THIS was the question I wanted to ask association leaders but haven’t had the chance to do until recently when it was answered in a webinar I attended.
The webinar, presented by Perth-based futurist Gihan Perera, was entitled “The Top Four Business Challenges for 2022.” This was largely based on the 2022 “Keeping Us Up at Night” survey that KPMG conducted to highlight key issues Australia’s business leaders face. I thought associations could learn a thing or two from these developments.
While the KPMG report lists and ranks more than ten issues and Gihan focused on four of them, I will cover three that resonates with associations, as follows:
1. Digital transformation and optimization. This No. 1 issue in 2020 has remained the top concern in 2022, but with a change. Two years ago, the digital transformation focus was on implementation: enabling the IT group to generate new productivity gains and bring about workplace flexibility. This time, the risk associated with digital transformation has moved to another level as many organizations were forced to adopt new technologies and ways of working to navigate the pandemic. Hence, the focus now is more about optimizing outcomes and extracting organizational value.
Gihan mentioned six levels of digital transformation, starting from the bottom:
a. Atoms, e.g., physical assets like computers, scanners, office machines;
b. Bits, e.g. website, search engine, digital photos, video games;
c. Cloud, i.e., software and services that run on the internet instead on computers;
d. Open, i.e., tools, code, knowledge and standards (machine-readable assets, not just documents);
e. AI, i.e., ability of a computer or a robot controlled by a computer to do tasks that are usually done by humans; and,
f. Platform, e.g. social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn; knowledge platforms like Quora and Yahoo!; media-sharing platforms like YouTube, Spotify and Vimeo; and, service-oriented platforms like Uber and Airbnb.
Many associations have embarked on their own digital transformation journeys. No matter where an association is in this digital landscape depends on the nature, talent and capacity of the organization.
2. Talent acquisition, retention and re/upskilling. Talent and digital transformation are interconnected in the sense that the need for re/upskilling to meet a more digitized future is one of the cornerstones of the concern over talent. Climate change, AI, space exploration, renewable energy and circular economy are some of the sectors that demand a highly skilled, highly motivated workforce. In addition to the immediate work to ensure that workers retain the flexibility which contributes to their desire to work for an employer, the need for re training and re skilling will become the focus of business (and association) leaders. Capturing the best and brightest from these new cohorts of workers will be one of their top challenges.
3. Designing and implementing an ESG strategy. ESG is a methodology to measure the sustainability of a business or an investment in three specific key areas: environmental, social and governance. These three non-financial metrics have come to the fore again during this pandemic as people around the world have focused on the threat of an ever-warming planet. Associations and membership organizations have contributed one way or the other in embedding ESG within their structures and those of their members.
Octavio Peralta is currently the executive director of the Global Compact Network Philippines and founder and volunteer CEO of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives, the “association of associations.” E-mail: bobby@pcaae.org