Nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies for the year 2000 are no longer on the list of the biggest U.S. businesses. Some have fallen from their perches due to business and economic trends beyond their control. Others made strategic mistakes that led to their demise. None, however, has remained untouched by the emergence of the Internet at the beginning of the millennium.
We are at a similar pivot point now: the need to understand and harness the power of digital technology, which is manifesting itself in seismic changes to organizations' fortunes. It is a sink-or-swim moment, in which companies that get it right can leapfrog the competition. But it is far more than a question of adapting to new digital marketing tools, or a passing digital fad in social media. It is something that is fundamental to how businesses operate, behave and think.