What does Gwyneth Paltrow have to do with your competitive advantage?
When Hollywood star Gwyneth decided to call it a day with partner Chris Martin from Cold Play, she introduced us to ‘conscious uncoupling’. And while we may laugh, she inadvertently hit on an underrated competitive advantage for businesses around the world.
Achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage is a must for most CEOs. And understanding how and why your technology integration strategy can support that goal is critical.
So, what are two considerations that we think are the most important to you?
1. Interoperability
By achieving interoperability (over and above mere integration), your solutions are connected so they can freely exchange information and work together without any effort from your end. In effect, they can communicate in exactly the same language.
Why does this matter?
Interoperability allows your business to maximise its technology ecosystem so you can drive more value from what you already have while remaining flexible. Over time, you’ll need less integration because you've achieved a future-proofed state that enables you to beat your competition. While ‘they’ have rigid technology ecosystems that make it a struggle to pivot and adapt, you can change and scale at speed – so you’re first off the mark to take advantage of new opportunities.
For example, one large retailer we work with adopted our interoperability approach. So, when it came to the COVID era, they were able to quickly chop and change their systems to release a new online marketplace which brought together a range of new products available through local and offshore third-party suppliers. Due to this, they achieved a higher level of profitability than forecast when COVID first hit.
2. Conscious uncoupling
Structural separation is the other side of the coin to effective integration. Structural separation means that thanks to interoperability, you can remove integrations as easily as you put them in.
So, when it comes time to pivot in response to changing market conditions, unlike your competitors who face costly disintegration projects, you can ‘consciously uncouple’ with minimal disruption and expense.
Imagine this: Your supply chain has suddenly gone up in smoke due to volcanic activity. However, there are alternative suppliers in another country, and due to your interoperability strategy, you immediately uncouple your old allegiances (sorry, guys) and bring on board new suppliers with little effort and cost. In the meantime, it’s all integration hands on deck for the competitor whose supply chain was likewise reduced to ashes.
By adopting an integration strategy that prioritises interoperability, you can not only grab opportunities more easily and rapidly, but dismantle outdated initiatives just as quickly. And sometimes, that’s just as important.
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