At the Future Workplace Summit in London, digital transformation was a major topic of discussion.
Data is a key piece of the puzzle, as it can help solve specific challenges faced by growing organizations.
Allwork.Space’s Robert Kropp continued the discussion with Af Malhotra, co-founder of GrowthEnabler, to learn how their platform helps organizations innovate and disrupt established industries.
Back in April of 2019, I was first introduced to the team at GrowthEnabler at the Future Workplace Summit in London.
One of the topics we discussed was, with the increasing speed of digital transformation and changes in how we work, how does an organization continue to innovate and stay ahead of the competition?
According to GrowthEnabler, there are 3 routes that work:
1. Automating your core processes (productivity improvement, efficiency gains, cost reduction)
2. Innovating the way you do business (enhanced customer and staff experience, effectiveness gains, revenue and profit increase)
3. Redesigning your business model (new revenue streams, valuation gains, disruption and diversification)
A few weeks ago, I was able to catch back up with Af Malhotra, the co-founder and Chief Growth Officer, in order to dive more into their background, business, and how their platform helps organizations and startups succeed.
Traditionally, when discussing organizational issues and solutions, I often find myself thinking about either building something internally or working with the companies that I know. It always requires a lot of time and energy to find and understand the many new solutions that are being launched each year.
What If There is a Better Way?
With GrowthEnabler, an organization just needs to add their business issue, and the platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) “based smart algorithms” to crunch “millions of data sources and recommends the right solution and analysis”.
I wasn’t sure exactly how this all tied together until I dove a little deeper.
One of these sources is data on over 500,000 startups that has been cleaned, cross-checked, and then scored based on business critical parameters like “leadership, product and innovation, financial strength, etc”. Using this data and the other data sources, GrowthEnabler is able to give a real-time outlook on industry trends, startups, disruptive business models, and much more.
Since this is being done using AI and machine learning, the platform is not only able to provide solutions with speed but also at scale. According to Af, “data is the new business model” and “speed is the currency.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Since speed is so critical, I believe that the shared workspace industry also has a wonderful opportunity to support both corporates and startups by building solutions for these new trends, opportunities, and business models. By supporting the scaling up or down of an organization or startup, we can give these teams the flexibility to solve the business issues they are trying to tackle without the hassle and expense of the specific workspace needs.
So Why Focus on Startups?
GrowthEnabler focuses on startups that have the “ability to enable or disrupt an industry.”
Af states that the definition of a startup is not meant to just be a company that launched recently. A startup is an organization with a focus on experimentation and growth as part of your culture and as a critical element in your decision-making process.
The platform not only determines whether a startup is in the emerging, growth, or mature stage of development but also calculates a score to better “identify disruptive partners, vendors, and investment opportunities”.
Organizations are not the only ones that benefit though. GrowthEnabler is also used as a “visibility platform” for startups to make connections and communicate with these organizations that are being matched to them. Instead of being lost in the crowd, a startup can gain instant visibility to an organization that needs what they do.
The Importance of Context
Af says that ultimately they are giving context to the data and business issues of organizations. “7 years ago content was king”. Now it is all about what does our data mean and how does it impact our organization and solve the issues that we are having.
The impact of these insights are critical in organizations that are pushing to transform themselves into becoming more digital and more agile. Af also says that the “forces of change affecting enterprises are getting greater”.
Whether it is the talent war or the growth of venture money, there are new startups coming online daily that can execute quickly and at scale to disrupt even the most entrenched industries.
So What’s Next?
Af sees that there is “no blockage in pain for corporates that don’t change. We will continue to charge ahead and build products and enhancing to help corporates make better decisions.”
It was wonderful meeting the GrowthEnabler team and chatting with Af. I am definitely looking forward to watching their progress and how digital transformation is affecting the future of work and how we work.
Let me know what you think. What do you think is important for organizations to continue to innovate? Is your organization agile and making transformations into this future of work? Tell me about it or email directly to [email protected].