Prefixing 'Digital' does not make it Digital!
After 'real-time' and 'end to end', it's the turn of 'Digital'! The first two can easily get an award for the most omnipresent words in any technology discussion in the last couple of decades. Well, the phenomenon (or the process) that they were used to describe was sometimes 'really real time' (for those times) and 'truly end to end' (for those times), while many times it was 'inflationary'.
Today, the word 'Digital' is going in the same direction and probably is one of the trendiest word to use, especially to prefix, to sound and look cool. Does that mean its all fluff & fancy? No, not at all. Of course, the 'Digital' phenomenon is real but NOT everything around us branded as digital is actually digital. So, what makes a product or a process truly digital is the question? Based on my experience with companies, clients & consumers - anything 'Digital' should pass through the below 5S filter (each one of them) to really retain the 'Digital title' (pun intended)
Simple
Thanks to Apple and Google products that have really raised the bar and made simple and easy UI/UX a baseline for all digital products. This is one filter that clients, vendors and consumers fully understand and believe in by now. So, this is the most obvious filter out of the four.
Speed
The speed filter is the one which is questioned most of the times, especially in the enterprise space. "Will it make a big difference if we get these reports faster by few minutes or seconds. Is it worth the investment?" This is where a digital-innovation oriented mindset (and not the productivity-oriented mindset) is able to appreciate the vast potential of innovative use cases that can be unleashed using digital technologies if, and only if, the underlying flow of data is 'instantaneous'. The right analytics for the sales guy or the right promotion for the consumer has to be made available almost instantaneously, else the opportunity is gone. And with that the right to brand the process as digital!
Seamless
The ability to seamlessly wade through different back end systems while the user simply enjoys the cool interface is a key filter for a digital process or product. This is my personal favorite as well, just because it opens up huge innovation opportunities and really brings digital to life. For example, if your car breaks down and its OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) can send a message (CRM system) to the service center, the service center can find a skilled technician (HR system) nearby and is able to send the replacement part (Inventory system) as well. The technician fixes the car and you make the payment (Billing system) through the OBD interface and are set to go!
Secure
It is a fundamental building block for all digital B2B2C interactions and the above three filters will mean nothing without this one. Well, for a truly digital process or product it is not about just being secure but being secure without adding complexity, which is possible now with the use of technologies like biometrics, face recognition, single sign on etc.
Self-Learning
Addendum Nov'17 credit @FranckDupas: This is an interesting filter which takes digital automation to the next level, and is already making its presence felt in our lives with new capabilities like speech recognition, image recognition etc. Embedded artificial intelligence is set to take over mundane tasks and unleash human creativity and imagination. As AI's adoption keeps growing, this S is surely an emerging filter for digital with the potential of becoming a mandatory filter ultimately.
Try using the 5S filter to separate the 'digital walk' from the 'digital talk'. Would love to hear your feedback and experience in the comments section below.
Delivering the Intelligent Sustainable Enterprise in 25+ Industries with Business AI and Cloud Solutions
7yThank you Deepak for this (successful) attempt to clarify Digital beyond the buzz word. I like the 4 "S" filters. I also like to say that Digital is about moving from a Process-driven world to a Data-driven world. As simple as this definition is, it has a lot of implications. The first one is that digital is a work in progress. Moving from one world to another one doesn't happen all in one Go, reason why we most of the time associate it with the word "transformation". I know some predict that with the convergence of digital technologies we'll reach a point where nothing will be like before - a Singularity - but I think even if they now clearly see the risk and the opportunity, companies may rightfully prefer to make a smooth transition to Digital rather than a painful and risky transformation... Which doesn't mean they can afford to wait to be in the eye of the digital storm to start it! Also, one big learning from a recent Executive Roundtable I led in Tokyo with high profile participants from major manufacturing companies is that for them Digital is almost a synonym to new business models: monetization is their number one priority before costs reduction. this is why they were so interested with our framework and examples about the 6 business models evolutions made possible with Digital.
Helping organizations discover value in their cloud based digital transformation investments
7yGreat summary Deepak. Gives a very clear and crisp view of the most talked about term of this decade. Typically organizations consider ‘Digital’ as a thing where as a true ‘Digital’ is a way of doing things. It should start with Customer Experience/Customer Interactivity/Customer Journey and then should branch out to grow into a well-developed tree which starts churning fruits for long without much of maintenance. It is not about individual projects but if an organization follows a way then the initiatives can be tagged as ‘Digital’. Here is a quick summary of the way: 1. Customer Story – Start your thought process with individual customer journey in different scenarios and then create a complete framework stitching individual journeys. 2. The right BPM – Typically technical transformations are done in silos. If we map the customer journey framework with the enterprise architecture exploiting the power of Business Process Management (BPM) then we will have the ‘Digital’ ready infrastructure. 3. Minimum Viable Product – If you planning for a big bang then you will miss the fast moving market. There should always be a balance between scope-complexity-time to deliver. 4. Talent – Building a ‘Digital’ culture rather than few people working towards ‘Digital’. Not only leaders but every resource of the organization should have business expertise, digital acumen, and the leadership skills. 5. SOP vs. Flexibility – Making your operations follow a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) yet maintaining the flexibility to realign in just hours. 6. Choosing the right KPI – Moving away from only tracking financials and also include KPIs like successful innovations, appetite for risk etc.
SAP Product Manager supplier invoice management
7yGreat framework Deepak. I suggest to add a 5th S for Smart: digital solutions embark intelligence with technologies like artificial intelligence and in particular machine learning or with the leveraging of big data.
Head of Operations @ SAP | MBA, Business Transformation
7yThanks, Deepak. Very helpful when one requires some "grounding" on the matter :-) Beyond the "4S", digital ideas need to be challenged from different perspectives in order to evaluate their potential for value creation.