Month: October 2014

Leading Digital: top-down leadership is essential

Andrew McAfee, Business models, Capgemini, Capgemini Consulting, Didier Bonnet, Digital maturity, digital transformation, George Westerman, Inspiring, Leaders, Leading Digital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, MIT sloan, technology

This post originally appeared on the Sogeti Labs blog

Only 6% of all companies focus on corporate digital transformation. These companies – mostly high tech and media groups – are driven by the convergence of mobility, analytics, social media, cloud computing, and embedded devices. The rest – 94% of the companies in our current economy –is simply not ready for the technology driven 21st century.

 Technology-and-telecom

The facts above are taken from the book: “Leading Digital, Turning Technology into Business Transformation”. The book, written by MIT’s Sloan Research Scientist George Westerman, Capgemini Consulting’s Senior Vice-President and Global Practice Leader Didier Bonnet & MIT’s principal research scientist Andrew McAfee gives an overview of the current digital transformation landscape. But it does not end there. Westerman, Bonnet and McAfee provided a 12 step roadmap that must support companies of the ‘old’ economy transform into real digital masters.

The question that makes us all think

Today I would like discuss some of the key questions in this book starting with the most important one:

“How can we enable and accelerate digital transformation in a fast changing technology landscape?”

Turning technology into business transformation

Let us first watch Didier Bonnet’s keynote during the Oracle Open World called: ”Leading Digital – Turning Technology into Business Transformation”. In this keynote Bonnet takes us on a journey through the book and presents important findings from his research.

 

If you only want to have a quick look through of his presentation, please find below:

Burberry vs. Me…

Maybe your question is: “How can I keep up with digital leaders such as Burberry?” Burberry and other successful companies entered the stage way before our company did. Let me first say that I understand your question. But every technology trend has its own early adopters. So it is normal that these companies are ahead of you. Secondly, when we look at the list of successful digital leaders, we can see that “Leading Digital” is not related to one single industry. Burberry, Caesar’s Entertainment, Nike, Procter & Gamble, and Starbucks, all of them are in different industries. The third comment I would like to make is: “You can do it too!” With the right ingredients you can start building towards your position as a “Digital Master”. To position yourself as a “Digital Master” let us first start with determine what you are at this moment.

 Four Levels of Digital Mastery

Digital maturity

When you want to lead digital, you must invest in both digital capability and leadership capability. Looking at the graph we can conclude that, if you have little of both you are a ‘beginner. When you have digital capabilities and no leadership capabilities you are ‘only’ a ‘fashionista’. When you have the leadership capabilities and no digital capabilities you are ‘conservative’. But, when you have both the capabilities of digital & leadership you can be called a digital master.

Top-down leadership is essential

Westerman, Bonnet and McAfee made a 12 step roadmap towards being a digital leader. If you want to reform not only your own business model but your entire business eco-system this is the way to go. So, if you are a part of the 94%, take a deep breath and start this journey. Step by step.

11777-CG-Leading-digital-panel-new_Beth_v06-(Transformation) for Retina

Sources

 Leading Digital Transformation Now – No Matter What Business You’re In – Didier Bonnet at Oracle Open World – Capgemini Group Youtube

 Didier Bonnet: Oracle Open World Presentation on #LeadingDigital – Capgemini Slideshare

 Image credits

Figure 1 – Trade and export me

Figure 2 – Capgemini Consulting

Figure 3 – Capgemini Consulting

Internet of Things: Today’s business approach is tomorrows suicide

Cisco, Inspiring, Internet of Everything, Internet of things, IoE, IoT, Uncategorized

Today we are talking about the disruptive shift from doing business via a traditional approach vs. tomorrows business eco-system. Disruption is a buzzword these days. Whether people talk about Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud or the Internet of Thing, everything is disruptive. Not that they could be right… But today we would like to talk about real disruption, eco-system disruption.

huddle

This article is written by Steve Sanders & Rick Bouter

Eco-systems

When talking about eco-systems let us take a look at the definition first. According to the Investopedia dictionary, business ecosystems can be described as follows:

“The network of organizations – including suppliers, distributors, customers, competitors, government agencies and so on – involved in the delivery of a specific product or service through both competition and cooperation. The idea is that each business in the “ecosystem” affects and is affected by the others, creating a constantly evolving relationship in which each business must be flexible and adaptable in order to survive, as in a biological ecosystem.”

With this in mind we would like to have a look at our current technology business environment. Let us take you to Bosch Software Innovations, which posted the following update on twitter:

CXO’s optimizing their business models

Technology trends are shaking our traditional business models and CXO’s are trying to find ways to optimize their business model with the same thinking that invented it. Remember that Einstein quote? Maybe you think but we are just invested in innovation X. That might be, but today’s innovation is tomorrows legacy system. Where you in prior times bet everything on continues improvement, nowadays you have to create an environment of continues adoption. Not only new ways of business (like all the know start-ups examples) are entering your market. It brings a whole new business eco-system with it!

Your company, your suppliers, your partners, your competition, your customers… Where all these terms were lose entities a few years ago, now they are creating that one word: “Business Eco-system…”

Business Eco-system

As an emerging Internet of Things software startup, Buddy Platform is always looking for better ways to serve their customers. In Enterprise or Industrial Internet of Things, companies are looking for holistic solutions to their complex needs. Buddy plays an important role in that ecosystem by collecting data from any device or sensor, then storing and making that data accessible in any format. Buddy fully believes that customers benefit, and will grow, as a result of participating in these Business Ecosystems.

First, we ask a lot of questions.

How are you collecting device and sensor currently?

  • What is the most important question that you are trying to answer today?
  • In one year’s time, where would you like to be?
  • Who are you currently working with to accomplish your broader IoT goals, and what function are they performing?
  • Of your partners, who should we be getting to know in order to serve you better?

A Holistic View

Companies recognize that there is a lot of confusion and apparent overlap in the Internet of Things space. There are a lot of vendor hands raised. Vendors should understand that. At the same time, they should know the true value they can bring to their customers and not land-grab at the expense of the customer. Vendors fighting vendors ultimately serves the customer poorly. Buddy is willing to partner with seemingly competitive companies in situations where it benefits the customer. In this environment, vendors willing to look at the bigger picture will benefit the customer, and the space, in the long run. To that end, vendors might consider partnering with hardware, software, system integrators, internal IT departments, and more where it makes sense. The idea of interoperability in this space is a good one.

Flexible Data View

Device complexity and innovation is increasing at unprecedented rates. Harnessing complex, disparate data sets is a hard thing to do. Managing data streams from millions upon millions of devices is even harder. Buddy thinks making device data consumable by any BI or visualization tool is important for the Enterprise. That’s why they offer data in any format. It’s surprising how many very sophisticated, smart companies just haven’t reached the point of ingesting, storing, and making sense of their valuable data. It’s typically the next most important thing they have to do, but it’s a hard problem to solve, and they are so busy putting out the daily fires that getting to the data can come last. Buddy is happy to help customers solve this challenge. Strong Business Eco-system alliance will further this cause.

“Healthy ecosystems put the customer first. We’re proud to be in a position to provide tremendous value to both the customer and our trusted Business Eco-system partners”

Get ready…

The conclusion is the same as we would have given Kodak back in the days. In a continually evolving technology landscape it is important to adopt the current shift from physical to digital. Companies cannot hang on to the traditional way of doing business. To survive, companies need to tap into a network of connected business processes and determine how you can, on the one hand save money from optimizing your business processes, and on the other face new market opportunities.

Not only a connectivity revolution is going on with the IoT knocking on our doors, Not only our business models are changing. No. The way we do business is changing. Get ready for it or be the next Kodak. The only question we would like to let you think about is:

“Are you the next business eco-system disrupter, or are you the one being disrupted…?”

Meet the authors
Steve Sanders is the Director of Strategic Alliances of Buddy Platform, Inc. Buddy makes IoT data usable. Buddy offers a cloud endpoint against which any connected device can stream telemetry data. In real-time, Buddy hosts that data, shapes it and then pushes it into any standard business intelligence tool in the market. Customers use Buddy to take raw data from millions of connected devices in the field, and consume that data using common BI tools.

Rick Bouter is International traveling and operating PMO for the Capgemini University via Sogeti. In his role Rick focuses on program management, process optimization & defining business needs. Rick has a passion for new technology and loves to write about the Internet of Things, Industry 4.0, Internet of Everything & the Industrial Internet and other disruptive technology at the Sogeti Labs blog, his own “My Thoughts” blog & on his own LinkedIn profile.

Do you want to know more about the Internet of Things? Join our LinkedIn group about: “Industry 4.0 & the Industrial Internet” now!

The context of the Internet of Things: Industry 4.0 & the Industrial Internet

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IoT, whats in a name?

“The internet of things is far more than just gadgets. What are we really talking about, and what is the context of the bigger picture? Cisco talks about Internet of Everything, General Electric about the Industrial web, Microsoft calls it the Web of the World, the Germans speak of Industry 4.0 and Bosch about the Internet of things and services. Still there is no end at the list. Here a few more definitions:

  • Industry 4.0
  • Internet of Sensors and Actuators
  • Internet of Everything
  • Internet of Things & Services
  • Smarter Planet
  • Ambient Intelligence
  • Machine 2 Machine
  • Social web of Things
  • Industrial Internet
  • Web of the World

Image credits

A piece of the “Pervasive Interaction Engine” pie

All these type of synonyms and definitions are marketing buzzwords from large companies, research institutes and independent organizations or governments. Companies like Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Intel, Ericsson and so on, who are trying to be an industrial driver of the phenomenon Internet of Things. Internet of Things? Yes, Internet of Things, as Kevin Ashton found it in 1999 at his job as Brand Manager at Procter & Gamble. When we combine these perspective we can generate (if you ask me) a definition that deals with what IoT is really about:” Source: Internet of Things Council & “Internet of Things: for business and beyond (1/2)” as appeard on the ViNT (Vision Inspiration Navigation Trends) of Sogeti.

Industry 4.0 & the Industrial Internet

In special the German Industry 4.0 & General Electric’s Industrial Internet of Things makes me think. For that reason I started a community on LinkedIn around these specific topics called: “Industry 4.0 & the Industrial Internet”. In this group thought business leaders are discussing the context of the Internet of Things such as:

“How to adept the Internet of Things in our Supply Chain?”

“How is the Internet of Things creating a whole new eco-system?”

“How can my company in the Manufacturing branche benefit out of this new technology?”

Please feel free to invite like minded people to this Group, to participate in the larger discussion. Maybe colleagues are also interested in this sub-domain of the ‘Internet of (Things)/ (Everything).

I hope to see you around in our Industry 4.0 & the Industrial Internet community!

Internet of Things: Culture clash or end of cultures?

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This post originally appeared on the Sogeti Labs blog

“Could my loss of focus be a result of all the time I’ve spent online? In search of an answer to that question, I began to dig into the many psychological, behavioural, and neurological studies that examine how the tools we use to think with — our information technologies — shape our habits of mind.”

Culture clash
This part of his article: “How the Internet is making us stupid” in the Telegraph, Nicolas Carr asks himself this question: ‘Could my loss of focus be a result of all the time I’ve spent online?’ Let us take Carr’s questions to schools and universities. Students with concentration problems, teachers with classrooms full of mobile focused students. Some people say: “Why do we teach in a way we did over decades? We now have new ways of learning, let us embrace that!” Others are more sceptical: “Everything is going so fast, and if even the young people hardly can keep up with all the changes, how about the old ones?”

Clash of people as ‘things’
Is it really only a culture clash between young and old, or is there more going on?
In her article: “The internet of things is setting up the ultimate culture clash” Stacey Higginbotham points us to the direction of having debates about how the internet is not only making us stupid but also puts us in the position of products.

“As the internet of things becomes more mainstream in the consumer home, this culture clash may play out where most people aren’t aware of it, but I think it’s a debate we should be having. Many people regret that the internet has become a place where you are the product, but it’s a scenario that is set to happen again as we put more and more of our old-line goods online. We should talk about that.”

Shaping our habits of mind
We are not only giving our privacy away to the big industrial leaders and start-ups. No, we are selling out the part of being human to the highest bidder. You are not a consumer, no, you are a product. You are selling the only part that separates us from technology. If we replace our emotion, our creativity with algorithms, what is the value of life? And, is that not the real question?

Blind to the damage to lifes and culture
Carr ends his article with the following part:
“There’s nothing wrong with absorbing information quickly and in bits and pieces. We’ve always skimmed newspapers more than we’ve read them, and we routinely run our eyes over books and magazines to get the gist of a piece of writing and decide whether it warrants more thorough reading. The ability to scan and browse is as important as the ability to read deeply and think attentively. What’s disturbing is that skimming is becoming our dominant mode of thought. Once a means to an end, a way to identify information for further study, it’s becoming an end in itself — our preferred method of both learning and analysis. Dazzled by the net’s treasures, we have been blind to the damage we may be doing to our intellectual lives and even our culture.”

Brains for sale
Next time when embracing internet related products, remember that you are not only the product on the internet, but that you are also part by selling your brain out. If the scenario of your grandparents being the last smart generation doesn’t freak you out, what does?

Is really the only border called ‘business model’?

A business model for the Internet of Things for every CXO

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This post originally appeared on the Sogeti Labs blog

What started with a marketing buzzword has grown out to a serious question for a lot of CXO’s: “What is the Internet of Things, and how can ‘I’ benefit from it?”


Studies from Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, McKinsey, Gartner, Forrester and other companies are showing us a tremendous growth in several areas in, what we call, the Internet of Things/ the Internet of Everything. The amount of connected devices is only one of the examples which we can use to explain how fast this technology is growing. Consumers are embracing these so called wearable technology in almost every aspect of day life. Small start-ups funded by the crowd are offering all kinds of connected devices on a massive scale.

For companies there is just one question. How can I step in to this market to enhance my profit and gain market share? How can I define a Business model which give me the opportunity to increase my competitive advantage?

Are you familiar with the Business Model Canvas? This canvas is a management tool where you can document existing models or develop new business. Where Alex Osterwalder invented the Business Model Canvas in 2008, the Claropartners developed a business model template for the Internet of Things.

“We have mapped out the emerging business landscape in a dynamic, online tool which show the vastness, variety and scope of the Internet of Things, with a focus on new initiatives and start-ups. It provides an overview of current activity (350+ initiatives mapped), hotspots and areas of growth across industries, and we use it as a starting point for identification of new opportunity spaces for businesses looking to take a fundamental role in the market.”

What I like about the IoT canvas is that they split the model in two streams, the physical and the digital stream. And, is that not what the Internet of Things is? Bringing the physical to the digital to create connections and insights we never had before. Connecting the unconnected. But also two streams, as the core to deliver the value proposition.

Keep in mind that – the same as with Osterwalder his model – everything is about the Value proposition. Customers do not buy solutions you and your company like. They prefer solution what benefits them. For that reason, determine what value you deliver to your customer and to your end-user first. What will your customer experience when they buy your product or service? For that reason I will rephrase the CXO question from the beginning…

“What is the Internet of Things, and how can my customers & end-users benefit from it?”

Give it a try! Click here to download the Business Model Canvas for the Internet of Things.

Source Claropartners

Internet of Things ‘bubble’ to burst 14 years after Dotcom bubble

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This post originally appeared on the Sogeti Labs blog

The year 1997 was a remarkable year in the IT world. From this period until the year 2000 there happened something called “the dot-com bubble,” a phenomenon realized through fast-growing Internet companies which resulted in high stock prices. The high stock prices resulted in speculations which led to the bubble burst in March of 2000. The bubble burst was followed by a worldwide recession. That was back in 2000; what have we learned from that period?


Today I read an article from Fernando Labastida called: “Why this year the “Internet of Things” will explode”. Where in today’s world the big Industrials are claiming their own Internet of Things related marketing buzzword, Labastida is talking about the IoT bubble which will burst in 2014.

In his article Labastida gives us 4 reasons to explain his vision:

  1. Energy consumption for internet connectivity for devices has gone way down
  2. The price of technology has gone way down, just like modems in the 90s
  3. The Maker Movement has exploded
  4. Crowdfunding has become mainstream

When we look at the 4 reasons why Labastida thinks the IoT will burst we cannot say he is not right on his reasons. Yes, energy consumption has gone way down. Yes, the price of technology has gone way down. Websites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo are proving he is also right on his third and forth point. The only question is, will those reasons be enough to let the IoT market burst?

The collective noun of the Internet of Things is not new. For years, similar ideas have been done around globe. The key message? Connect the unconnected to create insights where companies can steer on. But, not only the collective noun is not new. Also its harbingers are not, fast growing IT companies, start-ups, youngsters at the head of a global company and so on.

What is your opinion on the Internet of Things? Internet of Things here to stay, or here to burst?

Image credits: CNET, NationalPayDay.com, Marketing Minefiel, Wikipedia

Sensible sensing as a service, the moment is now

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This post originally appeared on the Sogeti Labs blog

Two years ago, Forrester Consulting commissioned a study for Zebra Technologies on the topic: “2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook.” One of the key takeaways of this study was that over 50% of the organizations had plans to deploy Internet of Things related solutions in the coming two years.

Source: Building Value from Visibility – 2012 Enterprise Internet of Things Adoption Outlook

Industry drivers

Now, two years later, we can see some results: Big companies and industries as drivers of this digital revolution ; smart cities are being created and companies connecting internal and external sources to each other, to visualize business processes to create insights they can steer on. On the other hand we see an explosion on the amount of offering in the wearable technology market. $14 billion in 2014 to over $70 billion in 2024, and everyone trying to get a piece from the PIE. (Pervasive Interaction Engine)

Digital Transformation

For that reason CXO’s are trying to establish new business models. Flexible business models that are able to turn big and unwieldy companies. Flexible business models that can easily transform and adopt in times of technology disruption. A real so called, ‘digital transformation’ needs to happen for a lot of companies. Business models turned from an industrial perspective into a digital perspective. Capgemini developed a framework for this digital framework with MIT center for digital business.

Source: “Capgemini Consulting – Digital Transformation”

The real meaning of Digital Transformation

One of the meanings of digital transformation is to get/ be ready for technology adoption. But the real meaning if you ask me is that not only the organization it selves benefit from this interconnected world, but in special its customers and end users. The real reason for digital transformation should be the ambition to serve your customers and end users on a better way. To not only give them what they want, but serve them what they need.

Sensing as a Service

With the Internet of Things entering the stage, companies are able to create more insights of their customers: insights that really reveal the needs of their customers. Sensing as a Service ‘the’ business model in this ‘everything’ connected World? Dr. Mazlan Abbas titled his presentation right if you ask me. “Sensing as a Service, is the new Internet of Things business model.”

“Things are not specifically key, it is the ability to sense customer needs!”

Let me put this straight. Your company’s Internet of Things strategy will not be a success on its own, like a lot of people thought the case with social media was. No, it is the organization that can adept all kinds of technologies to define on a next level their target audience group and their needs. For that reason they need to define a strategy on, let me call it, sensing that truly makes sense. Adopting technology that connects objects to each other gives a lot food for thought. Have you ever questioned yourself how many touch points/ channels your target audience is facing when the Internet of Things really explodes?

Every object a DCX

Every connected object will be a touch point to improve your digital customer experience. Next time when you think of digital transformation, the Internet of Things and digital customer experience, think also about how you are going to grab a piece of that PIE.

Customers: The humanization of marketing

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This post originally appeared on the Sogeti Labs blog

Where in prior times marketing was another way to say your business was doing advertisement, marketing has a way different meaning these days. Where marketing was very impersonal we can see a strong shift to the personalisation of marketing. Companies and brands are getting really engaged with people and try to find a spot in all kinds of rapid developing niche markets. Why? Simple, because the personalisation of marketing works. Customers are busy people these days. This is one of the reasons why they love to have a tailor made solution on all kinds of problems, no, their problems, their needs.

Image credits

Before we deep dive into the ‘need’ for you as a company to personalize the way you do marketing, let’s focus on what marketing actually is? According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) is marketing:

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Marketing in 1950 was a set of tasks to bring very impersonal products on a very impersonal way to people you could often call customers or end users. That changed totally. Through a way of marketing concepts, targeting, global marketing, e-business, brand equity and many, many other definitions, marketing qulickly evolved from benchwarmer into captain of the B2C market.

Image credit: ForbesIndia

And when we look at Philip Kotler’s ‘evolution of marketing’ we can tell that the next era offers one option and one option only. A data driven way of doing business with your customers, a data driven future is the only option companies got. Companies need to look and step into technologies called Social, Mobile, Analytics, Mobile and Things aka SMACT, a completely different way of doing business. Using new technology to determine all kinds of customer needs. The Internet of Things, sensing in homes, cars, offices to gain data every day on peoples inner state of people or external environment can give you a huge competitive advantage to compete with your current competitors. Both marketing and new technology are getting personal.

The shift of the four Ps

Where back in the days marketing was recognized by PPPP – Product, Price, Promotion and Place – I want to introduce the same four ‘Ps’ I found in an article called “The New Marketing Mix: 4 Different Ps” written by Bernadette Jiwa . The same “Ps”, yet with different meaning:

  1. Purpose: “Not what you do, but why you do it. What’s the reason your company exists? Bringing a product to market isn’t enough.
  2. People: Who you serve not what you sell. Crafting your intention around the difference your product or service will make in the lives and stories of your customers.
  3. Personal: Becoming more relevant and significant to those people. How you make them feel about themselves in the presence of your brand is what matters, more than how they feel about your product.
  4. Perception: Being believed and believed in, not just noticed. What your customers believe about you far outweighs anything you tell them to think. Don’t just seek to find holes in the market or to gain mind share, set out to fill a void in people’s lives.”

And when we look for example to the 3 P, Personal, we see that becoming more relevant and significant to people is essential in this process. Bring to people what they need. Not what you think they need.

Determining you customers needs

That bring us to the next topic. From my point of view determining the needs of your customers is the basis of doing business. Business does not start at production. Business does not start at the design table. No. Business starts at the point where you are willing and ready to determine your end-user’s need. What value do you add to their life that they want to pay for?

Receiving the rights answers starts by listening. Listening start by asking the right questions.

“Listening is not only about waiting, but it’s also learning how better to ask questions.”

Jacqueline Novogratz

Remember, remember…

Remember, or realize that we are living in a time where we can use data to answer one of the most difficult business questions in life: “What does my costumer really need.” Of course I realize that this is not as easy as turning on your TV. it is a mindset shift. And for that reason I want to encourage you to look how new technology can provide you the answer on these difficult questions. The future of marketing will be about putting the customer more and more in the middle of the process.

The evolution of marketing

Where we called ‘shooting at groups of people’ marketing in the last decades, companies need to make a strategic shift. A shift to another type of segmentation. That type of segmentation is using marketing as it should be used, customer centric not technology centric. When companies furnish their process like that they will come to the core of marketing: ‘ A truly understanding what drives each individual human being and presenting the value that is most desired’. From group segmentation to psychology of the individual, and to do this, we use data.

Creating competitive advantage starts with questions

Creating a competitive advantage with new technology in the data driven era is not a question asked and answered in one day. Digital competitive advantage is strategy, nothing more, nothing less. For that reason, your company should integrate questions regarding this topic in your current and future strategy. According to an article McKinsey wrote on: “Strategic principles for competing in the digital age” companies need to make six decisions. These decisions are necessary to gain your spot in the digital market.

  1. Buy or sell businesses in your portfolio?
  2. Lead your customers or follow them?
  3. Cooperate or compete with new attackers?
  4. Diversify or double down on digital initiatives?
  5. Keep digital businesses separate or integrate them with current nondigital ones?
  6. Delegate or own the digital agenda?

In a time where the rules of marketing and customer experience are rewritten, in a disruptive time of enhancing digital technology what would you answer? No answer is also an answer…

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