My favorite excerpt:

Technology's Seat at the Business Table

For business leaders, it's no secret that the pace at which companies launch and adapt to market dynamics and competition has intensified. Research from Bain & Company indicates that two-thirds of successful new companies modify their original strategy to accommodate unexpected changes, thereby demonstrating agility.

Agility, often associated with startups, is also vital for established companies. From 2000 to 2009, Fortune 500 companies had only a 63% survival rate. Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, attributed corporate mortality to inflexible, non-agile business models in his 2017 letter to shareholders.

McKinsey & Company reports that organizations that adopt agile designs and practices are 1.5 times more likely to outperform financially and 1.7 times more likely on non-financial measures.

What does it mean to be agile? It's the ability to swiftly reconfigure strategy, structure, processes, people, and technology toward value-generating and value-protecting opportunities. As seen during the pandemic, businesses had to swiftly transition to digital workplaces . Suddenly, tools like Zoom became vital; restaurants had to list on delivery websites, and schools needed to deploy digital classrooms to manage remote learning.

Agility in technology balances stability and dynamism. The IT infrastructure, encompassing cybersecurity, data centers, cloud, network, and desktop administration, provides the necessary stability for operating a digital workplace. IT architecture can use modular design, enabling the creation of multiple modules that can be replaced as required. This agile approach empowers software development teams to create new products and services quickly, improve processes, and even reinvent the business model. AI helps organizations automate repetitive work and reallocate resources toward client-oriented activities. Thus, technology enhances business efficiency, positively impacting a company's profitability.

Conceptually, it is increasingly understood that the decision-making process around technology by a CEO and her management team depends on their perception of technology. It's a philosophical choice. An agile business model necessitates that technology move beyond being an operational tool and to influence the vision and strategy of the company. The crucial question is: will this understanding translate into action?