The Great Digital Divide

“Every company is a technology company, no matter what product or service it provides”- Stephanie Stone, Forbes -Jan 2017

I came to know of the above quote from my boss in my last stint . Having worked in Technology service and product companies pretty much throughout my career, sounded a little strange to me. I always thought every company has a core business and related competency, and technology is only an aid or an enabler. Concentrate on core competency and outsource the rest to the experts – we were always told.

Technology as a disrupter
The last few years, however, the above Forbes quote has been ringing true more than ever. Especially in India, we have seen how the availability of cheap and extensive internet, adoption of ecommerce models and more importantly advent of indigenous technologies like UPI have changed the face of traditional Indian businesses and disrupted the tried and tested models.

The new building blocks of business
While the core business can be manufacturing a pin or selling a pistol, the ground rules around the building blocks have significantly changed in the last decade. Technology has pervaded every step of the operation, be it making, delivering, and marketing. We can’t imagine any successful and scalable business (scalable being the key operative word here) without technology playing a major part in
–        Managing core operations through an end-to-end workflow
–        Tracking employee lifecycle
–        Customer relationship Management
–        Inventory
–        Payroll processes
–        Accounting and finance processes including point of sales, payments and collections.
–        Contract management (both for customers and vendors)
–        Planning and budgeting
–        Marketing including digital marketing.
–        Compliance management
–        Customer support/experience management
And if the core business happens to be B2C or D2C, that might or might not involve an ecommerce marketplace, then technology becomes that much more intertwined.

The haves and the have-nots
This got me thinking – are all companies created equal? If the building blocks of business are same for everyone, can all companies irrespective of their size and scale be able to access them?
When it comes to hiring a CTO in startup or an Interim CTO, businesses must choose the right technology strategy. While big enterprises opt for SAP or Netsuite, startups and SMEs often rely on Zoho or Tally. But is that enough? An experienced Interim CTO ensures startups leverage the right tech solutions, scale efficiently, and drive innovation.