digital transformation

Managing identity-challenging technology: a framework. A multiple case study on DLT in the financial services industry

Bitcoin, blockchain, Blockchain, Business models, digital transformation, Distributed Ledger Technologie (DLT)

Managing identity-challenging technology: a framework. A multiple case study on DLT in the financial services industry. By Maxime Lubbers.

Two-thirds of organizations say that innovation is crucial to survival. However, less than a third say they are actually successfully innovating to drive growth and increase revenue (Trapp, 2017). Especially established organizations suffer from existing organizational structures when dealing with innovation (Chang et al., 2012; Tripsas & Gavetti, 2000). Besides the structure of the firm, the nature of the firm also influences its ability to innovate and adapt to change. For example, financial firms, that are risk-averse in nature, experience more difficulty than start-ups while innovating. It is even mentioned that renewing banks is a mission impossible (Betlem, 2018). Does this mean that it is impossible for banks and other financial institutions to innovate? No. However, as technology changes the way we do things, incumbents often focus too much on understanding the novel technology while neglecting the impact it has on the organization itself (Cámison & Villar-López, 2014).

Understanding the impact of innovation on identity challenges 

Organizations should question how innovations affect the mission and core business of the firm. Are financial firms, as we know them, still relevant in the future? How should and could they re-establish products and services to innovate and remain relevant in their changing ecosystem? When an innovation is also impacting the mission of a firm and thus challenging the organization’s identity, managing the innovation becomes more complex (Tripsas, 2009). Different types of innovation require distinct types of management and organizational capabilities (Verganti, 2008). Understanding whether an innovation is identity challenging or not is therefore crucial (Tripsas, 2009). Innovation is by its nature about novelty and change, while identity is rooted in stability and endurance. This implies a fundamental tension is created.

How could organizations manage the tension created by an identity challenging technology?

An example of an identity challenging technology is distributed ledger technology (DLT). DLT has the potential to disrupt the mission and core business of (financial) firms, as we know them. Existing firms can largely benefit from novel and identity challenging technologies. Unfortunately, the established capabilities of the firms often negatively influence the ability of the firm to respond to a technological change (Ulrich & Smallwood, 2004). In addition, even though it is known for radical innovations to create new dominant designs in which a new set of core capabilities are needed (Chang et al., 2012) its relation to organizational identity is left out. To be able to contribute to existing literature and to support managers in transforming their organizations the following question structured my graduate research: “How can established organizations successfully manage the implementation of identity challenging technology?”

The research question has directed this study towards the development of a grounded framework (see figure 1) that scholars and managers can use to increase their ability to cope with identity challenging technologies. In addition, two key factors that positively influence the ability of a firm to successfully go through the phases of the grounded framework are identified (see figure 2). This novel perspective towards capability development, positively influences the way organizations develop and adapt them to manage an identity challenging technology. If a firm does not incorporate the impact of the identity-challenging characteristic of the technology this can be problematic and result in costly and ineffective innovation practices. The findings of this study emphasize that established firms must do more than grasp novel technologies: they need to reconsider the context in which their firm is operating and developing capabilities.

Figure 1. Grounded framework “Successful management of Identity Challenging Technology”

Two identified key factors

As mentioned, I found two key factors that influence a firm’s ability to successfully walk through the five phases identified in the grounded framework: strategic alignment and absorptive capacity. Absorptive capacity is the firm’s ability to recognize the value of new information, integrate it, and apply to commercial ends. A crucial aspect of absorptive capacity is the firm’s ability to transform its structure, systems and behavior. Strategic innovation alignment indicates that both strategic and executive levels within the organization understand and support each other on the identity-challenging aspect of the innovation. Unfortunately, due to the risk-averse nature of financial firms, most of them did not have the capability to understand the identity challenging aspect that is required to scope the impact of DLT properly. To support managers in understanding where their company is at and how they can successfully manage DLT the two key factors are visualized in the matrix visible in figure 2. The different cases made visible in the matrix are independent organizations in the financial services industry that participated in my research. I placed them in the matrix based on multiple in-depth interviews that I analyzed.

Figure 2. Strategic innovation alignment and absorptive capacity matrix.

Enabling & developing organizational capabilities

Beyond the two key factors that are required for firms to successfully manage DLT, it should be stressed that the different phases require specific organizational capabilities. If a firm invests in an innovation lab, but moves existing hires into a novel context, it should be questioned whether these employees understand why they are moved there. The same accounts for innovating within core business processes. It has shown that the more autonomous an innovation lab is, the more productive the innovation practices and their implementations become. Considering phase 4, it becomes clear that firms need to understand whether DLT is a fitting technological enabler for their business problems. By solely developing DLT related capabilities a business problem will not come to the surface and will thus not be solved.

If firms do not reconsider their organizational design, including governance structure and systems, it is impossible to develop a strategy and capabilities that facilitate the firm in innovating and remaining relevant in the (near) future. If an established firm can create a new context in which it facilitates its business and creates its customer value it becomes possible to compete with fintechs. They might even include them into their ecosystem. A new context facilitates new ways of thinking; doing and innovating which at the same time provides a fruitful perspective on capability development.

Personal note on DLT in the financial services industry

As the financial services industry is by nature risk-averse and highly regulated it is not the easiest sector to experiment with emerging technologies. Let alone implementing them. However, as customers are getting used to seamless, mobile and individually optimized services, financial firms need to act and innovate. Innovation is essential for survival as fin-techs and other financial start-ups are offering extremely competitive services. Solely focusing on emerging and identity challenging technology such as DLT is however a major pitfall. Many firms focus on understanding the ins and outs of novel and trendy technologies, however forgetting that the technology should be used as a means to an end. Technology is not an end, it is a means that could optimize multiple administrative and business processes.

Firms should wary that they focus on the business problems they need to solve for their customers.

Keeping up to date with technological trends is important, understanding what business problems are present is however key. Without a thorough understanding of the source of the problem, no technology will support a financial firm in creating that smooth and seamless experience the customer is already expecting.

Sources

  • Betlem, R. (2018). Bestaande Bank Vernieuwen is Mission Impossible. Retrieved June 6, 64 2018. From: https://fd.nl/beurs/1257047/bestaande-bank-vernieuwen-is-missionimpossible.
  • Camisón, C., & Villar-López, A. (2014). Organizational innovation as an enabler of technological innovation capabilities and firm performance. Journal of business research, 67(1), 2891-2902.
  • Chang, Y. C., Chang, H. T., Chi, H. R., Chen, M. H., & Deng, L. L. (2012). How do established firms improve radical innovation performance? The organizational capabilities view. Technovation, 32(7-8), 441-451.
  • Trapp, R. (2017). Why Business Leaders Continue to Struggle with Innovation. Retrieved June 3, 2018. From: https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogertrapp/2017/04/10/why business-leaders-continue-to-struggle-with-innovation/#4a153f3842de.
  • Tripsas, M., & Gavetti, G. (2000). Capabilities, cognition, and inertia: Evidence from digital imaging. Strategic management journal, 1147-1161.
  • Tripsas, M. (2013). Exploring the interaction between organizational identity and organizational design in technological transitions. Working paper.
  • Ulrich, D., & Smallwood, N. (2004). Capitalizing on capabilities. Harvard business review, 119-128.
  • Verganti, R. (2008). Design, meanings, and radical innovation: A metamodel and a research agenda. Journal of product innovation management, 25(5), 436-456.

Bio Maxime Lubbers

Maxime is an ambitious and driven graduate from the University of Amsterdam. She successfully pursued two master degrees in Entrepreneurship and Digital Business. She aims to be the connection between business and technology as it allows her to solve problems by combining her passion and growing knowledge of technology with her other passion for people. For her final graduate internship, she researched which organizational capabilities established financial firms need to be ready to successfully manage Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). If you are interested in following Maxime you can find here on LinkedIn

Blockchain: In consortia & corporates we trust?

blockchain, Blockchain, Business models, data, digital transformation, Distributed Ledger Technologie (DLT), Inspiring

Is Blockchain a hype or a (the next) big thing? Many discussions, meet-ups and events are filled with speakers and worksession on solving this question. Let me help you on this item and introduce a bigger question related to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT).If you ask me Blockchain is both, hype and a technology that we can use to gain many benefits from it. That is what we have seen with previous technology developments and that is what we will see in the (near) future as well.

Curing the hype

If people do not understand the real potential of a technology there will be created a buzz of hype. This can be on several levels, for example on a conceptual phase where people think about what concept can we think about and how does this fit in our strategy? On the other hand this can be on a technical level where people do not have clear vision on to what extend a certain technology can help them improve. In this phase of Blockchain technology people are under- and overestimating of the potential of the DLT. What we need besides time is: common sense, research and experimentation which are most of the time the cure for this.

Bitcoin in, banks & governments out

The Guardian posted an article on their website Saturday the 10th of March 2018 titeled: “Does blockchain offer hype or hope?” In this article the stated the following:

“The blockchain was born as the digital scaffolding for cryptocurrency transactions. When devising bitcoin, pseudonymous inventor Satoshi Nakamoto’s aim was to create a stateless virtual currency, not controlled by any bank or government.”

If you ask me, it is good that there is the possibilities to connect with people on a P2P (Peer to Peer) basis to do transactions with. Over the past years we have ‘trusted’ parties with our money (banks), our insurance policies (insurance companies) our transactions (Notary) and other state related business (government on several levels). No or less involvement of these third parties can make lifes easier, more honest and realize more productivity. In special the last one of the most important benefits of what Blockchain technology could bring us. This movement can be increased in speed if these same parties facilitate this instead of (over)regulating it.

Trust transition: from the one institution to the other

But aren’t we forgetting one thing? Why are we so keen on getting away from banks, insurance companies and government institutions? The most commonly answer is: “I do not trust them” Fair enough. But do you trust technology? And more important the organizations who use this technology?

When we talk about corporate application of Blockchain they will mainly be in private and consortia Blockchains. Have you ever thought on who builds the chain, maintains it and is in charge of orchestrating the roles & rights in these environments. Based on what criteria these elements are provided by the authority of whom?

Blockchain is not the same as digital trust. Offcourse technology can enable and facilitate this partly. But if you do any form of business with an organization you also need to trust the Blockchain they (privatly) build or the consortia they are part of.

In whom we trust?

And this is exactly where I think we are missing a very big point. Stop shouting that you do not trust banks and governments. When using Blockchain related services you are also trusting parties that you most of the time do not trust. You are also trusting the way they give people and other parties rights and roles within the Blockchain ecosystem.  So before getting trustless towards the current instutions, be consious on who owns your trust in the future…

Image source: GCN

Wat is de ethische, moralistische, christelijke impact van nieuwe technologie?

AI, Artificial Intelligence, data, digital transformation, Innovation, Inspiring, technology, Trends, Trendwatching

Het artikel: “Wat is de ethische, moralistische, christelijke impact van nieuwe technologie?”  is verschenen is de juni uitgave van: “De Banier” het ledenmagazine van de Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (SGP) en is gepubliceerd onder de rubriek: “Politiek dichtbij” (pagina 24). Dit artikel is medio juni 2018 gepubliceerd.

Wat is de ethische, moralistische, christelijke impact van nieuwe technologie?

We leven in een tijd waar versnelde verandering het nieuwe, maar ook het enige constante lijkt. Nieuwe technologische ontwikkelingen gaan snel, zijn vaak positief, maar kunnen ook negatieve gevolgen hebben. Naast allerlei praktische, sociale, culturele en economische vragen komen ook steeds meer ethische dillema’s naar voren. Te denken valt aan: ‘designer babies’, de relatie tussen robots en mensen

en de impact van bijvoorbeeld ‘blockchain’ en ‘kunstmatige intelligentie’. Een gesprek met SGPlid en deskundige op het gebied van innovatie en nieuwe technologische ontwikkelingen Rick Bouter.

De versnelling van de rekenkracht in de technologie, gezien in een overzicht vanaf 1900 tot en met de verwachte ontwikkeling in het jaar 2100.

Zijn er in de technologische wereld mensen die ethisch nadenken over de gevolgen van deze negatieve ontwikkelingen? 

“Gelukkig wel! Mensen als Elon Musk, oprichter van niet de minste bedrijven als Tesla, Solar City, Space X en andere, of wijlen professor Steven Hawking hebben zich kritisch uitgesproken tegen specifieke technologie als kunstmatige intelligentie waarnaar Musk verwijst als ‘een onsterfelijke dictator’. Dichterbij huis noem ik prof. dr. Marc de Vries in zijn boek Technologie, overal om je heen. Moderne ontwikkelingen in christelijk perspectief. Maar ook de schrijvers van het boek Meer dan mensenkennis geven mooie inzichten. Ondanks deze positieve voorbeelden, denk ik dat er, gezien de snelheid van de ontwikkelingen te weinig kritische kenners uit onze achterban zijn.”

Hebben politici en bestuurders (binnen en buiten de SGP) voldoende verstand van zaken als het gaat om technologische ontwikkelingen? 

“Met alle respect voor de ongekende inzet en kennis die onze bestuurders
hebben, denk ik van niet. De situatie binnen én buiten onze achterban beziend, denk ik dat we niet op de goede weg zijn. Persoonlijk vind ik dat de innovatieen technologieagenda van Nederland te laag gepositioneerd wordt. Als we bijvoorbeeld kijken naar een stad als Amsterdam die een eigen Chief Technology Officer heeft (en vele andere functies op het gebied van innovatie), geeft dat een bepaalde focus en richting aan. De Verenigde Arabische Emiraten hebben bijvoorbeeld een minister van Kunstmatige Intelligentie. Dat geeft de relevantie van en de focus op het onderwerp aan. Binnen Nederland mis ik dit. Het onderwerp ‘innovatie’ hebben we onder het ministerie van Economische zaken gestopt. Een uitzondering op de onderwaardering is het initiatief Smart Industry. Dat heeft als ambitie dat Nederland in 2021 het flexibelste en het beste digitaal verbonden productienetwerk van Europa heeft.) Mijn mening is dat we, als Nederland competitief wil blijven, meer focus moeten leggen op technologische innovatie.”

Kan de Bijbel ons iets leren over dit onderwerp?

“Ik denk zeker dat de Bijbel ons genoeg te zeggen heeft over dit onderwerp. Dat geldt trouwens voor ieder mogelijk onderwerp waarmee we dagelijks in aanraking komen zowel privé als zakelijk. Persoonlijk denk ik dat we nuchter om mogen gaan met innovatie. Kennis, grondstoffen en intelligentie zijn door God gegeven. Wij mogen die middelen binnen de kaders van de Bijbel en onze grondwet ook gebruiken ten goede en tot opbouw van mens, bedrijf en maatschappij. Het wordt anders als technologische vooruitgang als een religie voor ons wordt, of als technologie onze kijk op Bijbelse normen en waarden verandert. God is nveranderlijk en dat moet centraal staan. Overigens is het nieuwe Babel al wel door Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976) voorspeld. Heisenberg is iemand die we kennen als grondlegger van kwantumtechnologie. Heisenberg voorspelde toen al dat er een moment zou komen waarop de mens zijn invloed op technologie zou verliezen en waarop technologie zich zonder invloed van de mens onafhankelijk zou doorontwikkelen. Laten we zorgen dat technologie niet het volgende Babel wordt waarop we ons vertrouwen stellen en waar we vervolgens van afhankelijk zijn. Dat laatste is een zorg die zeker in onze de reformatorische gezindte alleen maar exponentieel zal toenemen.”

Wat zie je op landelijk, provinciaal en gemeentelijk niveau gebeuren omtrent innovatie en nieuwe technologie?

“Wat ik zie is dat overheden intern steeds beter begrijpen dat alles digitaal wordt. Overheden op de diverse niveaus zijn bezig met thema’s als ‘cloud’ en ‘digital workplace’. Een goede ontwikkeling want om innovatie te stimuleren, is het verstandig om de positieve impact ervan te gebruiken. Laat me aan de andere kant ook duidelijk zijn dat technologie voor eigen gebruik iets totaal anders is dan een overheid (zowel landelijke als plaatselijk) die mij als burger en bedrijf faciliteert door wetgeving, subsidies en initiatieven om competitief te zijn tegen concurrentie van binnen- en buitenland. Dit mag mijns inziens méér gebeuren en ik denk dat die terughoudendheid ook en voornamelijk komt door onkunde en onwetendheid. Dat is geen kritiek, want ik heb onze bestuurders hoog zitten, maar hier kunnen we ze wel bij helpen. Dat is dan ook ons plan.”

Welke aanbevelingen wil je (lokale) SGP-politici en bestuurders meegeven als het gaat over deze thematiek?

“Informeren, inspireren en experimenteren. Laat je als bestuurder informeren: zorg dat je goed beslagen ten ijs komt. Laat je inspireren: laat je ook verbazen over de ongekende impact en mogelijkheden van technologie. Ga ook experimenteren: ga het experiment aan met andere politici of met plaatselijke bedrijven om samen op te trekken om de impact van een technologie echt te begrijpen. Op deze manieren denk ik dat we ook op innovatief en technologisch vlak een betere agenda kunnen maken. De juiste dingen doen, maar ook de dingen juist doen. Natuurlijk snap ik dat je als bestuurder niet in alle domeinen goed onderlegd kunt zijn. Maar daarom is het juist belangrijk dat we niet onze ogen sluiten voor bepaalde thema’s, maar onderzoek doen en onszelf laten informeren van de ongekende mogelijkheden van technologie. Dat is ook belangrijk om onszelf te kunnen wapenen tegen de negatieve kanten ervan en de slechte invloed op het gebied van ethiek en religie.”

“ Informeren, inspireren en experimenteren.”

Aankondiging denktank Techthics
Om de in het interview genoemde redenen is het idee opgevat om een denktank op te richten, “Techthics” genaamd.

“Techthics, onze bijdrage aan de discussie over technologie, ethiek & religie”

Tot de denktank behoren:

  • Experts uit het technologisch veld, voor wie innovatie tot een van de dagelijkse  werkzaamheden behoort.
  • Voorvechters voor het behoud en de borging van ethiek als religieus geëngageerd
  • Betrokken personen, als ook politici van zowel landelijk als lokaal niveau

Een afvaardiging van deze denktank zal jaarlijks tweemaal een kort ‘Point of View’ brengen waarin een technologisch thema geduid wordt en de impact wordt bepaald door mensen met diverse expertisen. Het doel van Techthics is het kritisch bezinnen op en het formuleren van een visie op de invloed van nieuwe technologie en innovatie op het gebied van ethiek en religie. Dit kan een thuishaven zijn voor constructieve gesprekken omtrent technologie en een kennispoort voor landelijke en plaatselijke politici.

Contact met geïnteresseerden
We zijn nog opzoek naar geïnteresseerden die willen meedenken over dit thema. Voor hen en ook voor geïnteresseerden naar de bevindingen van de denktank is er de contactmogelijkheid via de e-mail. Neem contact met ons op via de bestuurdersvereniging: bsv@sgp.nl.

*Wil je meer informatie over dit initiatief of wil je hier aan bijdragen kun je contact opnemen met info@techthics.nl

De impact van nieuwe (Blockchain) technologie – RMU.nu

blockchain, Blockchain, Business models, data, Digital maturity, digital transformation, Distributed Ledger Technologie (DLT), Innovation, Inspiring, technology, Trends, Trendwatching

Dit artikel is 15/06/2018 verschenen op de website van de RMU

Om relevant te blijven in een versnelde veranderende wereld, is er volgens Rick Bouter maar een antwoord mogelijk: Innovatie. En dat betekent dus ook kijken naar nieuwe technologieën. In deze blog legt hij uit wat Blockchain is en wat de potentie is van deze technologie.

Versnelde verandering lijkt in de wereld van vandaag één van de weinige constante elementen. Internetbedrijven schieten de grond uit als paddenstoelen en veroveren in elke maand of elk jaar complete markten die (soms sinds mensenheugenis) als gevestigde orde gezien werden. Hier kun je denken aan de bekende voorbeelden als Uber, die de taxi- en vervoersmarkt op zijn kop zet, Airbnb die dit met de verhuur van appartementen, huizen en kamers doet, maar ook aan Spotify en Deezer die de muziekindustrie in een compleet nieuw jasje steken. Verandering gaat dus snel, heel snel. Stilstand is vandaag de dag niet alleen achtergang, maar lijkt eerder op achteruitrennen. Een van de weinige vragen die overblijven voor bedrijven, organisaties en instellingen is: “Hoe blijf ik relevant in de snel veranderende wereld van morgen?”.

Innovatie is de enige manier om te winnen

Een concreet antwoord op deze vraag is even simpel als complex. “Innovatie is de enige manier om te winnen…” Als we deze vraag verder afpellen, komen we al snel bij de enablers van innovatie. Vandaag de dag is een van de grootste enablers en veroorzakers van innovatie het potentieel van nieuwe technologieën. Wanneer je dus wilt innoveren komt al snel het ongekende potentieel van nieuwe technologie om de hoek kijken. Internet of Things, Kunstmatige Intelligence, Virtual Reality, Nano technologie en Blockchain zijn veel gehypete en ook ‘over’gehypete technologieën.

Blockchain, een technologie met potentieel Laten we een van deze technologieën eens wat nader bekijken. Van programmeur tot boardmember: de term Blockchain geeft slapeloze nachten. Blockchain, de techniek achter de Bitcoin, kent veel meer toepassingsgebieden dan alleen cryptocurrency. Zo wordt gewerkt aan toepassingen in onroerend goed, containertransport, gezondheidszorg, muziekrechten, verzekeringen en pensioen. De technologie wordt door sommigen gezien als een innovatie vergelijkbaar met het internet. De grote vraag bij deze trend is: wat moet en mag je er nu mee?

Blockchain als digitaal vertrouwen

Blockchain is een technologie die het mogelijk maakt zaken te doen zonder tussenkomst van derde partijen. Bij deze derde partijen kun je aan allerlei organisaties en instanties denken. Van rijksoverheid tot gemeenten, van jurist tot ver¬zekeraar en van notaris tot kadaster. Deze derde partijen zijn ooit in het leven geroepen omdat wij, mensen, elkaar niet vertrouwen in het zaken doen of afhankelijk zijn van deze derde partij. We vertrouwen elkaar ten diepste niet terwijl dit een van de kernpijlers is van zakendoen. Een van de kernpijlers, net als andere belangrijke pijlers als een ruilmiddel (berenvel, goud, olie en bijvoorbeeld geld) maar ook het bewijs dat deze waarde maar eenmalig kan worden uitgegeven voor een bepaalde tegenwaarde. Blockchain als technologie waarborgt deze belangrijke aspecten van zakendoen en zou in potentie dus een belangrijke pijler in onze economie kunnen worden.

Hoe Blockchain werkt

Blockchain is de bekendste Distributed Ledger Technologie (DLT). Deze gedistribueerde grootboek technologie heeft als belangrijkste doel om een consensus te bereiken over zaken die over dit netwerk komen. Laten we even zaken doen als uitgangspunt nemen. De kern van zakendoen is een transactie van waarde. Deze waarde kan een huis zijn, een verzekering, maar ook gewoon een valuta. Blockchain is kort samengevat een computernetwerk waarin elk onderdeel van het netwerk een compleet overzicht van transacties heeft en dit op een decentrale manier opslaat in databases. Deze transacties samen vormen een block. Het laatste blok is ‘de waarheid’ waaraan niet meer getornd kan worden, dit waarborgt het gedistribueerde netwerk. Dit laatste block is dus de input voor het nieuwe block en de nieuwe transacties. Door de tijd worden meer transacties gevalideerd en komen er dus ook meer setjes van transacties bij (blocks) en zo vormt zich dus een digitale keten van blokken, een Blockchain.

Omdat deze waarheid omtrent transacties vastgelegd is over het gehele netwerk kan die vrijwel niet gemanipuleerd worden en is frauderen ook bijna uitgesloten. Op het moment dat er een transactie gedaan wordt, wordt deze gevalideerd door alle onderdelen in het netwerk. Deze onderdelen bevestigen de principes van zakendoen. Is er een waarde? Wordt deze waarde een keer uitgegeven? Komt er een betalende waarde voor terug? Wat zijn specifieke kenmerken van de deal? (Hierbij kun je denken aan tijdstip, betrokkenen en andere items die specifiek meegegeven kunnen worden.) Zo zou je kunnen zeggen dat de Blockchain een open grootboek is waarin alle transacties terug te vinden zijn. Door de rekenkracht die het netwerk ter beschikking stelt worden deze blokken gevalideerd door ingewikkelde wiskundige formules die niet zo maar iedere huis- tuin- en keukencomputer kan kraken. Degene die als eerste de transacties valideert krijgt hiervoor in ruil Bitcoins. Dit principe wordt mining genoemd. Nu zijn er uiteraard diverse mogelijkheden van een Blockchain want niet alles kan en mag open zijn. Zo kun je een publieke variant op Blockchain hebben waarin veel informatie open en bloot staat, maar ook privé Blockchains waarin alleen bepaalde geautoriseerde personen/ instanties toegang hebben. Ook hebben al diverse consortia van partijen die elkaar vertrouwen samen een keten op willen zetten.

Bij mijn vorige werkgever hebben we een whitepaper* geschreven over Blockchain met een sprekend voorbeeld erin. “Stel u beheert een systeem met fietshuurinformatie. Een klassiek systeem zal in de database een record hebben staan waarin staat wie momenteel welke fiets gehuurd heeft. Een Blockchainsysteem zal echter een ketting van huurmutaties hebben waarin de fiets toegewezen wordt aan klanten en weer terugverwezen wordt aan de eigenaar. Al deze mutaties zijn ondertekend door de klant en de eigenaar. Zo weten we zeker dat de transactie heeft plaatsgevonden en kunnen we ook opmaken wie de fiets momenteel in bezit heeft. Blockchain is digitaal vertrouwen, maar hoe zorgt het systeem ervoor dat alleen geautoriseerde personen mutaties doen op de database? Hier komt cryptografie om de hoek kijken. Elke deelnemer aan het systeem genereert een set sleutels, een publieke en een geheime sleutel. De publieke sleutel is een controlemiddel voor andere gebruikers om te controleren of berichten van jou ook echt ondertekend zijn met je geheime sleutel. Deze publieke sleutel is daarom ook niet geheim, sterker nog het is vaak je identificatienummer, bijvoorbeeld je personeelsnummer, of in het geval van Bitcoin: je portemonnee-adres. Stel een deelnemer aan het systeem wil een mutatie doorvoeren op de database, dan ondertekent hij het mutatiebericht met zijn geheime sleutel. Andere deelnemers aan het systeem kunnen met hun publieke sleutel controle¬ren of dat bericht ook daadwerkelijk door hem is ondertekend.” Bron: Caesar Overheid whitepaper: Blockchain, de hype voorbij.

Tot zover deel 1: “De impact van nieuwe (Blockchain) technologie.” In het volgende deel hopen we verder na te denken over de impact van Blockchain technologie op ethiek en kijken we ook breder naar technologische innovatie en haar impact op ethiek.

Rick Bouter is consultant Emerging Technologie (opkomende technologieën) binnen Accenture’s consulting domein. Binnen deze rol helpt Rick bedrijven de impact van nieuwe technologieën te begrijpen en toe te passen om op deze manier te innoveren en positieve impact te creëren voor klanten. In zijn vrije tijd schrijft Rick artikelen over innovatie- en technologietrends als Internet of Things, Kunstmatige Intelligentie, Blockchain en Digitale Transformatie onder andere voor zijn website: http://www.rickbouter.com. In het bijzonder de impact van technologie op mens, maatschappij en ethiek zijn onderwerpen die Rick boeien. Om deze reden denkt hij met een aantal mensen na over het idee om een christelijke denktank te starten met een focus op nieuwe technologie en de im¬pact op ethiek. Mocht je over het voorgaande/ of eventuele andere vragen hebben, dan kun je Rick bereiken via zijn LinkedIn pagina: http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickbouter

 

The next big thing in Real Estate: ‘As a Service’

digital transformation, Dutch, Innovation, Inspiring, Leaders, Trends, Trendwatching

On a website about innovation, trends and new technology, a blog about Real Estate is not the first topic you would expect. Over the last decennia we’ve seen that the real estate industry is one of the most controversial market which is not chancing really fast.

 

Previous innovations in the real estate market

If we take a closer look to the market there are some changes visible already. These changes started in the last 10 years. Trends like BIM, LEAN, 3D printers and sustainability are already a trend for a while but during the credit crisis from 2008 it all speed up. When we take a closer look to BIM, LEAN and 3D printing in the real estate market we see the following:

  • Building Information Modelling (BIM) an digital presentation of the constructional and functional characteristics of a building; an effective way to create an building which ideally suits the customer.
  • LEAN, a management philosophy to create the maximum value for the customer focussing on less wasting
  • 3D-printing; an digital presentation and construction of (parts of) buildings; an effective way to create an building which ideally suits the customer.

All trends are really focused on an effective way to satisfying the customer.

 

Lack of innovation due to ‘provider markets’

Since the crisis also the rent and rental market is changing. In years of ‘provider markets’ innovations did not have big stimulations. The customers had to deal with the real estate which was available in the market. Long term visions of the real estate owners where not really focused to keep the users with longer contracts. When customers during the crisis stopped renting meters, a lot of real estate owners became in trouble. A huge amount of offices became empty and a change in management strategy was forced.

 

But then, the change kicked in

The providers market changed into a customers market, so the real estate owners were forced to think along with their clients. The products needed to fit the customers wishes otherwise they would have choose for someone else, a positive site of the crisis I would say. Flexible rental contracts with less square meters became the new standard. Since a few years the crisis in the real estate industry is fully over, but if you ask me, this movement has just started and is gaining more and more momentum.

 

Real Estate as a Service

One of the ‘products’ from the change into a customer market is real estate ‘as a service’ Over the last years, we see that companies are coming up which offer a working place with fully services.

 

“Real Estate as a Service can be observed as the shift from renting an office to renting a working place.“

 

Customers sign a contract for a kind of ‘all inclusive’ working spot for mostly a short period. Services like internet, cleaning, catering, office supplies are arranged by the real estate owner. Reservations are made on an internet platform and is it possible to rent already for a period of a few days.  It is a nice way to turn big, unattractive offices into attractive a fancy workspace for different companies. The buildings are besides a working place also a meeting place that can stimulates the cooperation between different companies in one building.

 

Real estate as a Service conclusion & outlook

The trend real estate ‘As a service’ fits completely in the current economy and suits the new generation. People like to have easy, fully service and want to be flexible.  This same culture is currently developing at companies. We’ve seen that companies can change really fast. Especially young companies and start-ups can grow fast, shrink fast or change philosophies which can change the need of real estate. People and companies want to focus on core businesses and they don’t want to carry about the non-core businesses. For the new generation the offices are also less relevant. As mentioned earlier in my opinion this trend has just started. The current ‘flexible’ generation is taking over the economy in the upcoming years. Companies will shift more and  more to an flexible part of their organisation. When we look to Real Estate as a Service I predict that this will become the standard for working places. Real Estate creators should already keep this in mind when construct an building. It should be possible for offices to ‘grow’, ‘shrink’ or change with their customers

 

If you have questions on this topic, please do not hesitate to reach out to me,

Best Jacco

 

Biography

Jacco Casteleijn is advisor project control at a consultant company. In this role Jacco advise project organisations to keep track on time, risk and money for big projects. Furthermore, is Jacco an entrepreneur in real estate an co-owner of Heica Vastgoed B.V. This company is an creator of turn-key buildings for rent or sell. If you want to catch-up with Jacco, you can contact him via his LinkedIn profile.

Image credit 1

Image credit 2

 

 

Human Centric Design: “How to turn new technology into new money?”

Business Model Innovation, Business models, Design thinking, digital transformation, Human centric design, Innovation, Inspiring, technology, Trends, Trendwatching, Uncategorized

New technologies are flooding the world, AI, VR, Blockchain, bots, edge computing and so on are regularly featured in blogs, articles and more. If you look at the Gartner Hype cycle you can’t but help thinking that the technological development is outrunning our imagination. When you take a closer look at those articles and blogs you see applications of new technology that you would have never foreseen. A question that is keep popping up is the value add for clients and end users. But besides all the technology wanderlust, in the end there is only one real question left…

“How to turn the meaning of new technology into new money?”

Today’s tech challenge

In a lot of boardrooms, this is a very big challenge. Because: “How do you use new technology in products and services that are beneficial for our clients and they are willing to pay for?” One key element is the need to question yourself on the following: “Are we client driven or technology driven?” Many companies these days are tech driven and, often fail in first instance. The problem with companies that put technology as their main driver, is that applying new technology is a goal in itself. The point of that is that it is not serving any company or customers issues or ambitions.

Today’s tech opportunity

The companies that do succeed, typically apply techniques that are derived from organisations that have an extreme customer focus (customer obsessed) and apply techniques like strategic design (design thinking, customer journeys, etc.) to reframe their thinking. The main driver to use these techniques is that the focus is more and more towards human centric design (HCD). But what is Human Centric Design. We would like to quote a line our of a brilliant piece from the Guardian called: “Why Human Centric Design matters”

“Steve Jobs once asserted, “True innovation comes from recognizing an unmet need and designing a creative way to fill it.” While he may not have been specifically referring to human centered design, you’d be forgiven for making the assumption. After all, the purpose of human centered design is to create innovative products, services and solutions through creative and collaborative practices.”

So how can digital transformation tools help you discover new applications for all these emerging technologies to apply Human Centric Design?

Building ground zero

The first step to apply Human Centric Design is by applying Digital Transformation tools to build ground zero. By applying the key principles of Design Thinking (Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test) you put yourself in the shoes of the customer/ end user and force yourself to reframe the initial question/ problem/ issue. It helps you identify why and for whom you are designing. Doing this from multiple viewpoints (reframing) will provide you with new insights and (sometimes) unexpected views of the initial problem.

Get ready for impact…

The second step is to point every single resource in putting Human Centred design to work. This method, originally developed by IDEO (ideo.org), turns imagination in to real solutions. By going through Inspiration, Ideation and Implementation steps you turn deep insights into human needs (empathy) in to multiple ideas, designs or prototypes to life and eventually to market. A key aspect to this is continuous learning in all of the phases.

Human Centred Design resulted in Impact

By applying deep learning and understanding your customers from the start, you maintain the ability to quickly adapt these learnings to what you are designing and building. As a result you will build a successful product or service since you have, throughout the process, kept the people you are doing this for at the heart of the process. By doing that the meaning of Human Centred Design is applied and you created meaningful innovation. Innovation, not driven by technology but driven by the people who are using it every day, using it to increase welfare and that is innovation as well companies as humans are willing to pay for.

Happy innovating, Bob & Rick

 

 

Biographies of the writers

Bob Ickenroth – Is lead digital consultant at inspearit Netherlands. In this role, Bob is responsible for assisting companies in their transformation towards a more digital self. He is a coach, consultant and trainer in topics such as innovation, business and IT alignment and value creation with the customer at heart. Bob has over 20 years of international experience bridging the gap between business and IT. More information about Bob can be found on his LinkedIn page.

Rick Bouter – is a consultant Emerging Technology within Accenture’s Consulting practice. Within his role, Rick helps companies to understand the impact of new and emerging technologies and how to apply them to create impact for their clients. In his spare time Rick writes articles about innovation and trends such as, Blockchain, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and others which can be found on his website: www.rickbouter.com. In particular, the impact of new technology on human, ethics and economics are topics that appeals to him. You can contact Rick via his LinkedIn page.

Image credit 1

Image credit 2: Source: IDEO

Image credit 3: Source: Stanford.edu

 

                                                                                                     

Internet of Things: “from buzzword to differentiator”

Business Model Innovation, Business models, Caesar, Digital maturity, Digital Strategy, digital transformation, Innovation, Inspiring, Internet of Everything, Internet of things, IoE, IoT, Uncategorized

This blog originally appeared on the Caesar Experts blog

Internet of Things as a buzzword – The Internet of Things (IoT) is a buzzword which cannot be removed from our trend scene recently. Everyone is talking about the Internet of Things or one of the many synonyms of it, but what is IoT exactly? In the upcoming blog series of three articles, I will elaborate on IoT as a trend, several concrete examples will briefly pass by, and we will see how your organization can start concretely. In this article, “Internet of Things 1/3 – from buzzword to differentiator” I will elaborate on what this technological development is and we will point to the IoT as a trend.

What is the Internet of Things? – The Internet of Things is a technological development in which machines, building, people & other objects can be connected to the internet or another network. By providing the above objects with sensors & actuators, you can quickly generate data through these objects. Through the internet or another network, the data will come towards you, which gives you a lot more data about the internal processes of an object or the external processes, the environment. This data can be of incredible importance to creating a strategy whether it is for realizing new revenue models, reducing costs or optimizing company processes.

Image 1: IoT Business DNA

 Getting back to the term Internet of Things. What does this technological trend include? There are many definitions & synonyms described on the Internet of Things, in this article I want to engage how we, at Caesar, use the Internet of Things, in two parts:

Insight – Under insight, we count the measuring through sensors, the collecting of data and the analyzing of collected data.

Influence – Under influence, we understand the communicating to users/decision-makers, a different way of interacting than we have seen up until now and the automating of processes.

From data to wisdom – Nowadays the Internet of Things wins its popularity because we live in a world which has engaged in a complete ‘run’ on data. That is only logical! With data, you can make choices for your company by using correct and complete information and offer the customer services that they want.

Image 2: Insight & Influence

 The intertwining of an old and a new world – Where you can optimise processes, production, assets and logistics with the Internet of Things, you can also influence the business of tomorrow. For example, you can use the Internet of Things to work with entirely new business models which strengthen customer relations, apply other revenue and payment models, change the ways of dealing with upselling & lock-in and have data function as an extra source of income.

 Summarized we can say that the Internet of Things makes it possible to collect more data, which gives you a better grip on your business of today and give you the insight and influence of tomorrow.

 

“Have you thought about which impact this trend has on your company and which chances this brings for you?”

 

Knowing more about the Internet of Things – Could your organization use some help to start with a case concretely? We like to help to work towards your goal using the examples above. For more information, you can get in contact with me here to talk about an IoT inspiration session or IoT brain game.

 Do you want to know more about how your organization can use the Internet of Things? Let me know and maybe I can help you.

Image credits

5 tech trends within Recruitment Marketing that you will often meet

Digital maturity, digital transformation, Innovation, Inspiring, Recruitment, technology, Trends, Trendwatching

Opinion of Malique Steenbrink about the possibilities of technology within Recruitment Marketing that make HR processes more human.

5 tech trends within Recruitment Marketing that you will often meet

What influence does technology have in my field? A lot! When Rick asked me to write a guest blog I did already have some ideas. There are many technological trends that affect almost all industries, but certainly also within HR & Marketing, the cutting edge that I am involved in. You can think of optimizing your business processes, content distribution through smart algorithms, complete your data overview, but also new functions that you will encounter a lot in the future. So, I want to take you through a number of trends!

# 1 Virtual & Augmented Reality

In the construction and healthcare industry VR & AR has already adopted. Within recruitment it is an ideal way to give a glimpse into the kitchen. Think of company culture, the brand story, workplace, offices, cool projects, dress code, the delicious coffee machine, virtual tour, colleagues and person’s of interest that you will face in your first working week anyway. Curious? A few nice examples are (in the Netherlands): 360-degree VR experience makes Alliander stand out among many technicians, the use of the Hololens in healthcare at Omring. How did I use this directly by myself? During a kart hackathon for IT students and as a guided tour in an onboarding app.

# 2 Chatbots

The latent jobseeker is often not immediately interested in applying for jobs, but may be curious about you as an employer. It can therefore be a good idea to include your frequently asked questions (FAQ) on your career site and to give a candidate the opportunity to enter into a low-threshold conversation with HR or a colleague or the bot is given a suggestion. For example, Intercom is frequently used on the website for customer communication & support. Why don’t we just do this for HR as well?

# 3 Pre- & onboarding app

Where the first two trends can mainly support in the pre-hire phase, we can use apps during the onboarding and training period. Just as a virtual tour can replace a physical tour, an app can serve as a replacement or addition during the onboarding session and during the onboarding process. Technology ensures consistency in content, centralization of the process and also ensures two-way traffic with the new employee from the first moment. Want to know more about the app? Check it out!

# 4 Big data and smart algorithms

The company is growing and HR needs to hire a new employee. Where is the target group active? Which soft skills are we looking for and how are we going to test these skills? How would the candidate react in certain situations? In short: will we speak of a cultural fit or not? There are more and more companies that are focusing on data of target groups and making a business of it. Within the tight labor market targeted job marketing is important, because who doesn’t want this data of their target audience? After all, the goal is to fill that vacancy as quickly as possible with the right talent.

# 5 The internet and social platforms

Yes, we will almost forget this trend as it is so obvious. But no less important! It starts with attention to SEO, to ensure that your vacancies can also be found. In addition, a candidate will also visit you as an employer, think of LinkedIn, Glassdoor, Indeed or directly through their network. Transparency is central, so ensure a good candidate experience.

Use technology smartly, but don’t forget the candidate experience

For those who think HR would not be human enough due to all those trends, is wrong. Thanks to the use of these technologies, we know much better where we can find each other, whether we will like each other and whether we see a long-term partnership. It remains human! Before you have an interview, you often have contact with HR beforehand and once at the table you and possibly your new team want to see if there is also a real-life match. So we will continue to use technology to optimize (administrative) processes, which means that we have more time for the human aspect. That is why we will face in the coming years more functions as professional happiness expert, onboarding specialist, employee experience manager, happiness officer and learning & development manager. Read more about it in the articles HR positions with a golden future (Dutch).

Also relevant, the article that appeared last week at Werf& about 9 ways in which AI in recruitment already proves its worth (Dutch) and 5 Fascinating uses of AI in Recruitment in 2018 (English).

Biography: Malique works as an Employer Branding Specialist at Appical – the app for new hire success. She is responsible for the content around the Employer Brand and the entire employee experience. Her mission is to tell stories from the heart of the organization and she closely follows tech trends in her field.

Would you like to know more about how you make a magnet from your employer brand? Ask her! She often says:

”Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world”.

Want to read more from Malique? She writes about Content Marketing, Social Influence, Employer Branding, Candidate Experience, Employee Journey and she shared a blog last month about her own onboarding experience.

LinkedIn

Appical blog (Dutch)

Appical blog (English)

#4 books on technology & digital transformation you should read

Business Model Innovation, Business models, Capgemini, Capgemini Consulting, Didier Bonnet, Digital maturity, Digital Strategy, digital transformation, Expert Connect, Innovation, Internet of things, Leading Digital, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, MIT sloan

These days there are an exploding amount of books on technology. Personally I think the books below are really insight full and I would recommand these books.

 

#1 – “The Second Machine Age” by Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee

View, “Race with the machines: Erik Brynjolfsson at TED2013”, here

 

#2 – “Leading Digital” – “Turning technology into business transformation” from George Westerman of MIT, Didier Bonnet of Capgemini Consulting, and Andrew McAfee, also at MIT.

View Didier Bonnet’s keynote presentation on “Leading Digital” at Oracle Open World 2014 here.

 

#3 – “The Innovators” – “How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution”, by Walter Isaacson

The Washington Post Book review, The New York Times review, The Wallstreet Journal review

Check Walter Isaacson out during a Google Talk discussion

 

#4 – “Enchanted Objects” – by David Rose

His popular book, Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire, and the Internet of Things, focuses on the future of the internet of things and how these technologies will impact the ways we live and work. He’s also a lecturer at the MIT Media Lab and has worked with the Tangible Media and City Science groups. David holds patents for photo sharing, interactive TV, ambient information displays and medical devices. His work has been featured at the MoMA, covered in The New York Times, WIRED, The Economist, and parodied on The Colbert Report. Source: https://enchantedobjects.com/about/

Check out David Rose his Tedx keynote on Enchanted Objects

Photo credit featured image

Samen krachtiger in innovatie – Caesar Experts & a.s.r.

Business Model Innovation, Business models, Caesar, Caesar Experts, data, digital transformation, Innovation, Inspiring, Internet of things, IoT, technology

Impressie video van een Internet of Things innovatie traject welke ik voor Caesar gedaan heb bij verzekeraar a.s.r.

“De technologiehelden van Caesar Experts (Rick, Bahto, Jeffrey en Jeroen) hebben in een paar weken de business van a.s.r. meegenomen in de wereld van Internet of Things (IoT) met een IoT workshop. Daarnaast hebben ze in een razend tempo een prototype voor a.s.r. gemaakt met bijbehorend dashboard wat laat zien welke triggers afgaan op basis van omgevingsdata.”