The Voice of Digital; Shake or get shaken

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Blog on Digital Strategy The Voice of Digital; Shake or get shaken

The pace of change in the industry is accelerating. Markets have evolved from a state of organizational centricity, in which manufacturers and service providers largely defined what to produce and market to customers, to one of individual centricity, in which empowered consumers demand insight-driven, customized experiences. And they are continuing to evolve into new forms in which customers, clients and colleagues are becoming active participants rather than passive recipients.

This environment is what we call the everyone-to-everyone (E2E) economy. The E2E economy has four distinct elements: It is orchestrated, based on business ecosystems, which are both collaborative and seamless. It is contextual, in that customer and partner experiences are calibrated and relevant to their specific actions and needs. It is symbiotic, in that everyone and everything, including customers and businesses, are mutually interdependent. And it is cognitive, characterized by data-enabled self-supported learning and predictive capabilities.

Voice of Digital

Industry examples such as Uber and Airbnb are great examples of E2E Economy. The entire ecosystem comprises partners who come together to offer seamless experience to individuals like you and me. However, these are orchestrated based on business rules, contextual as customer get information only what he needs to know, Cognitive as the recommendations and pricing is based on deep algorithms that are learning and becoming sharper with time, symbiotic as it is a true power to all as unless all players come together the value will not be delivered to consumers like us.

E2E economy, while directly impacting end consumer industries like Retail, Financial Services and Telecom, it is also significantly impacting B2B business like manufacturing due to advent of technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), Blockchain, 3D Printing.

It has been often said that most of the administrative jobs done by paralegal, paramedical, bankers, etc will be done better using IoT and Blockchain.

It is our belief that no one will remain untouched. Early adopters will benefit the most as it is anticipated that the value for the me-too adopters will diminish significantly. This can be seen from the survey that IBM Institute for Business Value did in 2016. Executives from top performing firms see a higher revenue impact by proactively engaging with ecosystems as compared to average impact seen by executives.

There is no option but to have a nuanced digital strategy which need to develop new ways of realizing and monetizing value. Initiatives might include spawning new business models, tapping new forms of financing and developing better, more holistic ways of conducting risk assessments.

Shaking in the digital E2E Economy

To set out on the path toward digital, leaders can take four initial steps: envision possibilities, create pilots, deepen capabilities and orchestrate environments.

Step 1: Envision possibilities: Conduct envisioning sessions based on design thinking to produce a definitive reinvention blueprint. For example, through deep conversations and in-depth marketing analysis, develop a better understanding of customer needs, aspirations and desires; brainstorm new ideas to enhance engagement; and visualize unexpected customer scenarios. Incorporate external stakeholders in these sessions, including customers, to encourage thinking that goes beyond business-as-usual.

Step 2: Create pilots: Develop prototypes using agile development, test them with customers and get them to market quickly to promote feedback and iteration. Establish communities of interest to create safe environments to beta test innovations, and incorporate them as a central part of design and development processes.

Step 3: Deepen capabilities: Augment digital capabilities with strategic initiatives, and continue to build and deploy necessary applications aligned to the target digital reinvention operating model and ecosystem strategy. As pilots evolve, impediments around development will emerge, highlighting limitations in existing capabilities. Adopt a continuous, iterative strategy to address these limitations by building new or extending existing capabilities.

Step 4: Orchestrate ecosystems: Embrace a strategy based on holistic reinvention rather than a series of point solutions, maintaining a clear focus on deep needs, aspirations, or desires of customers, clients (such as partners) and colleagues (such as service providers). Focus on ecosystems to expand and align a broader set of capabilities and to help create and deliver on customer promises.

In summary, while there is enough being said about impending disruptions being caused by Digital, the good news it that is also offer the power to you. This is the right time to be a creator of value, all it needs is a focus, speed and partners who can scale along with you

Are you ready for Digital Reinvention? Contact IBM Digital SME Now!

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