In the past two months, interest in the characteristics of a digital enterprise is accelerating. I believe increasingly, traditional companies understand that viability in the next decade drives the need to evolve. The list of characteristics has been refined through ongoing dialog and now looks like this:
- Growth-oriented
- Relationship-based
- Flat
- Emergent mindset
- Effective and efficient
- Experiential
- Insight and engagement driven
- Entrepreneurial and innovative
- Open, agile and collaborative
- Responsive and adaptive
- Fast, iterative and experimental
- Powered by knowledge
- Powered by creativity and ideas
As the digital enterprise road map evolves, a number of enablers are emerging; and there is a direct linkage between enablers and characteristics. Some of the critical enablers are:
- Structural change
- Moving towards edge-driven design with an adaptive core
- Bundling ecosystem services
- Creating next generation experiences
- Developing and integrating systems of engagement
- Developing sense and respond systems
- Collective Intelligence
- Evolving analytics from descriptive to prescriptive
The notion of structural change is coming into focus. When you look at the characteristics of the future enterprise, it’s easy to conclude that most traditional companies are not structured to deliver against these collective characteristics. As a result, structural change is required and expected. We already see evidence of change in new executive roles and organization structures. The other enablers can be linked to one or several of the characteristics. For example:
Edge-driven design moves us from transactional to experiential and begins to instill a fast, iterative and experimental culture.
Bundling ecosystem services enables growth and a shift to a relationship paradigm.
Creating next generation experiences enables the experience-based differentiation so critical to growth and future success.
Systems of engagement enable effectiveness, smart decisions (insight-driven), and engagement, while driving a responsive, adaptive, open, agile and collaborative enterprise.
Sense and respond systems drive effectiveness, smarter decisions, enables a responsive and adaptive enterprise, and drives a fast, iterative and experimental culture.
Collective intelligence drives effectiveness and powers the enterprise through knowledge, creativity and ideas.
Evolving analytics from descriptive to prescriptive also drives effectiveness and enables smart decisions through an insight-driven, fast, iterative and experimental enterprise.
As companies develop their strategies over the next several years, enabling these characteristics should be at the top of the strategic list, and these enablers must be part of the program portfolio. The disparate initiatives pervasive in most enterprises must come together holistically if these characteristics are to be realized.
See a subsequent post on Digital DNA for more details.
[…] back to the misunderstood nature of digital – it’s very puzzling to me. How can we enable Digital Enterprise Characteristics so important to future success, if we don’t start thinking differently? Though misunderstood, […]
LikeLike
[…] In the past two months, interest in the characteristics of a digital enterprise is accelerating. I believe increasingly, traditional companies understand that viability in the next decade drives th… […]
LikeLike
[…] value of systems of engagement diminishes. Aggressively leverage systems of engagement to create Digital DNA – and the company could be exposed. This type of environment introduces risk, including possible […]
LikeLike
[…] Enable future enterprise Characteristics […]
LikeLike
[…] climate that promises to dominate at least the next two decades. Effectiveness is one of the key Digital Enterprise Characteristics required by the enterprise of 2020. There are a number of drivers behind this major forcing […]
LikeLike
[…] models is critical to future differentiation. The Enterprise of 2020 must infuse itself with Digital DNA if it is to differentiate, let alone […]
LikeLike
[…] Enable future enterprise Characteristics […]
LikeLike
[…] In the past two months, interest in the characteristics of a digital enterprise is accelerating. I believe increasingly, traditional companies understand that viability in the next decade drives th… […]
LikeLike
[…] and experimenting with Telemedicine. At the heart of all these approaches, lies a set of Characteristics that every leader should strive to emulate. Staying close to the stimuli in the environment, rapid […]
LikeLike
[…] to innovation, and it requires relaxing constraints and making it possible to fail – a key Digital Enterprise Characteristic and crucial to future […]
LikeLike