COMPANIES which do not embrace the latest innovations in technology will get left behind their competitors and could potentially go out of business.

That was the stark message given at a presentation attended by leading executives from across the finance sector at Mount Murray on Tuesday, hosted by Intelligence IT and Business Solutions and organised by Manx Business Connection.

The two speakers - Professor Hugh Davidson and Steve Woodford - provided a straight-talking analysis of how they see the future for all businesses which captivated the capacity audience.

“Innovation is taking place at a far faster rate than ever before,” said Steve Woodford, CEO of Intelligence IT, “Right now there are rapid changes taking place all over the world and also locally . . . it present massive opportunities but also massive threats.”

He said that the latest research showed that the emphasis was on every single company in business today to embrace innovative changes which are happening at this very moment and that those who ignored such innovations were doing so “at their peril.”

He added, “History is littered with examples of people and organisations which have been left behind because they failed to embrace change. They only saw change happening slowly - but today it is happening right now.

“And the Isle of Man is no different to anywhere else. It has got to change - there is no choice. And it’s not something that has to be driven by government and we can’t blame government if nothing happens because this is down to us as individuals and as companies.”

He said that the “base model” for conducting business was the same today as it was when commerce began, but he felt that today’s biggest challenge was for companies to engage with customers on a more personal level than at the moment.

He felt that in today’s internet age all companies were using websites to promote their businesses but that this simply supplied data but no information and nothing personal. “We are all ‘shouting’ from our web pages and providing huge amounts of data, but no information which the customer finds personal to him or her.”

He argued that “the vast majority” of company websites - including the big banks and multi-national companies - were “very poor”. He added, “If you are just ‘shouting’ from your website it won’t work. It’s time instead to whisper on a more personal level.”

Intelligence IT chose Tuesday evening to officially launch a series of new market analysis products which prompted a host of questions about the way a company does business and how it promotes itself.

He wanted companies to look at how they spent their money on promotion, advertising and public relations. All have a place in a company’s marketing programme, but Mr Woodford said that virtually every business had “a massive waste of spend on traditional advertising.”

He said that the total mix of marketing should be much better spent and analysed and questions should be asked internally on a more direct level about whether advertising or PR was actually working and whether it should be amended or whether it should be approached differently.

He also reminded the audience that one glaring opportunity being missed by the vast majority of companies - for example the big high street banks - was that 80% of their own staff go home at night and use Facebook to communicate, whereas the banks’ marketing hardly featured Facebook if at all.

“Facebook is, in essence, the third biggest country in the world,” he added. “Yet very few companies are using it.”

John Webster of Manx Business Connection, introducing the presentation, said that some fundamental changes were now being seriously considered across the world of commerce. He pointed out that Microsoft multi-billionaire Bill Gates regularly takes time away from the office and work to “think” about the future.

“He goes away and sits down thinking about the future for 18 hours a day and then comes back full of ideas, refreshed and makes changes. Analysis shows that in an average 48 hour week, 60% of the time is spent in meetings, 39% is spent working but only 1% is spent actually thinking about the future and future business strategies.

“We need to challenge orthodox thinking.”

This point was also picked up by the second speaker, Manx-born Professor Hugh Davidson, an experienced businessman and renowned expert in marketing, who considered how the key factors for success in marketing have changed because of the internet and the new opportunities that this presents.

“The Isle of Man has achieved growth through building innovation. Take the e-gaming sector as an example. But competition from the Far East and India will change everything very soon.”

He said there was now a necessity for companies to become leaner and that over the next 10 years he expected “major changes” in working practices and marketing methods.

“To succeed you must be better and you must be different. Differentiation is a major factor. For instance, in the Isle of Man at the moment we have a debate currently about whether to scrap the horse trams. This would be absolutely crazy. The horse trams are part of the Isle of Man - they are a fundamental part of our history and they make us different.”

He also said the Isle of Man should continue to examine its levels of customer service across the board, including not just businesses but also the way that we treat customers in restaurants, hotels and shops. “It is an area where I think we still need to continue to improve,” he added.

He also suggested that bigger companies need to examine more closely their relationship with their customers. He knew of a number of very large companies who ensure that there are always at least two customers on the board of directors so that the other directors get an instant analysis of what the public think of them.

“We need to understand that there is a lack of trust by the public in businesses, politicians and the media . . . word of mouth brings trust and then spreads quickly.”

He added that traditionally accepted methods of market research were now becoming part of history and that innovations in technology such as language analysis on the internet were replacing all of those traditions very quickly.

“Traditional methods of market research, such as scanning newspapers for clippings and waiting for statistical data to assess the impact of marketing efforts is no longer enough. Companies need real-time comprehensive measures of the impact on their products and brand in order to make efficient and effective business decisions.”

Steve Woodford added that many of the new applications from Intelligence IT had been created to meet the exacting needs of the e-gaming industry but were also of value to all other sectors wishing to conduct business on the internet, particularly those required for successful marketing and brand performance analysis.

He said that one of the products - ibInsight - was soft launched a year ago and was officially launched on Tuesday evening. “It has been well received by industry and is already being used by international companies,” he added.

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