So, how do Innovators achieve such an effective strategic execution of their forward-thinking mindset? It begins with their singular focus on the immediate impact and benefits provided to their organizations as they evaluate solutions. As such, they are the only ones to name a technology’s maturity – including its availability of the latest features and proven reliability – as their single most important technology selection criterion while other organizations are overly focused on the cost of technology adoption or potential issues such as exposure to security vulnerabilities (Figure 3).
What fuels this focus? Ultimately, the Innovators’ circle of informative technology partners allows them to keep a finger on the pulse of the latest and greatest solutions. They are able to perceive a solution’s maturity and readiness for useful deployment ahead of the market because of their closeness to key players and opinion leaders. Prioritization of these technological partnerships is a key distinguishing characteristic of this group. In terms of tech-based relationships (Figure 4), Innovators:
Figure 4: Partnerships by Tech Adoption Segment
Although Innovators are the best equipped to respond to market changes and effectively tackle disruption, they implement new technologies first and effectively due to their extensive partnerships. Innovators know what they are good at – leveraging their internal resources for strategic direction and business transformation – while outsourcing the day-to-day implementation and management to experts.
Tech adoption leaders also stand out in terms of their top selection criteria for evaluating solution providers – experience in their specific industry or vertical market is most important to them by a significant difference (Figure 5). This industry-specific experience provides an edge in the efficacy of a deployment; mobility decision makers commonly describe under-optimized implementations as a result of a solution provider’s lack of understanding of the needs and problems that are unique to a given deployment environment or vertical market. Also of note, they rated mobile logistics services as very important when no other segment did.
Other groups of businesses most commonly evaluate their partners based on financial impact and security services. Interestingly, early and Mainstream adopters both rated Cost of the Solution as the second most important evaluation criteria, a somewhat limiting criteria as it does not relate to issue resolution. Unsurprisingly, security services are important across the board.
