Business owners, industry leaders, and brand stewards who want to stay current and boost their companies’ profits have been tasked with reinventing their organizations so they may take advantage of newer and fresher prospects brought about by technological breakthroughs.
At the 2022 Annual Marketing Conference, which was recently held in Lagos and organized by the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria (NIMN), experts from a variety of fields within the country’s Integrated Marketing Communications space made the case that it is “becoming increasingly dangerous” for business owners to stick with outdated business models in a rapidly evolving, technologically driven environment.
Speaking on the topic of “Driving Business Sustainability in The Age of Data and Technology,” Mr. Kola Oyeyemi, the keynote speaker and CEO of Axiom Intel, said that the conventional wisdom that the introduction of technology would benefit a large number of people at the expense of “a smaller few” is being challenged. He maintained that many organizations have been negatively impacted by technological improvements because they have not been able to capitalize on the advantages that these technologies offer.
Therefore, Oyeyemi contended that it is now essential to examine business sustainability from the standpoint of performance fundamentals due to the proliferation of data and highly disruptive technology.
The former General Manager, Consumer Marketing of MTN Nigeria described the problem of disruptive technologies as “unsettling.” He pointed out that although technology can improve operational and financial efficiencies, if it is not used to its full potential, it can also hasten a company’s demise.
It’s like riding a ferocious tiger. Any mistake could be extremely deadly. You can increase operational and financial efficiencies with the aid of technology. But technology might hasten your demise as well,” he said.
Oyeyemi warned that the disruption it could create to firms could come from “a barbarian from outside” the industry rather than necessarily from intra-business rivalry.
Using the advent of Smartphone technology and its attendant disruptions, as an example, he argued that the introduction of the first smart-phone device by IBM in 1992, and the advent of internet, had permanently made smart-phone change the face of business and personal interactions. “This is one of the most visible examples of Creative Destruction. The smart-phone took mobility of life and business to a whole new level and created a convergence of industries into this powerful device,” he added. According to the former President of the Advertisers’ Association of Nigeria (ADVAN), the convergence had led to the premature death or a mutation of a lot of industries, with over 14 classic industries changed, or being changed by the Smartphone.
“Music production and distribution, video production and distribution, banking, insurance, watch, print production, broadcast, gaming, retail brick and mortar channels, and more are some of the industries that are impacted,” he said.
The well-known marketing expert ascribed this disruption to the fact that technologies disregard established engagement guidelines and traditional competitive advantage criteria.
He declared, “They are barbarians who have destroyed outdated systems and structures and established a completely new framework for competitiveness across industries.”
Oyeyemi consequently advised entrepreneurs to avoid organizational rigidity since it hinders innovation and ecosystem thinking and may ultimately cause enterprises to fail.
Joyce Ibukun Adeyemo, a panelist at the conference and the marketing coordinator for Allied Foods (Burger King), emphasized in her presentation the importance of taking disruptive marketing seriously by marketing practitioners nationwide.
“This is because it gives you a creative competitive edge and helps you refresh your products in the eyes of your customers,” she said.
NIMN’s President and Chairman of Council, Mr. Idorenyen Enang, also spoke at the occasion and characterized the conference as a forum for idea sharing amongst players in the country’s marketing industry.
He clarified that the marketing institute’s decision to honor 17 eminent practitioners—some of whom were selected from sister professional bodies—with its fellowship was a means of advancing the field and working with sister organizations in order to benefit its members even more.
