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INNOVATION

annual revenue in excess of $2 billion that moved
from the bottom quartile to the top half; sinking
ships moved from the top quartile to the bottom
half.)
The five big themes

While the global financial crisis and other past
shocks provide some insight into what winners do,
the current crisis is different in many ways. What
does a company need to think about now, in addi-
tion to those previous lessons? What are the big,
high-value opportunities? We asked nearly 150
executives across industries to identify the two
cost-restructuring areas that they view as most im-
portant for their companies’ recovery. Their respon-
ses helped us identify five big themes that will drive
the new cost imperative (see Figure 3).
Automation and digitalization. This is one of the
main areas we see clients focusing on today, given
its potential to fundamentally retool the organiza-
tion and change the cost bar. More than half of the
executive respondents (52%) cited automation and
digitalization as a critical enabler of their recovery
planning and a catalyst for making gains that will
allow them to outpace competitors. Companies
hope to use automation, analytics, core systems
and big data to improve efficiency and make faster
decisions, enhancing performance and the custo-
mer experience. One company set a bold target to
make 75% of all repeatable processes either auto-
Figure 1 e 2 mation enabled or supported.

Indeed, companies see more dramatic gains and Some companies are emerging as early winners.
losses in crises than in boom times (see Figure 2). One insurance company had experimented with
There are 47% more rising stars and 89% more automation for years, but fragmented efforts inhi-
sinking ships in downturn periods than during sta- bited scale benefits. Unifying and
ble times. accelerating automation deployment was a strate-
gic priority for 2020, with a target of generating $1
(Rising stars are S&P 500–listed companies with billion in savings over five years from more than 60

Figure 3

32 32 Impiantistica Italiana - Settembre-Ottobre 2020