Elon Musk, chief executive of
No doubt, business urgency is at an all-time high. Whether it’s in building a new idea or bringing it to market, the race to compete – and win – in today’s rapid economy is pushing organizations to adopt agile processes and technologies that enable them to dream, devise and deploy.
Hold onto your hats. Pipe dream or no, Musk’s project is part of a growing list of technologies pushing businesses to the brink of speed:
3D Printing
With 3D printing, companies like Nike and Adidas are finding that what could once take months to prototype now take a matter of days. With a simple click and print, designers can now see computer-generated concepts transform into 3-dimensional, layers of plastic objects.
The potential for this is bigger than making, for example, a hotel prototype. It’s forcing businesses to adopt even faster go-to-market strategies and processes, and they’ll need an agile IT backbone to stay nimble.
Adding to the competitive pressures, a business need not have deep pockets to take advantage of 3D printing’s capabilities. With companies like The UPS Store now offering 3D printing services in select local outlets, demand will dictate how accessible this technology becomes over the next few years.
Big Data
Before you even get to the prototype stage, you’ll want to do your research. And today, businesses have access to a wide array of data sources, from social media and online search to point-of-sale purchases, even emails and call logs. The question is: Who will unlock it first – you or your competitors?
The speed factor for many businesses today arrives in bringing structure to all that data. Platforms like SAP HANA have the potential to transform data analytics used for predictive modeling, leading to efficiency and ultimately – you guessed it – an accelerated business pace.
Big data helps businesses determine what the market wants and needs, take the necessary steps to provide pin-pointed solutions and better engage more effectively with current and potential customers. Businesses that leverage it well will have an edge over the competition, not only in forecasting but also in driving new innovations and products to market.
When it comes to accessing new technologies, all roads lead to cloud.
A recent IDG Enterprise survey says that the ability to react to changing market conditions and speed of deployment are two of the main drivers behind cloud computing adoption. Further, enterprises that embrace the cloud are benefiting from better employee collaboration and empowered IT departments, which are more agile and innovative.
Pundits have long championed cloud computing for ushering a new, agile era. If you’re not in it now, in some way, shape or form, you’re falling behind the curve. Unlike on-premises hardware requiring capital, maintenance and other ongoing costs, cloud lets businesses effectively outsource infrastructure to a service provider for managing the day-to-day.
This gives companies more time in the race to market and shortened development cycles to focus on the technologies that advance the business. Cloud computing has – and will continue – to be an underlying component of more agile technologies and faster go-to-market strategies for businesses of all sizes.
If Elon Musk has his way, we’ll someday all be able to travel around the world at 800 MPH for an impromptu brainstorming session or business pitch. We’re not there yet, but when we are, will your underlying technologies be ready?
Ken Owens is chief scientist for Savvis, a
