Essay on Opportunities and Challenges Faced by Organizations Today

Organizations face challenges and opportunities in the digital age faced with contemporary issues such as cybersecurity, authenticating information, online ethics, and cyberbullying. For a digital organization to operate effectively, its leaders and employees must have basic digital confidence, curiosity, and competence level. The push to undertake digital transformation creates a lot of opportunities for organizations to grow. Syncona Limited, a company driven to build leaders in life science, can take advantage of digital technologies to achieve its goal. However, Syncona Limited should consider challenges associated with contemporary digital issues such as the threat of data security, privacy issues, and lack of technical skills.

Opportunities

Digital platforms and technologies can reduce transaction costs for organizations and make it easier to acquire new customers. These technologies can completely change how a business operates. Digital organizations can apply digital technologies to remake their business to more profitable and more efficient. For instance, suppliers relying on e-Commerce can be able to reduce delivery costs (UNCTAD secretariat, 2019). Also, e-commerce can help Syncona Limited with financial opportunities and learn methods of building verifiable online transaction records. Such a reputation can help the company to attract new business partners and customers. Enhanced data collection is another opportunity associated with contemporary digital issues. Syncona Limited aims at building global leaders; therefore, it must have a more enhanced platform to research various companies in healthcare. Digital technologies can make it easier for the organization to gather the correct data and fully incorporate it for business intelligence (UNCTAD secretariat, 2019). Also, they can help different departments within the organization to convert raw data into useful information.

Digital technologies provide an opportunity for greater resource management (Hinkelmann, 2019). Syncona Limited is a company that requires greater utilization of all resources meant to build and fund companies in life science and healthcare. Therefore, digitalization will help the company’s management to track the utilization of resources in every functional unit. However, it is not advisable for Syncona Limited to invest in a company with a bad reputation. Therefore, tools such as social media can help the company to read some of the customers’ reviews to determine whether an organization is worth the investment. Social networking provides opportunities of the organization to connect with customers and potential partners (Hinkelmann, 2019). It is through the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram where a company can mine information on customers’ needs and preferences.

Challenges

Some of the main challenges associated with technology include threats to data security, privacy concerns, job insecurity, and digital media manipulation. Digital technologies may lead to data tampering, unauthorized access to stored information, lack of accountability, and data theft. For instance, AI has intensified data security, but it has helped attackers improve their tactics. AI tools can be used by hackers, thieves, and phishers to execute a cyberattack. Also, the growth of smartphones and tablets threatens the security of the company’s data. Today, people spend most of their free time online, whether at home or at the place. Therefore, this addictive behavior causes employees to use the company’s computers to log in to their social media accounts. Social media engages users to share their ideas, information, and thoughts through web-based applications. Therefore, cyber attackers can easily obtain the company’s information by hacking the computer used to log in the social media accounts. As a result, the company may lose important information that competitors can use against it.

Privacy concern is another challenge posed by digital technologies. For instance, today, one can easily identify the location of a company using Google Maps. Also, it is possible to obtain other information about a company on the internet. Therefore, overreliance on technology can expose the company to attacks. Information privacy is a social consideration and an important policy. Privacy of information can be achieved by using passwords. However, it has become difficult to secure information in the digital era without exposing it to a third party. Unless a company uses hard copy information, it needs to hire individuals with great computer coding and hacking knowledge. However, there are very few individuals with the ability to conduct basic tasks such as storing data and setting up a firewall.

Contemporary digital issues affecting business organizations

Cyberbullying