Shaping a Responsive Organization through Digital Lens

Brian Miske, CMO, KPMG MSLP

Market share is gained or lost when market dynamics shift and in times of transition. The significant challenge is that the economy, industries, and customers we serve are in a state of near-constant market disruption. The simple fact is that consumerization disruptive forces of technology are challenging the heritage, and legacy of century old industry beliefs and the industry today seems to only respect innovation.

“Digital transformation requires urgent and fundamental change to unlock value”

Digital is not just a group of people or a component of a business process. It is a new way of doing things differently conversations, commerce, and connecting people starting with the customer at the center. Digital transformation requires urgent and fundamental change to unlock value. Success depends on organizational leadership focusing strategy to elevate products and services into digitally enabled solutions and customer interactions into engaging, customer-centric experiences.

Digital is a new way of doing things to create value for the enterprise, customers and the ecosystem. Unlocking value impacts different roles and responsibilities across the organization including the board. Ultimately in a market of near-constant disruption we create a responsive organization that applies digital to drive differentiation and meet the shifting industry forces of the market, emerging technology, and evolving expectations of customers. We must look at these three dimensions market, customers the enterprise to consider the emerging trends, and expectations. What shifts are occurring within your organization? Here are a few things to consider:

• Is your market or industry shifting to multiple markets and blurred industries
• The classic definition of the customer is shifting to consumers of information products and services--this includes customers, employees, shareholders, and third-parties.
• Agile organizations shifting to "responsive enterprises and connected ecosystems"

A responsive organization is a learning organization at heart. Digital leading organizations are responsive organizations- an organization where digital has transformed processes, dynamic knowledge management, talent engagement and business models that focus on a responsive organization that is primed to move at the speed of change. Connecting the organization horizontally to meet the evolving expectations of its customers and to advance consumer enabled technologies.

Digital Strategy is more about looking ahead at transformation. Strategy is a key catalyst driving innovation and transformation across the enterprise - this is a balanced story of both transformations as it is a technology one. Digital transformation is not solely about technology investments as it is about transforming the organization. The transformational lens takes into consideration the evolving expectations and shifts of internal and external customers. Disrupt or be disrupted by projecting your classical strategy process into the future. Identify the breakthrough business and commercial ideas that have the most potential to create 'the new'. With new value potential come new capabilities that are needed to develop solutions across the customer and market base. All strategies will need to address the increasingly blurred distinction between the digital and traditional worlds.

Leaders and organization are faced with a difficult decision of disrupt or being disrupted; transform digitally on behalf of customers, or risk being abandoned by them for digitally enabled competitors, disruptive market entrants or new digital business innovations.

• Horizontal integration of the organization - linking the back/mid/front offices together.
• Is there a process to harness the collective genius/ knowledge of the organization - consider applications of this IP to better serve customers and new markets.
• Digital transformation is not just about technology investment - how is it addressing future capabilities of the organization?
• How is your organizational culture primed to embrace analytics and the use of data in decision-making and processes across the organization?