Jim Harris is a thought leader and powerful digital transformation keynote speaker and author. He’s respected by the business community. In fact, he is so well respected that businesses are still clamoring to hire his services as a virtual keynote speaker during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a presenter at about 50 major conferences and seminars each year Jim keeps abreast of the rapidly changing landscape in business and technology. He’s the author of six best-selling books on contemporary on disruptive innovation and change. Jim’s a trusted business strategist who is recognized as one of North America’s leading digital transformation speakers.
Fortune 500 companies call on Jim’s expertise in a variety of areas including disruptive innovation, digital disruption, VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) and digital transformation. His session highlights the drivers as to why digital disruption will continue to accelerate and why organization have to go through digital transformation to survive and thrive.
He can assist your firm stay ahead of the change curve and avoid being disrupted. He’ll help your firm create a digital transformation strategy to support and reshape your business to remain competitive in these rapidly changing times.
Jim’s writing and thinking on business have been featured in The Globe and Mail, Profit Magazine, and Time Magazine. He’s been interviewed on CBC, BBC and other major networks. He recently published an article on the transformational changes in the insurance industry in “i3” the flagship magazine from the Consumer Technology Association. This leading tech publication features innovation in tech policy and business. As well, it features the entrepreneurs, startups, and industry leaders that grow the consumer technology industry.
Jim’s understanding of digital trends and emerging technologies has provoked stunning reactions from executive teams and conference audiences. To take advantage of Jim’s digital transformation consulting expertise or conference keynote presentations get in touch with him at jim@jimharris.com or give his office a call at 416-795-1981. Whether your business is Fortune 500 company or a SME (small and medium sized enterprise) inviting Jim to be a keynote speaker at your event can have a transformative impact. If you are a meeting planner he will make you look great! As digital transformation speaker Jim will highlight many of the challenges t hat your industry and company faces in his customized keynote. And will walk your audience through the challenges they are experiencing and will experience. He will present practical, proven strategies, tools and techniques to identify emerging digital trends and offer digital transformation approaches to raise revenue, lower costs, engage customers and stakeholders, and mitigate risk.
Let’s look at some statistics from just one market – retailing – as to how profoundly and swiftly it is being transformed as a result of emerging technologies. These digital trends have transformed the market leaving many slow to change traditional retailers bankrupt or in steep decline.
In 2004 Amazon did $US6.92 billion US worth of business. Ten years later, in 2014, that figure had soared to $89 billion. By the end of 2017, Amazon sales had double again to a staggering $178 billion. Who could have predicted this amazing growth of online sales for one of the biggest retailers in North America?
Walmart the largest retailer in the world had online sales of less than 10% of Amazon in 2017 of $14 billion. What lessons can retailers learn from Amazon’s success? By consulting with Jim Harris you may capture your share of that huge online retail pie.
US malls are dying. Credit Suisse has predicted that 25% of shopping malls in America will be shuttered by 2022.
American department stores have lost 448,000 jobs, a 25% decline since 2002 notes Time Magazine’s feature story “Why the Death of Malls is About More Than Shopping.” Obviously there are severe and dramatic forces afoot in the retail marketplace. This is the result of not adapting to new consumer behaviours quickly enough.
Could retailers have not identified these trends earlier? And reacted faster?
Business owners, and corporate executives have the responsibility to identify trends that will blindside them earlier, put in place systems and structures that will engage stakeholders in digital transformation before the business is in decline.
Jim Harris, one of the leading digital transformation speakers in North America can help you through these troubled times. He can help you understand the dynamic digital trends that are changing the face of almost every business in every industry.
To respond to trends and to find their way forward, all modern businesses, not just retail, will be forced to embrace digital transformation to survive and thrive. Let Jim provide you with some effective and successful digital transformation solutions.
Digital transformation will be imperative for all business operations from the smallest of organizations up to and including well known major international enterprises. Digital trends and emerging technologies are driving change, as consumers are demanding businesses serve them in new and more convenient ways.
The famous line from the Wizard of Oz “we’re not in Kansas anymore” comes to mind. Look around at the business landscape.
Think about what Uber has done to the taxi industry. Uber’s IPO is set for 2019 and is expected to value the company at $120 billion – which is more than the value of every taxi cab company in North America combined and doubled! And yet Uber doesn’t own a single taxi. (by comparison North Americas taxi cab companies collectively own billions of dollars of assets).
UberEats which delivers restaurant food to folks at home or the office was founded in 2014 and in 2018 generated $6 billion in business. UberEats offer a service that didn’t exist a decade ago. Forty hour a week UberEats drivers in Toronto earned an estimated average of $46,238 in 2016. In Philadelphia it was $41,964. What dramatic changes are on the horizon in your business realm? And how do you ride the crest of the wave and avoid getting swamped?
Airbnb was launched in 2008. It now has 4 million listings and 150 million users as of December 2018. Revenue for 2017? $2.8 billion. 700,000 companies use Airbnb for work. All of this service with only 3,100 employees. Airbnb has shaken the hotel industry and it doesn’t own one hotel room.
And then there’s Tesla. The number one selling luxury vehicle in Germany is Tesla. Did the folks at BMW and Mercedes see that coming? You don’t want to be blindsided by similar revolutionary developments in your business sector. These are just a few examples of how digital transformation is affecting different industries. Jim Harris, as the best digital transformation speaker globally. He can help you anticipate and identify disruptive changes in your marketplace.
General Motors could have used Jim’s expertise. They were late to identify changes in the new car market. In 2018 GM announced the closing 5 plants and laying off 14,000 employees. No business in this world of emerging technologies is safe from these disruptive forces. Your firm’s digital transformation initiative can be kick started by engaging with Jim to help you, your company and your industry avoid suffering a similar disastrous fate.
Because digital transformation will look different for every company and every business sector. Digital transformation has to do with integrating technology into all aspects of a business. It will redefine how your business operates and how you deliver value to your customers.
To do this requires a cultural change. It requires business and organizations to experiment often, challenge traditional ways of doing things. It requires setting aside old comfortable and familiar ways of doing business.
You may have to make some bold adjustments forced upon your firm by surfacing digital trends. The trick is to be able to look over your shoulder to see what’s coming. And while the natural tendency is to dismiss new developments that seem unlikely to have an impact on your present business model, don’t get caught in that trap.
Remember Uber, Airbnb, Tesla and Amazon. Who saw these successful innovators coming and what did they do about it? For the most part the taxi, hotel, car manufacturing and brick and mortar retailers are playing catch up from way out in left field. As one of the leading digital transformation speakers in North America Jim Harris can guide you to ask the questions that might just save your firm from a shocking demise. Businesses do not transform by choice because transformation can be uncomfortable, expensive and risky. Businesses make changes when they discover that the rules have changed and they must adapt or falter. Jim can offer you a digital transformation consulting program that will keep you ahead of the change curve and help you find ways to use digital trends to improve your bottom line.
How quickly are these business changes happening? According to the American Enterprise Foundation, in 1958 corporations remained on the S&P 500 index for an average of 61 years. By 2011, it was 18 years. These days corporations are being replaced on the S&P index approximately every two weeks. Technology has driven this reinvigorated pace of change. As a leading digital transformation speaker Jim Harris can help you identify your blind spots and come up with a strategic plan for a change process that will work for you.
Google “digital transformation”. You’ll find endless articles about this challenging trend in the business world. What is it? How do you go about it? Who is doing it well? How do we get started? Is it technology driven or people oriented? Jim Harris, Canada’s leading digital transformation speaker has been leading business executives through major change in their worlds for a number of years now.
Jim is a recognized expert on disruptive technologies and the impact of their change on many business sectors. He brings a wealth of knowledge on how to spot the changes that will have an impact on your present world. He can help you anticipate the domino effect of a seemingly unimportant development in an unrelated field that will force you to change the way you do business. He’ll suggest ways you can prepare for these attacks on your business model.
Operating successfully in the modern business environment is very different from the conditions of even a few years ago. Technological advances, social media, and other dynamics in the marketplace have forced companies to rethink how they do business. Millennials have a technical online savvy unknown to previous generations. How does your firm capture their attention and serve them well?
If you want to survive in the modern marketplace you’ll have to find a way to move your business through a digital transformation that can take a lot of energy, planning and be upsetting to many of your employees. Your ability to deal with this process in a successful fashion may well determine your survival. Contact Jim Harris at 416-795-1981 or at jim@jimharris.com. He’s on top of many of the digital trends active in the marketplace today. He can help you with your first steps into a transformation that will keep you in the same race as the competition in your field.
To be successful in this enterprise you need a roadmap which Jim can provide. He can help you define and focus on where you are at present and where you want to go. This transformation is often not a smooth journey. He’ll identify potential bumps in the road and suggest ways around them. In consultation with you he’ll identify mile posts and key activities that need to take place along the way in order to ensure success. As a recognized expert in digital transformation consulting he’ll help you define a strategy for arriving at your desired destination.
The successful transformation of your business will be a key element in your ongoing success or survival. Peter Drucker, the respected business guru wisely said: “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence. It is to react with yesterday’s logic.” Jim Harris, one of the best digital transformation speakers in North America, will help you identify the sources of the turbulence in your business. He’ll provide you with a new logic for problem solving founded on digital trends that are disturbing the modern market place.
Key steps in your transformation:
Look around the business world today. Walmart, Loblaw, Uber, Amazon and others are well on their way to facing the modern business environment with their own versions of a digital transformation that will work for them. General Motors is trying to catch up. Sears is staggering or is deceased. With the wise and experienced assistance of Jim Harris you can continue your journey along a digital transformation or take your first steps with his guidance. It’s not too late, but the clock is ticking. A phone call or an email will get you in the game. Jim can be contacted at 416 388-3432 or jim@jimharris.com
Heather Lee has worked as a business manager at Strategic Advantage for 5 years. During that time, she has digitally transformed key elements of the company to optimize operational processes, expand the business model, and enhance client experiences. All banking and accounting have moved online, a VOIP phone system has been implemented, and the business now operates solely in the cloud, empowering employees and contractors that are working from home. The client experience has been enhanced through the ability to schedule calls and Zoom or MS Teams meetings, as well as to connect with us through a chat feature on the website. The Business Model has also been transformed as clients can chose to hire Jim for both virtual and in-person presentations. It’s important to note that all these changes were implemented before the pandemic in March of 2020, allowing the organization to seamlessly and instantly shift to a 100% virtual work environment.
#1 International Best Selling Author, Management Consultant, Keynote Speaker, and Strategic Planning Facilitator
Boost the bottom line of your business with expert advice from CURRENT Organization, a professional innovation consultant based business in Toronto, Ontario.
662 Eglinton Ave East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4G 2K4
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jim@jimharris.com
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Jim: (416) 467-6006
Donna: (416) 960-6000
Jim's cell: (416) 388-3432
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