A customer who heads a digital subgroup for his company recently said to me, “One of our executives asked if we were planning any initiatives around the Apple Watch.” This statement represented a déjà vu moment for me, because I heard similar comments at the releases of the iPhone and iPad. New digital technology often makes it into a business very quickly because executives and senior managers find uses for their new possessions in the workplace. When we ask our customers about adoption time on new technology – the time from idea to realization– they tell us it takes 24 to 48 weeks.
Interestingly, most of that time is spent conceptualizing the idea, building a business case and getting funding. Less time is required to actually build the technology. This raises the question: With cycles this long, how many digital initiatives can an enterprise roll out?
