Established technology firm, iMovo is offering an “autonomous and objective advisory technology service” which helps businesses “recognise technology potential” and achieve “high-value business transformation,” its Chief Advisory Executive, Hadrian J. Sammut says.

This capability comes as a result of a realisation, garnered during the COVID-19 pandemic, of the necessity for businesses to keep up with technological transformations – or risk getting left behind.

“At iMovo we have often had the opportunity to provide technology advisory services as part of our overall implementation services.  However, during the COVID-19 pandemic we witnessed a perceptible escalation in the adoption of innovative digital technologies within business organisations, some as a direct reaction to the obligatory and limited physical interaction, but, a number of others, the result of recognising the pandemic as an excellent opportunity to exploit this providential hiatus to accelerate technology investment towards new and transformational business models,” he explains.

As a result, iMovo “rapidly recognised the significant value, honed and accumulated over years of direct involvement and experience, of our intrinsic knowledge and expertise to effectively assist business organisations as they assess current and future capabilities across technology, competencies and processes.  Additionally, we perceived tangible value in bringing all this experience to bear on helping organisations identify technology opportunities to efficiently and effectively face post-COVID challenges, by increasing value to the business,” he continues.

Indeed, over the course of 2020 and 2021, the leadership at the firm became aware of the business value “in offering our collective experience and thought leadership, combined with our widely acknowledged expertise in merging technology with business requirements, to provide a tailored service to our clients.”

This is particularly relevant in view of the challenges facing modern businesses in this arena. “The rapid pace of change and complexity of the modern business environment is beyond any doubt,” Mr Sammut says, with “Artificial Intelligence (AI) representing just the latest development.”  There are, in fact, other shifts to take into consideration: “We need to acknowledge that in the current post-COVID-19 era, the economic environment is nowhere close to the much-vaunted ‘new normal.’ Global events have rapidly transformed the business environment in ways that were never anticipated.  Emerging geopolitical tensions, rising logistics costs, supply-chain issues, the fear of a global economic recession and the struggle to find the necessary talent are just a few of the many challenges faced by all business organisations today.”

Yet iMovo consider the biggest challenge facing entrepreneurs and leaders today is far less the need to adopt the right technological tools than to acknowledge the need to embrace business change as a critical necessity. 

“Too often, digitalisation initiatives are postponed to some future date when ‘all is right.’  The true challenge, from an advisory point-of-view, is to convince business organisations that, notwithstanding all this global turmoil, the present is as good a time as any to invest in digital transformation technologies.  Our challenge is often to encourage business organisations to appreciate that digitalisation is always an essential requirement to ensure and maintain competitiveness.  Investing in digitalisation initiatives has the potential to provide higher organisational performance and a positive impact on the bottom line,” he asserts.

In light of this knowledge, iMovo has determined that its “primary objective is to provide a tailored service that delivers business value to our clients.” The company’s preferred approach, he continues, is that “of a mutually beneficial relationship in which the advisor brings on-board the knowledge, experience and expertise to support effective organisational change.” This is a more collaborative perspective that respects the fact that “senior management invariably knows the business better than the advisor ever can. So rather than push our opinions, we work together with the organisation’s C-suite management, and other key stakeholders, to understand, challenge and propose strategic operational decisions that exploit our experience.”

The process is characterised by a number of “distinct factors”, he explains. “From the outset, we steer clear of the common pitfall of placing technology as the centre of any decision or strategic initiative. We perceive technology merely as the tool through which to achieve business transformation. Contrary to most expectation, the decision of how to implement technology is relatively secondary within an engagement.”

Moreover, “in contrast to most other players in the field, we tend to avoid placing the organisation itself as the centre of the decision process. Whilst we acknowledge the importance of the organisation, its respective processes and unique competencies, today’s business environment has shifted away from this old-style model.”

Therefore, their advisory focus is unfailingly the customer, who “today rests at the centre of each and every business decision. Digitalisation effectiveness often fails - even when the best technology has been implemented – because the strategic motivation is principally introspective, with a clear objective of benefitting the internal organisational operations before client expectations.” This philosophy stems from iMovo’s “strong Customer Relationship Management (CRM) background”, which has accorded the company the understanding that “clients have the undisputed capability to make-or-break an organisation, should they opt to do so. Consequently, it is important to place the customer at the centre of all digitalisation initiatives with a view towards maximising stakeholder value,” Mr Sammut insists. 

There is a certain degree of sensitivity to contexts, and to the business’ realities, which need to be attended to, the Chief Advisory Executive continues. “Prior to implementing technology, it is always important to assess the ability of the organisation to operate with speed and agility against unpredictable competition. At the next level, it is crucial to understand whether the established organisational culture accepts innovation and original thinking.”

Elaborating, he says that “one of the key junctures in our engagements is an assessment of the degree to which the organisation operates in an integrated manner across every department, rather than in a relatively siloed manner. Whilst modern technology solutions have become more flexible, sophisticated and integrated, the organisation must mirror similar characteristics in order to garner optimised benefits,” he attests.

Consequently, “our engagement assesses how digitalisation transformation and technology can transform the organisation - often from the traditional hierarchical structure to a more networked and collaborative operational model that exploits disruptive technologies. It is only when all these elements, and a few others, are in place that the organisation can embrace digital transformation effectively.”

Mr Sammut’s range of expertise will also come into play. “I can call upon more than thirty-five years of personal experience in the field of technology application within a business environment. My career in Information technology (IT) spans from the early years of nascent computerisation as part of the then prevalent ‘data processing’ role, the era of general-purpose mainframes, the proliferation of personal computers, right across today’s digital transformation revolution.”

The Chief Advisory Executive is a graduate in IT management and business application of technology and has also been “privileged in having been closely involved, often at project management level, in various local and overseas initiatives. Whilst my involvement ranges from small and medium-sized enterprises, including governmental entities and global corporations, the focus is invariably upon the application of advanced technology to nurture tangible business value.”

Looking ahead, Mr Sammut urges organisations to think holistically of their technological needs and how digital tools can boost their offering. “According to Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, ‘In a world characterised by uncertainty, the ability to adapt is critical – if a company is unable to move up the [transformation] curve, it may be pushed off it.’ A passive or complacent state of being within any organisation is akin to the metaphor popularly known as the ‘boiling frog syndrome’, which holds that most amphibians will enjoy themselves in tepid water. But as the water’s temperature gradually rises, the frog will not discern the rise in temperature and eventually perish.”

As a result, iMovo sees its “advisory role as one that advocates change and ensure that our clients operate faster, with greater agility and adaptability. Our role is principally that of guiding organisations improve their business through digital transformation,” Mr Sammut concludes.