelligent analytics so that it can collect and combinevast amounts of industrial-machine data and equipmentdata, extracting unique insights that it can use to setnew performance standards in major industries such asenergy and aviation.#techvision2014