Upon reading a book on the 4th Industrial Revolution, I realized that apart from it being described as “disruptive” and therefore necessitating efforts to ensure that it is embraced by society in a way that preserves harmonious existence of all actors, it is largely premised on technological innovation.

I also learned that whereas the technologies associated with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Industrial Revolutions took years for some regions in the world to catch on, the 4th Industrial Revolution is expected to spread much faster.

The revelations in the book led me to start thinking about what this meant for corporates.

I would like to presume that corporates whose core business is innovation and technology may have had a head start in that regard.

What about the rest of the corporates? Do they have innovation and technology as one of their strategic focus areas and objectives? Are they thinking of policies and capacity building in that regard? Do they see it as a revenue enabler or stream? There are obviously many other questions, I am sure.

It would be worth an interrogation around how corporate governance structures from shareowners to operatives in an organization can play a role to ensure strategic and operational readiness for the technological and innovation “normal” that is upon us.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is now seen as a tool for efficiency and we have already started experiencing it when accessing social services and in performing some functions in our respective offices.

I am of the view that AI will sooner rather than later, be a determinant of whether an organization remains competitive in the market in operates.

This is a call for us to take an interest and start devising strategies on how we will respond to this Revolution.