My Trip Back in Time
About a year ago I set off back in time. Back to the corporate world where I started my career. It was an exciting year with long-lasting impressions. I remember grandiose innovations, an air of optimism and a desire for change. However, there was still a bit of old economy residue in the corporate halls to be dusted away.
The Tie Makes an Orderly Retreat
Tie manufacturers were hit by a real sales crisis as the corporate world — their most reliable customer — embraced the culture shift and started shunning the silk power emblem. Today’s open top button is of course just a symbol of those changes that occurred in the business world. The tie is disappearing and it is taking all the hierarchical structures along on the farewell tour. The cultural shift is in gear. Its necessity is on everyone’s mind and disruptive thinking is no longer a unique selling point for Silicon Valley. The top managers of the largest economic battleships are questioning their added value with great humility. They are ready to challenge the tried and true and implement change where it is critical for success.
Computer Club Is the Wrench in the Equation
The IT department should actually be the catalyst of this transformation. Not only should it be, it must be. After all, it is innovative IT solutions that propel startup values into the billions. In the world of DAX-listed corporations this is still not the case. More often than not, IT is a stumbling block rather than a spring. Unwilling employees are not to blame. It is a mindset that harks back to an 80s computer club where hardware is king. But the user experience needs to become the main focus. While the whole world has been living in the cloud for ages, the IT department dusts off the motherboard every morning, becoming a dust collector itself.
Long Gone Are the Days of the One-Way Street
The personnel carrousel between startups and the old economy is operating at full speed. The exchange is thriving in both directions. The world of startups was once seen as the El Dorado for bedraggled middle managers who, after crippling years in the corporate world, struck out into a kind of Disneyland for adults still young at heart. Nowadays more and more founders are switching to key roles in the corporate world. The competition for the brightest minds has been raging for quite some time. And the old economy once again has had good arguments to woo top talent.
The Dawn of Power
For a while, the corporate world appeared to be facing a deep crisis of purpose, discarded, left out to dry on the roadside of the global economy while its former sycophants were suddenly busy celebrating the tech innovators, the AirBnBs and the Ubers. Quite a while. They seemed to lose faith in their own might. That has since all changed. The old economy is beginning to understand the strong position it still has and it is getting into position. The offer of the hour is smart partnering. Armed with a positive cash flow, free money and access to a consumer base built up over decades, the German corporation is sitting on a treasure valuable beyond compare. It is a popular partner for ambitious startups, and working together with a DAX company is perceived ever more frequently as an accolade.
We Can Only Do This Together
The fact that cooperation on the part of both sides is not only profitable but also inevitable in the medium term is most clearly evidenced by the participant list at the NOAH conference. The Mecca for tech advocates has long since been stirred up by the most important reps from the German corporate world. When Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche and Uber founder Travis Kalanick sit together on a panel discussing the future of the automobile industry, then it should be obvious to everyone that we are all in this together. It only works if we talk and work with one another. Traditional companies are better positioned than many think. They are able to build up powerful alliances effective enough to defy the tech unicorns both within their industry and across many sectors. They need not surrender the battlefield without a fight. Nowadays, every DAX corporation has got an office in Berlin fostering relationships with the local tech scene in order to explore future cooperations and advance its own innovations.
Back to the Future
2017 will see the continued closing of ranks between the old and new worlds. Connections will deepen. The largest traditional companies are currently well-equipped with products. Now all they need do is push forward the cultural shift with courage and creativity and enrich their own DNA with impulses from the tech world. If they rediscover their innovation-driven mindset, the term old-economy will become obsolete. Then “back in time” will become “back to the future”.
