In a disruptive world, workforces must be built to adapt, to embrace new business strategies and continuously learn new skillsets. Keeping up with changing technology is vital. But today, it’s just as important to evolve the organization’s corporate culture.

- High performers of the future won’t merely consume more technology. They will enable their people to accomplish more with technology. They will create new corporate cultures that use technology to enable people to constantly adapt and learn, create new solutions, drive change and disrupt the status quo, says Paul Daugherty, Accenture ’s chief technology officer.

With technology advancing at such a fast pace today, the report shows that companies can often feel overwhelmed by the pace of technology change. They can even experience “digital culture shock” at the prospect of keeping up with the competition. However, those companies can adopt a people-first approach that will allow them to create new business models that drive digital disruption.

- As technology advancements accelerate at an unprecedented rate companies that equip employees, partners and consumers with new skills can fully capitalize on innovations. Those that do will have unmatched capabilities to create fresh ideas, develop cutting-edge products and services, and disrupt the status quo.

Tech trends to watch

In the report, Accenture also identifies five technology trends fuelled by the “people first” -principal that are essential to business success in the digital economy. These include:

 1. Intelligent automation. Leaders are embracing automation - powered by artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and augmented reality – to fundamentally change the way their business operates and drive a new, more productive relationship between people and machines.

2. Liquid workforce. By exploiting technology to enable workforce transformation, leading companies will create highly adaptable and change-ready environments that are able to meet today’s dynamic digital demands.

3. Platform economy. Industry leaders are unleashing the power of technology by developing platform-based business models to capture new growth opportunities, driving the most profound change in the global macroeconomic environment since the Industrial Revolution.

4. Predictable disruption. According to the report, fast-emerging digital ecosystems are creating the foundation for the next wave of disruption by straddling markets and blurring industry boundaries; forward-thinking leaders can proactively predict these ecosystem trajectories to gain a competitive advantage.

5. Digital Trust. Trust is a cornerstone of the digital economy, according to the majority of the survey’s respondents. To gain the trust of individuals, ecosystems and regulators in this new landscape, businesses must focus on digital ethics as a core strategy; better security alone won’t be enough.

For more information on the report go to: www.accenture.com/technologyvision .