When people ask me about why Scypio was founded, I realize so much has to do with what we are now calling the digitization—and transformation—of business by technology, enabling it to drive efficiency and performance in ways never before imagined.
After nearly two decades working in the technology trenches—including some amazing opportunities consulting with a varied array of global brands and some of the largest companies in North America—I am keenly aware that businesses today stand at a crossroads of sorts. With the widest and richest opportunity most of us ever imagined, today’s businesses also face a looming storm cloud—black and ominous—circling in for the kill for technology avoiders and resisters of change.
With each passing year, technology is evolving—at ever-increasing rates—to massively transform and disrupt the world. It will continue to accelerate change in the way we live, work, and consume products and services. The magnitude and speed change mean the modern enterprise today faces both unprecedented possibilities and business-wide challenges it must prepare for, address, adapt to, and ultimately embrace—or risk being left behind by more technologically-savvy competitors.
For Fortune 500 companies, the “solution” is often to just throw enormous amounts of money at the challenge. For small-medium enterprises, things can be a bit trickier. What I realized is that much of the challenge for them begins well before any full-scale technology initiatives are even undertaken. It begins with questions and concerns about the current technology landscape, and how new and increasingly-unfamiliar tools relate (or don’t relate) to their own business.
So rather than worrying about what they don’t yet know—and may not have the in-house resources to fully discover—it seemed to me that what they really needed was a trusted technology advisor with the experience and credibility to help them craft their strategies around technology and then help guide them through execution.
What I knew for certain is that the last thing they needed was someone—or even an army of people—trying to sell them specific technologies when they might not yet even fully understand whether those technologies even mapped back to their business’ operations or its goals or plans for the future.
So when I founded Scypio and began talking to executives about their scenarios and what they needed, I found I could quite easily vet great client opportunities based on their answers to questions like:
- Is technology not your area of expertise or strength?
- Do you struggle with finding the time to research and understand how the latest technological advancements impact your business?
- Are you too busy running your business to thoroughly assess and analyze new technologies people suggest that you implement?
- Do you wish you had a sounding board—a proactive voice to provide you with ideas, thought leadership, and collaboration around new ways to improve your business through technology?
- Do you lack internal resources who have the technology skills, knowledge, and experience necessary to help you understand and explore potential return on investment (ROI) of various technology options?
- Do you wish there were an affordable way to engage highly-experienced, thoroughly neutral technology advisors on an ongoing basis?
So the bottom line—in my mind at least—is that the modern competitive business needs more than just the financial and legal advice traditionally obtained through accountants and lawyers. The modern enterprise now needs continuous, experienced technology collaboration and advice to help navigate strategy and execution for the rapidly-changing business landscape that today’s technologies are uniquely capable of addressing—and transforming.