«Nobody should think they won’t be affected»

THE PHILANTHROPIST: What makes digi­ta­li­sa­tion diffe­rent from other econo­mic, social, and, above all, indus­trial changes?

GEORGES GRIVAS: Digi­ta­li­sa­tion affects every kind of deve­lo­p­ment, whether econo­mic, social or indus­trial. It is a compre­hen­sive shift, and very few deve­lo­p­ments across humanity’s history can be compared to it. 

What does this mean for compa­nies, their mana­gers and their corpo­rate culture?

Digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion affects every single area within a company. A company’s manage­ment needs to under­stand the tech­no­logy that under­pins it, while guiding the trans­for­ma­tion from above – and wanting it to happen, too. Corpo­rate culture will not escape digi­tal trans­for­ma­tion unsca­thed, either: it will undergo marked chan­ges. It is not unusual for central elements, such as the busi­ness model – or, in other words, how a company earns money – to change. In turn, this often requi­res a new corpo­rate culture.

Disrup­tive chan­ges are parti­cu­larly chal­len­ging. What exactly are ‘disrup­tive changes’?

The word ‘disrup­tive’ refers to new tech­no­lo­gi­cal inno­va­tions repla­cing exis­ting busi­ness models, or comple­tely squeezing them out of the market.

Can you give an exam­ple of this?

Stan­dard mobile phones were almost comple­tely super­se­ded by Apple and Android smart­phones, while CDs and DVDs were prac­ti­cally supp­lan­ted by strea­ming provi­ders like Spotify and Netflix.

Disrup­tive deve­lo­p­ments pose a threat to compa­nies’ busi­ness models and their very exis­tence as a result: how can compa­nies react to this?

It is important that compa­nies moni­tor emer­ging tech­no­lo­gies and their impli­ca­ti­ons on an ongo­ing basis. Nobody should think that they won’t be affec­ted by them, or that their market isn’t going to be impac­ted by disrup­tion. Netflix is an easy exam­ple of this. The company laun­ched in 1997, opera­ting as an online video library sending DVDs and Blu-rays by post. It reco­g­nised the oppor­tu­ni­ties offe­red by strea­ming early on in the game, setting up its video-on-demand busi­ness as far back as 2007.

How can a small company ensure they don’t miss any deve­lo­p­ments and fully tap into the oppor­tu­ni­ties on offer?

In my view, it’s the role of the admi­nis­tra­tive board and manage­ment to pursue a forward-looking, stra­te­gic approach in the inte­rests of their company. This means that they need to reco­g­nise deve­lo­p­ments, such as tech­no­lo­gi­cal inno­va­tions, early on in the game. As a result, it is essen­tial that the members of the admi­nis­tra­tive board and manage­ment alike are able to pick up these risks and oppor­tu­ni­ties on their radar.

Can an SME outside the tech­no­logy sector even hope to deli­ver digi­tal innovation?

SMEs (espe­ci­ally those not in the tech­no­logy sector) don’t need to deli­ver digi­tal inno­va­tion. Howe­ver, they need to make sure they have the right tools at their dispo­sal to successfully over­come the struc­tu­ral change wrought by digitalisation.

Does disrup­tive deve­lo­p­ment occur within a parti­cu­lar sector, or can it also make an entire sector superfluous?

Both are possi­ble, there’s no doubt about that. For exam­ple, tech giants like Face­book, Google, Amazon and Apple are putting out feelers in the finan­cial sector and expan­ding what they offer in this domain. It is a logi­cal conse­quence that even the finan­cial sector will be incre­asingly driven by tech­no­logy. As ‘digi­tal nati­ves’, IT compa­nies have a natu­ral advan­tage here. Their global reach, on a digi­tal level, is unpar­al­le­led, and their marke­ting machi­nery is excellent.

Will this change social structures?

Abso­lut­ely. One up-to-the-minute exam­ple comes in the form of block­chain tech­no­logy, which makes it possi­ble to ‘bank the unban­ked’, meaning that people around the globe who previously didn’t have a bank account or access to finan­cial services are now being connec­ted to the finan­cial system, which will change the struc­ture of society at every level.

Can you see any hints of disrup­tive deve­lo­p­ment in the phil­an­thro­pic sector or in terms of donations?

Even these areas will feel the effects of digi­ta­li­sa­tion. For exam­ple, we can see deve­lo­p­ments regar­ding topics such as trans­pa­rency, where tech­no­lo­gies like block­chain are having a posi­tive impact. As every tran­sac­tion is perma­nently stored in the block­chain, these tran­sac­tions can be tracked at any time, which makes it possi­ble to trace dona­ti­ons and finan­cial flows trans­par­ently. In turn, this enables a charity to cut out the midd­le­man, ther­eby redu­cing costs.