Organisational agility is critical for successful businesses in the current economic climate, with 81 percent of business leaders viewing knowledge management and collaboration as the main drivers for increased productivity, enhanced performance and rapid innovation, according to a new report.

More than 300 senior executives from leading companies around the world were polled for the Economist Intelligence Unit and EMC report: 'Organisational Agility: How Businesses Can Survive and Thrive in Turbulent Times', which found that half of all CEOs and CIOs believe organisational agility is crucial for global business success. However, more than 27% place their organisation at a competitive disadvantage because it lacks the agility to anticipate fundamental marketplace shifts.

"To be competitive, companies may find themselves in a Houdini-like twist. How can they respond quickly and nimbly to the changing environment without getting caught in knots?," the report said. "In today's knowledge age, the ability to turn information into insight in response to market movements is core to sustainability. For most companies, the path to agility involves transformation. While it may appear daunting, there are a number of steps that management can consider to lighten the burden of change, including optimising core business processes, minimising information silos and integrating and automating knowledge sharing processes."

A majority of respondents believe IT will act as the agent of change for best-in-class knowledge-sharing and business agility. Executives point to faster access to real-time information (45%), improved search functionality (38%) and better integration of IT systems across the enterprise (38%) as key enablers of business agility. A large number surveyed also claimed that tools enabling them to find, filter and focus content are critical drivers for business success.

Most said that processes such as knowledge management and collaboration – as well as those able to pull data from multiple applications used for research and development and product/service innovation – will drive agility and innovation. "Companies today are looking for ways to remain competitive and retain high-value customers while budgets are shrinking beneath them," said Whitney Tidmarsh, chief marketing officer of the Content Management and Archiving Division at technology provider EMC. "The key to organisational agility is minimising expensive redundancies and optimising core processes. 

"By more effectively integrating a broad range of enterprise content management solutions – including knowledge management and collaboration systems - into the information infrastructure and the business, key information can be more readily accessible to decision-makers. This improves their overall ability to problem-solve, communicate rapidly with customers, make quick decisions, and convert information into intelligence."

Taking a step back, the survey reports that while many respondents have undertaken agility initiatives, not all of them succeed. More than 80% of respondents claim to have undertaken one or more initiatives to improve agility over the past three years, yet 34% admitted those initiatives failed due to slow decision-making, conflicting departmental goals and priorities, risk-averse cultures and silo-based information. Additionally, 52% admitted to having wasted valuable time hunting for business-critical content, hindering their ability to make business decisions in a rapid fashion.

You can download the full Organisational Agility: How Businesses Can Survive and Thrive in Turbulent Times PDF report for free.