Omentra.com holds talk show on ‘Disrupt and Thrive through Innovation’

Friday, 19 October 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The second in the Omentra Talk Show series ‘58 minutes,’ held recently at the Chartered Accountants Auditorium with Nathan Sivagananathan, Chief Growth Officer and member Apparel Board at MAS Holdings as the keynote speaker , once again concluded on a high note, with many of the participants requesting similar talk shows in the future.

Nathan spoke on the topic of ‘Disrupt and Thrive through Innovation’. He began the discussion by outlining that disruption today is having a direct impact on technology, business strategies and decision-makers in every industry and that it’s fuelling innovation.

He commented that therefore future business leaders needed several things to succeed, which included the right talent, focus on both innovation and operational excellence, and the agility to adapt quickly to changes all around them. This he said would enable companies to hedge against sudden industry disruption and pivot toward new opportunities and continually remain at the forefront of disruptive innovation, regardless of where those disruptive forces originate.

“Therefore companies that understand how to harness the power of disruption are the ones that will still be operational beyond the next couple of years,” stated Nathan.

Nathan further explained that leaders of companies need to challenge their management teams and workforces to revisit their products and processes, and to look outside the traditional enterprise walls for innovative approaches. He said that peer-to-peer innovation, just like peer-to-peer networking, benefits from pooling resources and talent is becoming more and more popular thanks to the sharing economy.

“New technology tools, new methods to innovate and new revenue models can all be managed and tied together to become a lever to innovate and grow.”

He added that a company must consciously decide how to position their capabilities to stay continually relevant.

“They must be willing to plan for the future with a focus on capabilities that appeal to a broader and more diverse array of potential clients. Companies must also learn to adopt digital solutions to foster real-time collaboration with partners, customers and even competitors. In doing so, they reexamine both their entrenched business processes and their corporate culture in order to make them effective and relevant.”

Citing examples from his own company Nathan gave an insight to the audience of the innovative projects undertaken by MAS to understand the evolving market landscape and in reaching out to the customer of the future.

In conclusion he stated that the message to take way from the discussion was clear. It meant that disruption isn’t new but is everywhere and businesses need to remain innovative and agile to survive.

He affirmed: “The most innovative companies thrive when people disrupt themselves. Therefore the only survival methodology today is to innovate, disrupt and grow!”