The ME B2B Summit 2019 – which took place on September 19 – featured many important subjects to make us reflect about the future of the labor market and mankind, after another industrial and technological revolution.

The theme called “Pendulum movement of innovation: what will be valuable and what tasks will be left for human beings”, presented by panelist Arthur Igreja, opened the event. You can follow now, here on ME’s blog, the key insights.

 

 Digital transformation and new technologies

In the current market, it isn’t unusual to hear that technologies are threatening people’s jobs. This is far from true: according to Arthur Igreja, every time a major technology movement occurs, various opportunities equally arise, and no one is usually taking a look at them.

People are very worried about potential damage that technology can cause to the job market, and forget to take a holistic and optimistic view of new chances that are emerging all the time.

The first lecture of the event invited everyone to start looking beyond the fright and hype of technology.

Arthur made his point saying that we must have an unusual viewpoint, in order to understand how to make the most of this moment and the new tools.

 

Speed + Time: Innovations implemented at the right time

It’s true that technologies evolve exponentially. But have you noticed that innovations appear all the time, but not all of them go forward? What’s the reason? Innovation goes hand in hand with society and its ability to accept new disruptions.

A clear example is the tablet created by Apple, the famous iPad. And it was developed in 1993! The device had a touch screen already and some features that were unusual at the time. The innovation wasn’t much accepted by the market, because people weren’t prepared to accept it; many people hadn’t even heard about the product.

After a lapse of 22 years, in 2015, they launched a new version of the device – which is currently one of Apple’s major revenue sources.

This shows the need to be aware of people’s maturity to accept any technology, if our environment allows it to be used, and how much users will benefit from its use.

Identifying the time of change is even more important than innovation, along with the right time to introduce any change to the market and society.

 

 What is the pendulum movement of innovation?

Against the belief of ongoing technological evolution, arises the ‘pendulum movement of innovation’ concept, a trend that makes not so innovative things become fashionable again.

In other words, ideas averse to modernity are also valued as new technologies appear. In the post-digital world, people spend much time connected, and they now value the moments where they can unplug and retrieve old habits.

Have you ever stopped to analyze the cross fit movement? It’s the perfect example of a pendulum movement of innovation. This practice uses a range of rustic equipment such as tractor tires, ropes, weights, boxes and several other common objects. This activity model exploits physical strength, much like the work of the sixties in factories.

But that is the question. Why do people pay and subject themselves to go back a few decades? The answer is that while technologies support our daily lives, we miss the old world, the manual labor and the effort, and end up paying for the experience of living it all over again.

According to Arthur, everything that cannot be digitized will be valued in the future. The more human the aspect developed by a professional, the more valuable it will be.

 

Companies must improve customer service and streamline customer processes

The “save time” and “success” terms have never been so mentioned as they are today. In contrast, many companies talk about innovation, but still insist on keeping bureaucratic, inflexible processes.

But it’s simple: to innovate, you must live and deliver what 2019 offers. Deploy digitization and make customer service easier. People are tired of signing papers and writing documents. Companies must optimize relationships and eliminate bureaucracy from daily routines, to have spare time for better relations with consumers.

Machines are emerging to handle the boring parts of processes, while professionals will be in charge of the humanized part.

 

Return on experience: the new concept of digital transformation

Arthur commented also about “Return on Experience”, a new concept that is emerging in the market.

The idea behind this concept is doing more business, caring for customer experience, and offering a fluid journey, where you can find an innovative environment within the company. Something that pleases everybody and adds value during the path of the user/consumer.

While everyone is focused on social networks, money is never part of the commoditization of things: in fact, you will always find it on the opposite side of commodities.

For Arthur Igreja, great deals are made by people, for people and with people. Companies must mix the best of technology to solve the worst of bureaucracy, and thus provide spare time for professionals, so they can handle relationships as humanely as possible.

That’s where the concept of pendulum movement comes in: when the pendulum is going and says “Let’s eliminate people and digitize everything”, he runs the other way and reminds us of rare things, such as looking into someone’s eyes and inviting him/her for a coffee.

 

About Arthur Igreja

Arthur is one ‘A’ of plataforma AAA (along with Ricardo Amorim and Allan Costa). He gives lectures at more than 120 events per year, such as Rock in Rio Academy and TEDx, in Brazil, USA, Europe and South America. He is also an advisor to the Boticário Group’s foundation.

 

This is only the first post in a series we will publish about the ME B2B Summit 2019. If you liked it, subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on all topics related to the e-commerce reference event among companies!

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