Marrying design and digital the ticket to worldwide business success – viewpoint from a visionary at

The rules of doing business have changed completely. Brands and businesses are no longer limited to isolated pockets of consumers; instead, over a billion people can be connected to a digital platform in one second, bringing about an explosion of possibilities for product, services and retail. The potential of the digital age is boundless, and yet, the art of harnessing it completely has not been mastered by all. As the business world is scrambling for ways to make the best of this new situation, the Sri Lankan fashion and apparel industry too is looking to reinvent and transform into a more futuristic, flexible, design-driven and digitally-optimised way of operating and manufacturing. 

The seventh annual South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum held as part of Sri Lanka Design Festival 2016 provided thought leadership for this significant strategic shift by bringing in visionary leaders in global apparel and supply chain who foresaw this age of transformation years ago and prepared for the future well in advance. This included Kurt Cavano, the Founder and President of GT Nexus and Infor company, and the best known cloud-based global supply chain management system with a worldwide reputation for advanced use of digital tech and user-centric design that keeps it relevant to the 

absolute now. 

With a design and tech merger that transcends cultural, linguistic and trade boundaries, GT Nexus has seen remarkable international growth with clients spread across all continents, making it the largest cloud platform of its kind. Featured as one of World Trade Magazine’s 50 most influential people, GT Nexus Founder and President Cavano is a frequent speaker and writer on topics concerning technology, international trade and global supply chain management. Holding a BS in Bioscience from Penn State University and an MBA from New York University, Cavano serves on several boards including the American Apparel and Footwear Association and the American Apparel Producers Network. He also serves as chairman of the Neptune Township Economic Corporation. 

His session at the seventh annual South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum tackled the best ways to pursue international growth by leveraging the power of design in a new digital landscape. Speaking exclusively to Daily FT, Cavano explained the magnitude of today’s digital tech advancements, the significance of design to harness these developments and how businesses can target exponential growth by investing time, energy and resources to bring these two components together:

Q: Your topic for SAALF 2016 was about leveraging the digital. For those who missed it, can you give a quick insight?

A: Digital is the medium that is taking the world by storm right now and businesses can no longer ignore it. The ones that saw this storm coming prepared for it and are really reaping the benefits today and the ones that did not are hurrying up to get to it and the very few businesses that still have no idea, will not make it I’m afraid – that’s just how big it is. 

To state things simply, digital is the platform, design is the language. When print took over human communication few centuries ago, trade and commerce depended on print to get their brand messages out and invariably design that was optimised for print was big at the time. The same goes for television or any other visual media that took over – these platforms only came alive with the kind of design especially optimised for it. So, when digital becomes the main media of our times, we need to use design optimised for digital. 

Q: Digital is huge for business today – we all know that. But, with you being one of the business leaders who really foresaw the dawn of the digital age, can you explain why it is a make-or-break for brands today?

A: Digital is so big, simply because connectivity has become one of the most important things to mankind today. With handheld and mobile technology, the ability to stay connected and wired 24/7 came about almost 15 years ago. Today, it is no longer an external add-on or a luxury. It is a habit, a must. And even when it comes to a brand, consumers expect the same kind of connectivity with the brand. The business world should not forget this. 

Digital is where everyone’s at now, and if you keep channelling your energy into traditional, non-digital platforms, you’re speaking to an older generation of people who are receding in their buying power. Digital is where the current generation spending time, getting entertained, is connecting with friends, working, making decisions, shopping and pretty much living their entire lives. It’s basically where business happens now; so if you’re not on it, you’re losing out on big business.

Q: Where does design fit into this and help brands with international growth?

A: Well, we all have seen how the cyber social landscape exploded with growth in just a few years and we talked about how design is what drives the language of this powerful platform. And, it is a platform that is available to every single brand out there. So, with every single brand having access to such incredible power to reach millions across the world in even less than a second, the only differentiator between them becomes how they are perceived online. This is based on a brand’s creative ability to sense design for emotional engagement. So from user experience design that determines how easy it is for people to use your services online, communicate with you or access information about your brand, to visual design which creates the face of your brand and connects it to the emotions and values of your consumer online to product design which determined the quality and relevance of your very product, design goes hand-in-hand with digital to make it come alive as a platform. If you tick all the boxes right, then regardless of nationality, language or cultural background consumers across the world will respond to your brand and it will grow beyond borders.

Q: You have worked with the Lankan apparel industry for a long time. How do you see this tying up with the industry here?

A: There’s no question that the Sri Lankan apparel industry has much to benefit from using digital platforms and design, especially given the context of the industry expanding beyond B2B and looking for B2C channels of operation as well; they already have the infrastructure, the reputation, the networks and now I believe the talent too. So, digital undoubtedly is the biggest and the most effective platform to harvest new possibilities from all over the world. 

For example, Sri Lanka Design Festival this year presented its fashion runways under the theme ‘Travel collections’ which is a very exciting new possibility for the Sri Lankan apparel industry given the country’s reputation and pull for travel and this proposition comes alive entirely online reaching stylish travellers from every corner of the earth. It is a perfect example of how the Sri Lankan fashion and apparel industry can reap big benefits from bringing good design on board digital.

(In addition to his session at the South Asian Apparel Leadership Forum, Kurt Cavano also chaired the event leading several other distinguished speakers and panels throughout the conference. For more information, contact the SLDF secretariat on 0763427772, 5867772-3 email [email protected] or walk in between 9am-5pm to the Sri Lanka Design Festival Secretariat at AOD, 29, Laurie’s Road, Colombo 04.)