For example, the supply chain is critical to developing the flexibility, efficiency, and speed to deliver the right product efficiently in a way the customer wants.
This is grounded in an obsession with understanding each step of a customer’s purchasing journey-regardless of channel-and thinking about how digital capabilities can design and deliver the best possible experience, across all parts of the business.
#WHAT DOES USE BY MEAN HOW TO#
Creating value in core businessesĭigital’s next element is rethinking how to use new capabilities to improve how customers are served. That means understanding how customer behaviors and expectations are developing inside and outside your business, as well as outside your sector, which is crucial to getting ahead of trends that can deliver or destroy value.
In the logistics industry, the use of sensors, big data, and analytics has enabled companies to improve the efficiency of their supply-chain operations.Īt the same time, being digital means being closely attuned to how customer decision journeys are evolving in the broadest sense. In the automotive industry, cars connected to the outside world have expanded the frontiers for self-navigation and in-car entertainment. The Internet of Things, for example, is starting to open opportunities for disrupters to use unprecedented levels of data precision to identify flaws in existing value chains. Unlocking value from emerging growth sectors requires a commitment to understanding the implications of developments in the marketplace and evaluating how they may present opportunities or threats. For some companies, capturing new frontiers may be about developing entirely new businesses in adjacent categories for others, it may be about identifying and going after new value pools in existing sectors. Creating value at new frontiersīeing digital requires being open to reexamining your entire way of doing business and understanding where the new frontiers of value are. To help make this definition more concrete, we’ve broken it down into three attributes: creating value at the new frontiers of the business world, creating value in the processes that execute a vision of customer experiences, and building foundational capabilities that support the entire structure. It’s tempting to look for simple definitions, but to be meaningful and sustainable, we believe that digital should be seen less as a thing and more a way of doing things.
Business leaders must have a clear and common understanding of exactly what digital means to them and, as a result, what it means to their business (for a deeper look at how companies can develop meaningful digital strategies and drive business performance, see “ Raising your Digital Quotient”). This often results in piecemeal initiatives or misguided efforts that lead to missed opportunities, sluggish performance, or false starts.Įven as CEOs push forward with their digital agendas, it’s worth pausing to clarify vocabulary and sharpen language. But such diverse perspectives often trip up leadership teams because they reflect a lack of alignment and common vision about where the business needs to go. None of these definitions is necessarily incorrect. And for others still, it represents an entirely new way of doing business. For others, digital is a new way of engaging with customers. But what does digital really mean?įor some executives, it’s about technology. Companies today are rushing headlong to become more digital.