Digital Operating Model E-Book

Rajesh Sinha

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 345

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022

Beschreibung

Build your company's next-generation growth strategy by using emerging technologies to disrupt your field and energize your business In Digital Operating Model: The Future of Business, digital strategist and execution expert Rajesh Sinha delivers a robust and practical operating blueprint for digital transformation. Applicable to any industry, any size company, this playbook helps executives, professionals, managers, founders, owners, and other business leaders understand the importance and realize the benefits of a digital future for their companies--all without having to spend massive amounts of money in the process. The author explores effective methods to create multiple digital accelerators, develop cultural alignment that fosters innovation and delivers rapid solutions, and shares insights into the new mantras of our goods-and-services on-demand economy. Readers will also find: * Step-by-step guidance to implementing a digital platform strategy that leads to exponential business growth * Methods for designing and applying new businesses processes that create better experiences internally for your teams and externally for your customers and customers' customers, which also leads to exponential business growth * Real-life examples and case studies of businesses that have achieved successful digital acceleration and grown dramatically in the process Digital Operating Model shows readers how to meet their professional objectives while realizing profound transformation that offers innovative and durable differentiation both in terms of purpose and profits.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

NOTE

Acknowledgments

PART I: THE IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE

CHAPTER 1: Your Mantra for Success

DOM AS YOUR GUIDE

YOUR BUSINESS AS A PLATFORM

A NEW WORLD

DISRUPTION AND OPPORTUNITIES

THE FACE OF DISRUPTION TODAY

HISTORY REVISITED

A MARATHON STEP-BY-STEP

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

CHAPTER 2: DOM in Motion

WHY TAKE THE JOURNEY?

CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS

EXPLORE/EXPLOIT/DISRUPT

ENTREPRENEURIAL/DIGITAL MINDSET VERSUS LINEAR MINDSET

DATA OWNERSHIP

NETWORK EFFECT/PLATFORM EFFECT

ROI VERSUS THE NEW ROR

WHAT ABOUT THE CLOUD?

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

CHAPTER 3: The New Normal

DOM IS A MUST

WHEN IT WORKS AND WHEN IT DOESN'T…

DIGITAL CULTURE MINDSET

THE BUSINESS PLATFORM

INNOVATION

ONE STEP AT A TIME

PEOPLE OPERATING DIGITALLY

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

CHAPTER 4: DOM in Motion/Small-to-Midsize Company

UPENDED

WITH THE FUTURE IN MIND

NEW CHALLENGES

ADVICE FOR OTHERS ON THE DOM JOURNEY

NOTES

PART II: BECOME THE DISRUPTOR

CHAPTER 5: Building Your Digital Road Map

DIFFERENT JOURNEYS

DATA QUALITY A DIFFERENTIATOR

HOLISTIC APPROACH

DOM IN MOTION

YOUR DIGITAL QUIZ

DIGITAL RESILIENCY

BUILDING YOUR ROAD MAP

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

CHAPTER 6: Unleashing the Power of Your Business Platform

MEASURING YOUR PROGRESS: EXPLORE/EXPLOIT/DISRUPT

THE INDIAFIRST LIFE JOURNEY

THE COMMONALITIES

CULTURE/MINDSET

BUSINESS PLATFORM

DOM IN MOTION: WHERE TO BEGIN

INNOVATION

PRE-ASSESSMENT

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO BUILD A BUSINESS PLATFORM

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

CHAPTER 7: DOM in Motion/Mid- to Large-Size Company

A DIFFERENT APPROACH

UNLEASHING THE POTENTIAL

DOM IN MOTION

A DETAILED LOOK AT THE DOM JOURNEY

MANTRAS FOR SUCCESS

PART III: DON'T GET DISRUPTED

CHAPTER 8: Crisis Creates Opportunity

FAILURE IS A PART OF SUCCESS

PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

THE IT DISCONNECT

KEEP IT SIMPLE

WISDOM OF HINDSIGHT

FROM THE TOP

GETTING TO THE NEXT LEVEL

REGULATORY STUMBLING BLOCKS

SECURITY CONCERNS

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

CHAPTER 9: Outsmarting the Competition

DISRUPT OR BE DISRUPTED

THE SCIENCE OF BUSINESS PLATFORM AND DATA

NEWEST EVOLUTION

DELIVERING TO CUSTOMERS

DEVIL IN THE DETAILS

MORE CHALLENGES, PLATFORM SOLUTIONS

GAME CHANGERS: AI AND MACHINE LEARNING

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

CHAPTER 10: DOM in Motion: Business Platform Success

PLATFORM POWER

DISRUPT OR BE DISRUPTED

THE MASTER

SIMILAR CHALLENGES

NOTES

PART IV: THE FUTURE IS HERE

CHAPTER 11: Maintain Your Forward Momentum

INTELLIGENT BUSINESS PLATFORM

HYPER-PERSONALIZATION

HUMAN AND MACHINE

FULL POTENTIAL

TODAY IS HERE

INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT)

CHANGE IS INEVITABLE

BLOCKCHAIN

MACHINE LEARNING AS A SERVICE (ML AS A SERVICE)

DEEP LEARNING

ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION

LOOKING AHEAD

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

CHAPTER 12: The Decades Ahead

FUTURE LEADERS

MAKING THE IMPOSSIBLE POSSIBLE

CREATIVE SOLUTIONS

MANTRA FOR THE FUTURE: DIEP

EVOLUTION OF BUSINESS

NEXT-GEN OPEN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

THE METAVERSE

MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL

THE JOURNEY

DIGITAL EVOLUTION

BUSINESS WITH A PURPOSE

PATHWAYS TO GROWTH: A ROUNDUP

NOTES

Epilogue

LAST WORDS FOR NOW

Appendix/Rajesh Sinha: A Digital Entrepreneur's Journey

About the Website

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1

FIGURE 1.1 Build your business platform like a shopping mall.

Chapter 2

FIGURE 2.1 Digital maturity Levels 1 through 5.

Chapter 4

FIGURE 4.1 Build food business platforms like a shopping mall.

Chapter 6

FIGURE 6.1 Food business platform.

Chapter 12

FIGURE 12.1 Digital evolution.

Guide

Cover Page

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Preface

Acknowledgments

Begin Reading

Epilogue

Appendix/Rajesh Sinha: A Digital Entrepreneur's Journey

About the Website

Index

End User License Agreement

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ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR DIGITAL OPERATING MODEL

“As companies increasingly adopt digital-first business strategies, Digital Operating Model becomes a must read for business leaders who want to harness the power to disrupt their markets and avoid being disrupted. An insightful, practical guide to achieving digital maturity and reaping the promise of competitive advantage and exponential growth.”

—IAN WORDEN,MBA, MHI, Chief Product Officer, Sandata

“Not only does Rajesh Sinha provide expert advice, but he also provides firsthand accounts where these mantras are already generating exponential growth for modern businesses. The lessons learned transcend industry and are valuable to any entrepreneur.”

—AARON PRICE,CEO, TechUnited: NJ; Founder, Propelify

“The Digital Operating Model offers an excellent in-depth account of how some of today's industry leaders are harnessing the power of digital to accelerate business growth. Having worked with countless clients worldwide, Rajesh Sinha shares invaluable lessons he's learned along with his knowledge and experience in a way that makes transformation plausible, possible, and successful no matter the company or industry.”

—YURI AGUIAR,author of Digital (R)evolution: Strategies to Accelerate Business Transformation, and Chief Enterprise Data Officer, WPP

Digital Operating Model

The Future of Business

Rajesh Sinha

Copyright © 2022 by Rajesh Sinha. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sinha, Rajesh (Digital Strategist), author.

Title: Digital operating model : the future of business / Rajesh Sinha.

Description: Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2022] | Includes index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022011362 (print) | LCCN 2022011363 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119826835 (cloth) | ISBN 9781119826859 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781119826842 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Internet marketing. | Technological innovations.

Classification: LCC HF5415.1265 .S555 2022 (print) | LCC HF5415.1265 (ebook) | DDC 658.8/72—dc23/eng/20220412

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022011362

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022011363

Cover Design: Wiley

Cover Images: © Christopher Yin, Pablo Viera Zunino

To my wife, Vandhana, and son, Pranay, who are my pillars and whose support keep me grounded.

To my late father, who planted the seeds of entrepreneurship within me.

To my mom, my family and friends, and my Fulcrum family.

Preface

A company's success depends on its digital strategy today and into the future. Disrupt or be disrupted is the mantra as businesses of all sizes rush to digitalize and deliver better experiences for employees and customers.

Digital is not a myopic approach to utilizing the latest technology to automate a business process. It's a holistic shift that embraces the potential of the business platform through the digital operating model—a proven successful pathway to digital maturity.

The digital operating model—DOM—revolves around three crucial elements: culture, business platform, and innovation. Culture lays the foundation for a business platform, and together both help a business remain relevant through innovation. Knowing the nuances of this interconnectivity in the digital world helps a business better position for the future.

When all three foundational elements are aligned and working together, a business gains the momentum necessary for the journey to digital maturity. That's DOM in motion and the result is bottom-line growth.

As lifestyles, workplaces, and demographics change, and businesses move toward on-demand goods and services, development and deployment of the multilevel DOM has become essential. Companies that don't make the shift to the digital mindset and reusable, reconfigurable business platforms can't move fast enough, lose their relevance, and quickly fall behind the competition.

Many leading companies of a decade ago are different today, and they will be different tomorrow. That's changed the dynamics of what's necessary to deliver on the rapidly changing demands of consumers. The digital operating model levels the playing field. Any company now can have the platform power to take on big players, disrupt, and win.

In 2010, the market leaders in the Fortune 100 by market capitalization included legacy giants like General Electric, Ford Motor Company, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America Corporation. By 2021, technology giants as well as innovators and changemakers like Alphabet, Apple, and Amazon had displaced stalwarts like General Electric, Exxon Mobil, Walmart, and AT&T from the top spot. By 2030, the picture could change again as companies that focus on building a digital culture, organizing their businesses as platforms, and embracing innovation are ready to win again.1

This is the guidebook to help any company remain relevant today and ready for the future of tomorrow. In these pages leaders and experts from all size companies—with revenues from a few million to billions of dollars—and across varying industries share their stories of what works on the journey to digital maturity, what doesn't, and why. They offer sage advice and guidance for others as well.

Readers will learn step-by-step the details of the DOM and its five levels to continuous digital maturity. The top level of performance—continuous digital maturity—happens when a company moves at a high velocity and can pivot as markets and economies dictate, and easily and smoothly incorporate the latest technologies into their business ecosystem.

The five levels to continuous digital maturity are:

Digital infancy

Early experimenters

Digitally credible

Digitally mature

Market leaders

Digital Operating Model: The Future of Business gives readers clarity on why culture, platform, and innovation are so important, and what it takes to move any company to the next DOM level of performance. You'll learn how to assess where your company is on its own digital journey, and how to turn that assessment into the right road map for your company to maintain the momentum necessary for growth—DOM.

The digital operating model is the result of my three decades of experience in digital entrepreneurship and software. Since the software business has a proven multilevel engineering model, I figured why not a multilevel company maturity model for the digital journey. And so, the DOM approach with its five levels to maturity was born.

The book is divided into four parts:

Part I

introduces readers to the concept that the impossible is possible with the power of the digital operating model.

Part II

shares the secrets of how any company can build its own digital operating model, use it as a road map, and achieve digital maturity.

Pathway to Growth

Part III

shares with readers how crisis can create opportunities that enable savvy companies to make the right moves now to get ahead of the competition and propel themselves into the future.

Part IV

looks at future business trends and technologies of today and tomorrow, and how companies can remain relevant and avoid being disrupted.

Throughout these pages there also will be case studies that explore how companies of different sizes and industries have overcome challenges and reached various levels of digital maturity. The end of each chapter includes Pathways to Growth, vital takeaways that offer a roundup of key points on any company's journey to embracing the digital operating model.

So many people have contributed their knowledge to this book. Combined with expertise from nearly two dozen CEOs and leaders, who share their behind-the-scenes challenges and opportunities in these pages, you and your company can be the disruptor in your industry. Outsiders don't have to come in with the latest and greatest. Your company can have the innovative foresight and digital savvy to transform and grow.

Over the years, my teams and I have worked with and helped thousands of companies create thriving cultures and achieve digital maturity. We understand the journey, know the nuances, challenges, and pitfalls, and how to triumph. Working with so many companies, we've also learned that all share these three common denominators on the digital journey—culture, platform, and innovation.

I also know what it takes to successfully build a business, overcome adversity, and thrive. Over the last two decades, we have transformed our company's digital maturity. It's evolved from the web to social, portal, analytics, everything digital, business platforms, and now we are ready to embrace the new era—the intelligent business platform. We are transforming 100 million lives today and have a clear path to transform a billion lives using the power of intelligent business platforms to make the world a better place to live and work.

The business platform and the DOM pathway opens the future to new ideas and new possibilities for businesses, especially when combined with purposeful excellence. Now is the time to embrace it and to recognize the importance of putting experience first for your people, your customers, and your customers' customers. So, turn the page and let's get started on the DOM journey together.

NOTE

1

.  CNN Money. Fortune 500 annual ranking.

https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/full_list/

(accessed 15 January 2022).

PWC. (2015). Global Top 100 Companies by market capitalisation. (31 March) p. 58. https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/audit-services/capital-market/publications/assets/document/pwc-global-top-100-march-update.pdf  (accessed 15 January 2022).

Acknowledgments

This book is an amalgamation of stories, experiences, and wisdom from 23 successful business leaders and CEOs who join me to bring this book to you. They are my cohorts and friends. Each invested many hours and days and months to complete their own stories so that others might learn how to reimagine their businesses.

So many people contributed so much to this book—from information and stories to cover designs—that it's not possible to list everyone. My sincerest gratitude to all of you. I also would like to especially thank:

Paul Stoddart, President, New Payment Platforms, Mastercard, UK

Marc Adee, CEO, Crum & Forster, USA

David Granson, Managing Director, Goldman Sachs, USA

Gary McGeddy, President, Accident and Health division, Crum & Forster, USA

John Binder, President, Commercial Lines division, Crum & Foster, USA

Tom Bredahl, President, Surplus and Specialty division, Crum & Foster, USA

Paul Whitcomb, CEO, Whitsons Culinary Group, USA

Beth Bunster, CFO, Whitsons Culinary Group, USA

Nick Saccaro, President, Quest Food Management Services, USA

Bobby Floyd, CEO, HHS, USA

Peter John, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive, University of West London, UK

Adrian Ellison, Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor and CIO, University of West London, UK

Said Hathout, CEO, Al Hilal Life, Bahrain

Vishakha R M, CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance, India

Joe Santagata, CEO, American Carpet South, USA

Paul Hopkins, Programme Director, NHS England, UK

Steve Butcher, retired, Head of Procurement and Shared Services, Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), UK

Brennon Marcano, CEO, The National GEM Consortium, USA

Yuri Aguiar, Chief Enterprise Data Officer, The WPP Group, USA/UK

Rudy Sayegh, CEO and Founder, Global Gate Capital, Switzerland

Andrew Zaleski, President, Breakwater Treatment & Wellness, USA

Cesar Castro, Founder and Managing Partner, Escalate Group, USA

My wife, Vandhana, and son, Pranay, played the most important roles in supporting me so that I have been able to build my business and share the magic of DOM with you.

My sincere thanks to both my parents for giving me this life and having confidence in me throughout.

My friend and colleague, Dhana Kumarasamy, and his family have stood behind me like a rock during the highs and lows.

My three siblings and Lalit Khandelwal and their families have played an important role as well.

Business colleagues who have supported behind the scenes: Mark Blemings, Ian Joubert, Arleen Paladino, Nicole Bennett, and Rohan Sharan.

The business networking group of YPO and my YPO Forums have played a pivotal role in shaping me as a person.

I have become friends with many customers and associates of my company over time, and they have become my extended family, mentors, and advisors.

Most importantly, I would like to thank the team who helped me organize the facts and stories:

Sheck Cho, Susan Cerra, and the team from Wiley; without their support I could not be on this journey of authoring a book.

Susan J. Marks for her support in this journey from start to finish.

To my biggest family (Fulcrum), who have contributed so much to this book: Christopher Yin, Abilash Krishnaswamy, CP Jois, Munishk Gupta, S. Mukundhan, Bhimesh Karadi, Christine Rota, Mecca-Amirah Jackson, Matt Norrito, Pablo Viera Zunino, Christopher Vaccaro, Sachin Panicker, Adam Morris, Anthony Latona, Vinay Rawat, Anuradda Jayanntha Banerjii, Michael Kinder, and all the global leaders and employees of Fulcrum.

The book wouldn't be complete without also extending my gratitude to all the people from my Fulcrum family and those who have directly and indirectly helped me on this project. Without their support, I would not have achieved so much.

PART ITHE IMPOSSIBLE IS POSSIBLE

Digital Operating Model

CHAPTER 1Your Mantra for Success

The digital operating model is not for the privileged. It’s for everyone.

Digital strategy is the differentiator today. For any size company in any industry, the choice is disrupt with the power of the business platform or be disrupted.

Consumers want better, faster, and more seamless experiences. They expect goods and services on demand; they want more control of their data; and they like making their lives easier and better. Digital platforms do all that plus have the power to generate growth that companies once thought unimaginable.

DOM AS YOUR GUIDE

The digital operating model—DOM—is the step-by-step pathway for your company's journey to digital maturity (see facing page). It spells out how any company can transform more lives effectively and efficiently with digital ecosystems that are available, accessible, and often without massive cash outlays or personal technology expertise.

Three Common Denominators

For a company's successful digital maturity, three key elements, or common denominators, must be present. That foundation of the DOM is:

Culture—the people mindset to embrace the adoption of new ideas and the speed that digital enables to deliver on constantly evolving consumer needs. A great culture fosters trust, helps your people thrive, and delivers exceptional customer experiences.

Business platform—the right technology to run business processes—both horizontal (employee-facing) and vertical (customer-facing), creates multiple outcomes, and delivers new ideas with speed. The platform enhances data accuracy and security, generates metrics and measurable key performance indicators, and provides a built-in road map for the future.

Innovation—the openness to come up with and welcome new technology, ideas, and processes—to fail fast, learn, and grow in the process. Innovation can be internal, as in making lives and processes easier for your employees, or external with the goal to improve customer experiences.

Culture is the first step that enables a company to embrace the right business platform and open the door to innovation. The alignment of all three elements powers the momentum to drive business acceleration, more and better customer experiences, and growth to achieve the five levels to digital maturity. That's DOM in motion and the pathway to transformation. In these pages you'll read many stories of businesses that set out on the journey. For those that succeeded, all three elements aligned.

Five Levels in the DOM

DOM identifies five levels of achievement on the journey to continuous digital maturity—the ability of a company to seamlessly and quickly react to market shifts and demands no matter the circumstances.

Those five levels are:

Level 1: Digital infancy.

New or legacy businesses with little automation; no conclusive

culture

outside of authoritative tendencies; nonexistent

platform

technology; preoccupied with day-to-day activities; little

innovation

or exploration.

Level 2: Early experimenters.

Primarily new or marginally established businesses of varying sizes; no clear company direction; no structured road map; often trapped by a slow-growth mindset and technology-hesitant

culture

; some systems manual, others automated; data largely disconnected with siloed business

platforms

; management considering

platform

and integration solutions; too preoccupied with manual process and siloed systems to drive

innovation

.

Level 3: Digitally credible.

Some success but DOM organizational principles not fully adopted; utilize many of the latest technologies; routinely challenge themselves to do better; actively seek additional investment and opportunities to break out of linear growth; rely on digital road map; decentralized, growth

culture

well-communicated to employees who actively seek improvements; business

platforms

yield benefits but not fully integrated vertically and horizontally; showing signs of

innovation

.

Level 4: Digitally mature.

Clear direction mapped; frontline and senior management in alignment; comfortable with next-generation business platforms; easily explore, exploit, and occasionally disrupt; positive growth-centric

culture

with employees who value company's work and success levels; well-integrated vertical and horizontal

platforms

and can measure their impact on customers and employees; committed to continuous growth and

innovation

and learning from past experience.

Level 5: Market leaders.

Highest level of digital maturity; continuously establishes new and surpasses previous benchmarks; either disrupting market leaders or are market leaders; DOM principles on full display; purpose-driven

culture

that embraces transforming people's lives; organization seamlessly integrated horizontally and vertically with end-to-end business platform; takes advantage of

platform

and market-derived data and monetizes and extrapolates it to the fullest;

innovation

hard-wired into people, processes, and vision.

DOM helps a company understand the step-by-step approach to digital maturity. It's a tool to assess digital readiness and chart a road map for transformation. Sound too good to be true? It's not; it's reality, and not a technophile's dream. DOM helps technical and even non-technical professionals implement fluid digital and growth strategies so that their companies can become disruptors. The complex becomes simple with the digital operating model.

YOUR BUSINESS AS A PLATFORM

The COVID crisis prompted almost all of us to recognize the importance of virtual connections as we struggled to run our businesses remotely. Those who did so successfully learned that the process begins with knowing the business end to end. Once someone has that organizational clarity, it's possible to reimagine the possibilities and, with the power of the business platform, chart a path to transformation.

The best way to do that is think of your company operating on a business platform as like a shopping mall, see Figure 1.1. To meet the company's needs, rather than run down the street to get one thing, across town for something else, and a couple of miles in another direction for still more, everything that is required for operations is in one place. It's like a shopping mall delivered on any channel. Everything is a click away on the digital platform.

And if something isn't there today, stay tuned. It will be tomorrow because the system or business platform, with its built-in resiliency, is designed to adapt to changing needs.

Shopping malls came about for customer convenience and experience, with everything needed in the same place. That means horizontal services like food management, parking, and restrooms conveniently located, as well as vertical services like the availability of various types of stores and products offered for purchase. Building your business as a platform provides the same convenient approach with one venue, inside of which instead of many and varied stores and options, are your company's departments, services, and applications. The platform provides and enhances everything a company needs from internal support systems—those horizonal business systems that serve your teams' needs—to external experiences provided to customers.

After all, the success of a shopping mall depends on the quality of the customer experience; the same is true with your business built as a platform. A well-built shopping mall with the right services in the right place and easily accessible (horizontal and vertical applications) provides smooth traffic flow and a pleasant customer buying experience. The well-built business platform offers smooth data flow and provides a positive user experience.

FIGURE 1.1 Build your business platform like a shopping mall.

A NEW WORLD

Today's consumer expects on-demand, hyper-personalized (artificial intelligence-enhanced) goods and services. That's whether it's an employee tapping into a company's network from home at their convenience or a consumer hopping on their devices for personalized activities in the middle of the night. Welcome to this new digital world that gives easy access anywhere, anytime, and in any format.

The Right Link

The right business platform links supply and demand together with better products, creates more sharing of ideas across product lines, and connects multiple aspects of a business instantaneously. All that happens while integrating efficiencies with customers, employees, and expanding markets. This is on-demand delivery internally and externally.

Brick-and-mortar video rental stores used to be everywhere; so did stores that sold vinyl records. Those traditional businesses that relied on in-person services are mostly gone, replaced by Netflix, Apple Music, and other streaming services that utilize digital platforms as pathways to deliver more content along with better and easier user experiences.

Platform Results

Today, many traditional and new-generation companies have embraced DOM, are disrupting their industries, and are on their way to digital maturity or already have achieved continuous digital maturity—Level 5. Those Level 5 companies have clusters of platforms with the fluidity and technology expertise to respond instantaneously to customer needs and market demands. Horizontal platforms service backend or internal business needs. Vertical platforms deliver the front-end customer experience. Working together they monetize the data, streamline the processes, and enhance the experiences.

DISRUPTION AND OPPORTUNITIES

Disrupt or be disrupted isn't necessarily only about embracing the new and different or innovating with the new and once-thought-impossible on the way to upend the status quo in an industry. It's also about recognizing that sometimes revising or nuancing an existing process can disrupt, too.

Companies don't need to wait for an outsider to deliver the disruption that makes traditional products and services obsolete. Almost any big box retailer could have created its own version of Amazon years ago if it had the vision and innovative foresight, thought through disruption, and embraced the digital operating model with the ability to scale. Any large or small hotel or lodging group could have created its own version of Airbnb long before the latter was a force.

And, with the right digital platform, taxis could have morphed into their own version of rideshare services long before other newcomers cornered the market. Instead, all were left to scramble, to react to an outsider bringing in change and disruption.

With the power of business platforms any company can become the disruptor in an industry and experience exponential growth.

THE FACE OF DISRUPTION TODAY

In these pages, CEOs and leaders of real companies will share their insights gleaned from their own extensive digital journeys. They'll share how their companies embraced DOM and have achieved a certain level of maturity, as well as what's ahead on the transformative path. They'll talk about the importance of remaining relevant, what's required to create multiple digital accelerators, and how to realign a company's culture with this new digital mindset.

You'll quickly see the difference that developing an intentional strategy to embrace the DOM can make for any business. However technology alone is not a silver bullet and rarely solves every problem a company faces, according to Ian Worden, a 20-year veteran healthcare and IT product executive involved with cutting-edge digital change.

It's just one tool in the toolbox, says the long-time innovation and strategy leader. The game-changer is understanding how to find the value in technology as an enabler and how it can be leveraged. That's especially true given the advances in artificial intelligence (AI)—as in speed and accuracy—that in some cases can't be replicated by human actions.

Growth Through Automation

HHS is a $700 million hospitality organization that needed to dramatically improve its productivity and cut back on human error. Both were limiting the Dripping Springs, Texas-based company's ability to serve customers, grow, and innovate.

For more than four decades the company aggressively expanded to provide thousands of facilities worldwide with services like end-to-end catering, health and safety, patient flow, and more. HHS serves more than 750 partner organizations, including healthcare, resort, senior living, government, aviation, and education industries.

But the company's process, data, and experience had fallen behind because of its overdependence on manual tasks like supply chain distribution, HR payroll reviews, and financial statements. These tasks stalled productivity, increased human error, and detracted from time spent on value-creating innovations essential for growth.

Platform transformation. With the implementation of a well-thought-out digital platform solution, the company transformed. Utilizing robotic process automation—software technology/robotics (bots in the jargon) to handle certain interactive tasks—the company netted an 89% cost savings; achieved a 99% reduction in errors; and allowed 28 employees to again focus on creating new and innovative ideas.

The digital operating model has enabled HHS to give back to its managers a lot of time that used to be spent on manual tasks, says company CEO Bobby Floyd. Some of the positive changes that have benefited from more automation include streamlined training, initial onboarding, and competency testing.

Better experiences. Moving to a digital platform also helped HHS enhance its customers' experience. It was a situation of you don't know what you don't know. Platform-enabled data gave HHS new insights into efficiencies and deficiencies.

Labor constraints always have been a big driver of actions, says Floyd. A big chunk of the company's business is in healthcare, where the rising costs of providing care mix with decreased reimbursement. Because of that, he says, it's important to become efficient and effective with the available labor resources. That's especially true from a frontline perspective.

For example, one of the company's clients is a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, where HHS's responsibilities include linen distribution. A laundry processes and delivers linens to the hospital, then HHS staff distributes them where needed, puts them away, and removes the soiled linens. It's not “very sexy,” says Floyd. But, it is extremely costly and important.

“One of the things we implemented at the hospital was a digital platform to field requests from clinicians on floors so that we would know what linens were needed in what department,” he says. “Early on, before the digital platform, the surgery department would call every day to request additional laundry pickup and delivery. That meant that every day management had to reallocate labor—pull one person away from something else to service the surgery department. We [corporate and scheduling] didn't know it was happening, though, because every day the phone call was to a different person.”

Once on the digital platform, linen requests along with all the other operations and staffing data suddenly became available and visible online. For the first time, Floyd says, his teams could see the actual call volume and identify the problem—regular repeated calls from the surgery department. The situation was quickly rectified with a simple schedule change.

The rules of engagement have changed. It's embrace disruption or be disrupted.

Furniture Manufacturing

In 2019 when Ari Asher became Chief Operating Officer (COO) of New York–based U.S. operations for Global Furniture Group, he inherited a legacy ERP (enterprise resource planning) system. It was homegrown and about 30 years old. GFG manufactures office furniture in Canada, and has marketing, sales, and distribution in the United States.

Asher's bosses in Canada wanted him to make it easier for customers to do business with the company—a rather broad task. “We sell furniture in a company that uses an aging IT technology, but we also shop on Amazon, and interact with our bank digitally today. So, as consumers we're used to something as all our customers are, so we need to address or meet or try to exceed these expectations when they come to deal with us,” says Asher.

Initially, Asher considered suggesting replacing the aging ERP system in part to fix issues involving unnecessary manual labor demands. But, he says, “At the end of the day you look at the toolbox you have, you look at where you can improve and become more efficient. At least from my perspective you never fix broken process with technology. First, you make sure the process is as clean as possible and then apply technology to make it more efficient, more user-friendly, to make it more acceptable.”

And that's what Asher, his teams, and the executive leadership have done and are still doing incrementally as the company transforms on its DOM journey from Level 3 and nearing Level 4. Changes in how invoices are audited is just one example of how GFG has matured its processes on its digital journey. Instead of 15 people manually auditing invoices, today the process is automated via digital platform and involves just two people. It's a move that saves the company hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

“As managers I think it's irresponsible to continue operating a fat organization because you are just not delivering enough to the bottom line,” Asher adds. “By strengthening the company, we are actually taking care of the employees, too.”

Such is the potential and the power of DOM in motion.

HISTORY REVISITED

Today's DOM-enabled journey to connect products and commerce with consumers isn't so very different from the connectivity journeys of ancient history.

The Spice Trade

Thousands of years ago, spices were a valuable commodity that was monetized. Pepper was a trading currency like gold.1

Countries, traders, and merchants sought pathways to pick up and deliver their precious cargo—including spices—from distant lands like China, India, and the Middle East. Ships, barges, and people transported the spices via age-old pathways, rivers, and canals, as well as across oceans, and around the horn of Africa.2 Traders expanded their market opportunities by leveraging the various pathways. Innovators sought new and more efficient routes for commodity procurement and delivery.

Enhanced Pathways

As the traditional system of oceans, waterways, and paths expanded over time, obtaining spices became easier, faster, and more efficient. Spices lost their extreme value as a commodity, and were replaced as a currency by gold, coin, and paper. Roads, railways, and air freight were added to the procurement and delivery system, making life even easier.

And it's still happening. In the last decade, China committed $40 billion on a Silk Road project to connect its markets with Europe through a series of roadways. While the country continues to invest in digital and technology sectors, it hopes these new pathways will reduce its dependency on waterways for the shipment of goods.3

The business platform has been added, too, to enhance flow and delivery. In many cases, digital has become the currency. Data is the commodity—the new gold—as we move forward in this digital age.4

Today, rather than physically or manually sending something from one country or one city to another, the platform reduces the time and accelerates the transaction process. People can buy and sell from anywhere; transactions can originate and scale from one location, too, and instantly—no delays.

The Evolution of Trading Currency

In the same manner that pathways have evolved historically and matured over time, the currency of trading has evolved over thousands of years, from possibly sticks and stones in the beginning of civilization to cattle around 10,000 BCE, shells and precious metals, then spices, followed by coins and paper currency. The latter was first used by China's Tang dynasty (618–906 CE).

Then came the gold standard in 1821 in England that pegged the value of currency to the value of gold. Credit cards debuted in 1946. Most recently another form of currency is growing in popularity—digital money or cryptocurrency. It's decentralized and not controlled by any organization or government. Instead, it's monitored by peer-to-peer internet protocols.5

A MARATHON STEP-BY-STEP

As history has shown us, these changes don't happen overnight. They take time. The move to embrace digital successfully is no different. It's not a sprint. No matter the size of the business or the industry, it's a marathon. Like a marathon the digital maturity journey requires intentional preparation, understanding, step-by-step planning, and incremental implementation to be successful.

It's also about learning how to align existing technology investments with newer initiatives to make the difference, and all without massive expenses.

Roadblocks on the Journey

Most companies that fail at the digital journey do so because of lack of planning and approach. Or they sprint out of the gate without a plan or road map and, as happens in a marathon, end up worn out and exhausted early and give up.

Successful digital acceleration starts slowly. There are steady increments of improvement in processes and delivery along the way. Think of the digital journey as starting out at a crawl, learning to walk, jog, and eventually to run. But unlike a marathon race, there is no finish line because digital acceleration continues as new technologies become available—a concept known as digital maturity.

The Market Leaders Model

Companies that have reached continuous digital maturity did not do so in a day. Instead, they've developed and expanded over time by adding new platforms and technologies, capitalizing on changing market demands to better serve customers, streamlining business execution models, and bolstering bottom lines in the process.