SAN FRANCISCO, May 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The brightest minds in mobile, telecommunications and media gather annually in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress, the world's largest meeting for the mobile industry. This year, strategists from IBM iX (NYSE: IBM), the global consulting agency, convened more than 25 global executives from leading telcos and media companies to discuss the challenges, opportunities and solutions for reinventing their businesses in a digital world.

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Above all, the group recognized the need to create disruptive opportunities of their own before they themselves are disrupted. Companies are increasingly required to develop processes for identifying and understanding new digital paradigms that require attention, and the resources required to grow market share and profitability across their businesses. While the conversation focused on telco and media, the challenge of reinvention applies to all industries, from retail to banking to industrial products and beyond.

"The insights and energy generated in these sessions was palpable," said Brian Love, Associate Partner, IBM iX. "The discussions validated a rapidly changing world where customer expectations are on the rise, traditional customer relationships are changing hands and the demand for data drives massive investments in their networks."

Here the top things learned during the exclusive sessions, and recommended actions to stay ahead of the digital curve:

    --  Digital Orchestration - while the majority of companies have already
        developed new digital initiatives, few felt they were maximizing their
        investments. Most have disparate efforts working under the CIO, CMO and
        various business unit leaders, and find that these efforts often
        conflicted with one another. Telcos need to find ways to better
        orchestrate these efforts to remain aligned to one another, and to the
        overarching digital strategy. These efforts must be sponsored from
        top-down, starting with the CEO.
    --  IT / Business Alignment - businesses face an ongoing divide between the
        technology organization and the business. The success of new innovative,
        customer-centered business strategies require CIOs to provide the
        technology to execute - operating otherwise can cause innovations to
        stall. Business and IT planning must coordinate to ensure that
        investment in the platforms and employee tools support the customer
        experiences the businesses envisions.
    --  Talent Reinvention - participants indicated that only 30-50% of their
        workforce were prepared for their digital future. Telcos require
        significant retraining or refreshing of personnel capabilities, while
        tomorrow's employees will need new "digital-savvy" that must fluidly be
        incorporated into team environments. In response, companies must be
        customer-focused, agile in approach and iterative in delivery. Difficult
        decisions may be required to position a team for future competition.
    --  Innovation Through New Businesses - many of the executives report that
        existing corporate structures impair innovation. The pressures of
        maintaining their business frequently impede their ability to invest in
        innovation. To handle current and future disruptions, companies must
        consider creating new entities and/or companies to drive their
        innovation agenda. Smaller, more nimble up-start companies are more
        likely to have the freedom to experiment, evaluate new partnerships and
        offer differentiated measures of success and incentives. Incumbent
        companies must identify unique, proprietary resources and expertise, and
        innovate with institutional competitive advantages.

To learn more about IBM iX, visit www.ibm.com/ibmix.

Media Contact:
Suzanne Cross
saronowi@us.ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

SOURCE: IBM