Dennis Fortnum
Canadian Managing Partner,
KPMG Enterprise |
Creating value and driving growth through Information Technology
Technology is an important tool for private companies to achieve efficiency, increase revenue and stay one step ahead of the competition. While private company owners and entrepreneurs understand the importance information technology can play to adding value and driving growth for their business, it’s always a challenge to keep abreast of the latest developments and solutions best suited for the company and its business objectives. Therefore, it is helpful to consider a formal process that maps technology to your business initiatives, making technology an integral part of the overall business plan and an important component on longer term growth initiatives.
It’s key to recognize that technology encompasses both a cost of doing business and an opportunity to do more business, and that there needs to be a dynamic balance between efficiency and innovation. CIOs or heads of the IT department need to be strategic thinkers, able to speak the layman’s language and deliver the message that technology can create new opportunities and enhancements to the business and facilitate growth for the company.
Technology has a cost not only in dollars, but also in time and human resources, and even though some departments have become more appreciative of their IT counterparts, the entire executive team of a company needs to embrace to the importance of technology and the fact that the IT function has moved from support to main growth driver. Often, the hesitation to engage and invest in IT is usually due to either perceiving high, prohibitive costs of technology innovation or a lack of understanding from management of the untapped potential that IT presents.
However, private companies can gain a competitive edge by placing information technology at the core of their business plan in order to:
- grow revenue by developing new marketing channels and reaching more potential customers
- achieve greater efficiency in reducing costs and streamlining operations
- increase agility and keep pace with global competitors in a world where the digital marketplace is becoming the primary marketplace
articles in this issue
What is cloud computing and is it right for you?
Read the article
Digital Media and IT Innovations Can Net Tax Savings
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No budget for social media? Empower your staff, and compete with the big players!
Read the article
insights
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Clarity in the Cloud |
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Managing IT through Market Turbulence |
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Mobile Payments Outlook |
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Monetizing mobile: How banks are preserving their place in the payment value chain |
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Going Social: how businesses are making the most of social media |
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Green IT and the Bottom Line |
Recommended Reading
$80 million Funding for Adoption of Digital Technologies
Contact KPMG Enterprise Concierge Services at 1-888-99-ADVSR and speak to your private business adviser about the Digital Technology Adoption Pilot Program administered by National Research Council – Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC-IRAP)... Read more
Are retail banks ready for social media?
... one in ten of the world’s population has a Facebook account and almost 500 million people log onto YouTube each month. Business is also flocking to social media... Read more
Canadians portrayed as avid technology users but wary of mobile banking and mobile commerce – KPMG survey
Despite major concerns over privacy and data security, people around the world are rapidly adopting the mobile internet as an easy and convenient method of carrying out everyday transactions... Read more
Cloud computing: Is the perfect storm ahead of us?
Cloud computing has been available for years and is now entering the mainstream. This article explains the cloud delivery models, the expected risks associated with cloud computing, and the changes that lay ahead. Read more
Making sense of IT
Why it’s time to get IT out of the basement and into the boardroom. Read more
Business Adviser is published by KPMG Enterprise™ specifically for owners and executives of private companies. KPMG Enterprise is a network of professionals devoted exclusively to helping business owners and entrepreneurs build value and grow thriving enterprises. kpmg.ca/enterprise. |