Planning for Growth – What’s Next for the Trillion-Dollar High-Tech Industry?

At the International CES event last month in Las Vegas, CEA announced that worldwide sales of high-tech & consumer electronics products were projected to be within shouting distance of $1 trillion in 2011. Technology companies are thinking hard about how to manage this growth efficiently and invest in appropriate operational excellence initiatives. Based on a survey of COOs, an Accenture report on the Future of High-Tech and Electronics indicates three strategic imperatives to help achieve effective operations in this upcoming growth phase:

• Charting new growth trajectories

• Organizing for worldwide innovation

• Leveraging the broader ecosystem

While innovation and growth have always been at the top for CXOs, it is interesting to see that the importance of alliances, channel partners and suppliers is seen as an area of investment. For example, best-in-class technology companies leverage their channel partner networks to differentiate themselves, improve speed-to-market, identify new opportunities that they may not have uncovered on their own, and improve visibility to end customers. It’s no surprise that at a recent quarterly business review, a Zyme customer remarked how a granular view of channel activity worldwide has given them an important market advantage.