Navigating technological change and disruption requires organizations to commit to continuous learning and adaptability. During the Payments Keynote address at AFP 2024, Kelvin Coleman, who formerly served as Executive Director for TIC Council Americas and CEO and Executive Director of the National Cybersecurity Alliance, urged treasury and finance professionals to identify an individual — a Minister of Digital Transformation — to address unforeseen threats and challenges.

Embracing Emerging Technologies

Coleman began by noting that human beings have gone through multiple revolutions over their lifecycle, with the latest one centered on technological advancements. “This most recent revolution, the technology revolution, is unlike any of the others,” he said. “We're as connected as we've ever been as a species, right? And that's only going to get better or worse, depending on your perspective today.”

As of 2023, research by Parks Associates found that American households had about 17 connected devices each. But we’ve barely scratched the surface of interconnectivity. In the next five years, the number of satellites used for Internet of Things connectivity is expected to increase by 150%, according to Juniper Research. “We are just beginning to see the technology revolution that we're going to call 2.0,” he said.

Coleman emphasized the importance of what he calls the Fifth Domain, or emerging technologies — generative AI, nanotechnology, data analytics, autonomous vehicles, etc. While these technologies might still feel new and unfamiliar to many of us now, he urged attendees to consider just how far society has come in the nearly 25 years since the world went into a slight panic over the prospect of a Y2K computer shutdown across the globe.

Since that time, social media platforms, wearable technology, smartphones, online purchases and more have emerged and become parts of our daily lives. “The first Cyber Monday got about $500 million in sales,” Coleman said. “Last year, it saw $13 billion worth of commerce. And this year, they're protecting around $15 billion worth of commerce on Cyber Monday.”

Thus, it stands to reason that these new Fifth Domain items will also soon proliferate throughout our lives in ways that we don’t even expect yet. And that’s why organizations need to prepare for them now.

Identifying Your Digital Transformation Minister

When Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, many experts projected that the war would last less than two weeks. Russia had twice as many soldiers, 10 times the military budget, the fighting history, etc. Yet the war continues, now nearly 1,000 days longer than intelligence agencies ever thought it would. So how has Ukraine been able to stay in this fight? Technology. After the invasion began, Ukraine uploaded all of its critical data to the cloud so that it would be protected even if Russia was able to obliterate its ministerial offices. But this was no kneejerk reaction; Ukraine was able to fortify itself due to careful preparation.

In August 2019, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy created the Ministry of Digital Transformation and appointed Mykhailo Fedorov as its head. Although Zelenskyy likely wasn’t expecting Russia to attack at the time, he recognized that Ukraine’s infrastructure needed to be better protected from outside threats. “When he set up this Ministry of Digital Transformation, he set up what was akin to saving his country,” Coleman said. “That Minister really looked at how a country protected its information, how it put critical services online and had goals that it needed to meet. And so, this Minister of Digital Transformation really became innovative, resourceful and nimble.”

Additionally, Zelenskyy and Fedorov recognized that Ukraine couldn’t protect itself alone. The country didn't have enough resources, so it partnered with companies to create a strong digital ecosystem. Coleman explained that when Russia attacked, they were unprepared for the sophistication of Ukraine’s technology infrastructure. The private partnerships Ukraine had forged helped the country counter disinformation, procure humanitarian aid, and reinforce cybersecurity support.

While it’s an understatement to say that the threats (even cyberthreats) companies face pale in comparison to the invasion of a sovereign nation, organizations can still apply the same principles to protect themselves. Coleman urged attendees to identify their own Ministers of Digital Transformation within their organizations to address ongoing threats and challenges. This individual or a group should have a primary objective of improving the organization’s infrastructure well in advance of an actual attack.

“Your conflict is coming; it’s here already,” he said. “How many of you have been attacked? All of you have been attacked. It's coming from nation states, it’s coming from terrorist organizations, it’s coming from hacker groups.”

Confronting the Fifth Domain

Coleman encouraged attendees to adopt an 80/20 strategy going forward. He noted that many companies spend nearly 100% on their current infrastructure. He sees those organizations as doomed to fail. Businesses that want to survive and thrive need to allocate funding for the future. He recommended spending 80% of the budget on current infrastructure and putting the remaining 20% towards investing in the future.

“We see where our technology is going, we see the Fifth Domain is already here,” Coleman said. “We understand very well that without being nimble, without being innovative, without being resourceful — we're just planning to fail and not do well as a country and as a community.”