Better Together: co-creating digital confidence Business leaders are facing a maelstrom of change stirred up by Co-creation: an essential capability digital disruption. The scale, pace and potential repercussions of that Co-creation isn’t only a confidence booster; for more than a third change are all growing, leading many to suggest that their whole of respondents (38%) it is something that they consider to be an sector and entire organization will change radically in just half a essential capability for any organization that wishes to thrive in a decade. digitally disrupted marketplace. In the path of such turmoil, it would be easy to predict wavering The concept of pooling knowledge, ideas and resources with a confidence or a lack of direction amongst those surveyed. In reality, technology partner - “the ability to co-create with a technology we see quite the opposite. expert to deliver our digital strategy” - is seen not only as a skill for many, but as being more important even than issues such as Although the vast majority of leaders understand that their nurturing the right people and talent (37%) or company vision organization needs to evolve in order to thrive in this new world, (17%). for instance, most are either “somewhat” (53%) or “entirely” (40%) confident about its prospects for doing so. Accordingly, the lion’s share of respondents say that they are “very confident” (48%) or simply “confident” (46%) about their organization’s ability to thrive in a digitally disrupted future. 67% Optimism is high. At the same time, however, this certainty amongst C-Level respondents is tempered by the admission that they see numerous ways in which their hopes could be boosted further. Asked which factors might make them feel more confident in their say that partnering organization’s ability to thrive in a digitally disrupted world, half with technology (49%) see great benefit in finding the right technology partner to experts is essential help shape their response. Many other answers revolve around the subject of knowledge acquisition, with respondents wishing that in the future they could improve the level of digital skills within their business (38%), better understand their customers’ needs (35%) or gain a deeper understanding of digital technology (34%). For some respondents, the prospect of finding a suitable technology Indicative of the scale of the challenge created by digital disruption, partner goes one step further. Around one third (31%) say that they a challenge that many respondents expect to alter the fabric of their would gain confidence not just from finding a technology partner, industry, business leaders are understandably seeking to reinforce but from actually being able to co-create innovation with one. their digital decision making with the support of experts that can help them plan and deliver more compelling, more competitive digital strategies. In an environment in which half (47%) of respondents say that digital disruption is making it harder to make long-term business decisions, co-creation appears to be an increasingly practical solution. Indeed, for the majority of respondents, the long-term success of their organization will not just be shaped by those kinds of partnerships, but actually hinge upon them: more than two thirds (67%) say that partnering with third-party technology experts will be essential to their ability to thrive in the future. 21