Digitalization has significantly changed the lives of each of us. Many people no longer remember when they only went to the supermarket for groceries and did not order home delivery, or that quite recently they had to go to the bank and stand in line to get money or pay bills. But not everyone is ready to immediately take advantage of all the numerous advantages of information technology, continuing to live and work as usual, in the old fashioned way — and this applies not only to ordinary people, but also to businessmen.
The question of survival
It must be said that business is still more sensitive to various kinds of changes. Finding your bearings in time and moving the company onto a new path is not a whim, but a matter of survival. History knows many examples when successful organizations went to the bottom, unable to adapt to industry changes.
The last decades have inevitably pushed companies towards digital transformation. Global spending on digital transformation is forecast to reach $3.4 trillion by 2026, according to market and consumer data provider Statistica.
At the same time, the reckless implementation of the latest digital tools, along with enormous opportunities, also carries significant risks. We are talking about cyber attacks, hacking and data leaks, substitution of information on company websites and other cyber threats that disrupt the normal functioning of enterprises.
According to the report of the Solar Group, in 2023 the number of suspected incidents increased by 64% to 1.5 million information security events. Both public and private companies are increasingly faced with elaborate, often collective attacks on their servers.
As a result, companies providing information security have a growing number of customers, whose requirements are also growing in terms of their awareness of cyber risks, and the scale of the tasks being solved is increasing many times over. We have to work faster and harder.
The Road of the Young
Information security in Russia is now a relatively young market and is going through the same path that other industries went through at one time. According to analysts of the corporate informatization portal TAdviser, the volume of the Russian information security market in 2023 increased by 24%. The trend is expected to continue into 2024. The Analytical Center for Strategic Research predicts that if in 2021 domestic companies accounted for 60% of the market for cybersecurity products, then by 2027 this figure will grow to 95%. According to CSR analysts, in the next 5 years the Russian cybersecurity market will grow 2.5 times — from 185.9 billion rubles to 469 billion rubles.
If a company wants to become a leader in a growing market and influence the face of the industry as a whole, it is forced to change and rebuild before others, without losing speed.
In the second half of the 19th century, elevators that rose above seven floors were considered dangerous — the ropes often broke, and a fall from such a height was fatal. The situation was changed by American businessman Elisha Otis, founder of the Otis brand. He developed a system for delaying an elevator in a mine when a rope breaks, thus overcoming the seven-story “death line.” This changed not only the elevator industry, but also the appearance of cities. It became possible to build skyscrapers and multi-storey residential buildings.
A good example of how to lead change was demonstrated by General Electric, founded by Thomas Edison, at the turn of the 20th century. She was also a vendor, uniting inventors and designers under her brand. And it was thanks to her that refrigerators, toasters, washing machines, table lamps and even can openers came into our everyday lives.
Research by the McKinsey consulting company has long proven that transformation on an enterprise scale is difficult: less than a third of transformations achieve their goals improve the organization's performance and maintain these improvements.
«Changes in the external environment, in particular the level of threats, the complication of tools, the departure of foreign vendors, force Russian developers and suppliers of information security solutions to adapt on the fly. It’s like simultaneously changing the wings of a flying airplane, refueling in the air and training the crew in maneuvers (sometimes -transplanting into the salon),” says Irina Samokhvalova, director of personnel management and organizational development of the Solar group of companies.
Any company that has large customers, including the state, does not have the opportunity to stop to make changes. She has to continue doing the same thing as usual, under strict deadlines, and at the same time carry out transformation.
What will happen next?
Of course, it’s not easy for entrepreneurs now. But modern Russian IT businessmen have not walked (and are still walking) this path alone. The diseases of the “adolescence” of companies have already been described. It is even known what will happen next.
In 1990, the writer and business consultant Itzhak Adizes published the famous book “Company Life Cycle Management”, in which, in fact, he combined all the business experience available at that time into a model that still works today.
According to Adizes, most companies go through ten stages in their development — from inception, infancy, a period of high activity (“Come on, come on!”) to the stage of stability, which is characterized by the highest peak of business development, after which the transition to decline begins. You can avoid the latter if you understand your place on the “Adizes curve” in a timely manner, take the right steps and direct the company to a new stage of development.
It is important to learn to look at the “diseases” of the current stage and prepare in time for the next step, thus creating conditions for a faster transition to the stage to which the company strives. By the way, this is not always a movement in only one direction. Sometimes companies decide to return to the previous stage, this is also normal, but in any case, this process needs to be managed.
Ambassadors of change
Responsible for certain areas that will inevitably will appear during the transformation process and are called “ambassadors of change” in the company. Who can become them?
“Any person who has been working in our company for a long time can become a change leader. For many, this is a chance to prove themselves,” says the director of personnel management and organizational development of Solar Group.
The value of introducing changes from within cannot be overestimated . Any changes must be directed and implemented by people who know the company, are interested in its prosperity, and understand the problems of a particular business.
There is no single scenario for business transformation. The best option, of course, will be the one in which your company has motivated employees, a readiness for change, the necessary technologies, but no time. A much more common scenario is when there is no time, the team is not ready for change, and new technologies are scarce. In such a scenario, it is necessary to give more freedom and authority “down”, support with training, a motivation system and mentoring when necessary.
Irina Samokhvalova is sure that employees must be aware of the changes that are taking place in the company, know what image of the result is being formed and understand how they themselves can participate in this. At Solar, from the very beginning of the transformation, management regularly communicates with employees in the “Open Dialogue” format.
“Every month and a half, we show the dynamics of changes: what happened yesterday, what we have achieved to date and what we plan to do tomorrow” , says Samokhvalova.
Five stages of acceptance
The «Open Dialogue» format also helps reduce anxiety among employees.
“The process of accepting change is accompanied by a number of emotions. A well-known model by psychologist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross described five stages of emotional state in the face of inevitable events: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. This applies to both individuals and entire companies. The main thing is to follow the rule of downward communications before making the decision, transmitting the decisions made “downwards» as a convincing position of the company. Employees must understand that these changes are part of the chosen path. This removes uncertainty and quickly sets in the acceptance stage, which is characterized by the questions “what will happen after” , “what can I do in this situation,” “and what advantages and opportunities does this give me,” says Samokhvalova.
Some employees, she says, will inevitably leave the company without waiting for the results of the changes. Those who stay and come again write the history of the company and even the industry themselves. For those who remained, who were not frightened by the changes, there is a chance to work with new, larger-scale tasks. It is this scale that now forms the loyalty of personnel in the IT industry. “Transformation takes business to a new level of ambition, new horizons, including international ones. We, as a company, are essentially becoming the center of attraction for those people who want to change reality and the industry,” says Samokhvalova.
The presence of highly professional employees and market experts in the team has a significant motivating effect. By joining such teams, a new employee gets the opportunity to work in a unique environment that promotes the growth of professionalism.
Regular changes in the basis of strategy
Any organization A company interested in maximizing its impact, increasing its efficiency and still being around five or ten years from now must periodically evaluate itself for business transformation opportunities. There will always be processes and structures that would benefit from an overhaul, and ignoring these changes can be short-sighted and detrimental to the company. Innovative approaches to a company's operations can be as critical to its success as the innovative thinking embodied in the products it produces.