Just read an insightful article in FastCompany, Experimentation is the New Planning, that offers some perspective on the challenges and opportunities facing CPAs in this new technology era.

The article starts out this way,

“Let’s be honest: You have no idea what’s going to happen to your industry. That’s why you build your organization into an engine of possibility. Technology is a bitch. It affects every industry often in ways that are difficult (if nit impossible) to anticpate…”

Does this feel familiar? Have you gotten your arms around the cloud? social? mobile? BYOD (Bring Your Own Devices)? Big Data? XBRL?

Me either.

That is why we need to add a systematic way of “experimenting” (emergent strategy) to our existing “deliberate” strategies, according to the author, Dave Gray of Xplane.

The article goes on to use Google as an example, “In 2005, Google set a formula for distributing its engineering efforts: 70-20-10. Seventy percent of Google’s resources are devoted to improving search and advertising, Google’s primary source of revenue and profits. Twenty percent is allotted as free time for people to pursue projects of their own choosing. And ten percent is invested in scaling up the most promising ideas that emerge from the 20% time, the wild cards that could develop into whole new lines of business.”

Now I know CPAs aren’t Google but what is your emergent strategy formula?

If it’s 100-0-0, then I think it is time to rethink that given this fast-changing, competitive world we find ourselves in.

Plan to attend tow events before the end of the year to get your innovation engine started – MACPA’s technology conference on 12-11-14 at the BWI Hilton and the Digital CPA Conference 12-8 thru 12-10 at the Gaylord National Harbor.