Standing on the cusp of a new decade, many enterprises are still struggling to process the technology-driven disruption of the last 10 years. 2020 should begin with the resolution to develop a modern digital business.



Modern digital businesses are defined by the capacity to anticipate and embrace change, rather than adapt to it after the fact. They remove areas of internal friction to support more seamless ways of working, and harness technology to identify and seize on new business opportunities. In this issue of Perspectives we break down the blocks from which modern digital businesses are built.

The Mission

The perception that digital transformation is by definition a massive - and expensive - undertaking is a key reason why many such transformations fail to achieve any lasting success. For the modern digital business transformation isn’t defined by ‘big bangs,’ but ‘thin slices’ - carefully targeted change programs designed for specific outcomes. These embed transformation organically throughout all levels of the organization - one meaningful shift at a time.

The MDB Building Blocks

i. A frictionless operating model

Becoming a modern digital business has as much to do with how people and teams work together as technological change. Making organizational adjustments that break down functional barriers and allow technology to feed into strategic decision-making enables the entire enterprise to mobilize around a single shared measure of success - the creation of customer value.

ii. Platform strategy

The modern digital business has to be able to evolve quickly and experiment fearlessly to address volatile strategic and customer demands. That requires a solid, yet flexible and versatile, technology platform capable of supporting a ‘plug and play’ approach to the development of new products and services. The best platform strategies ensure enterprises can leverage new digital tools, without losing the advantages of the technologies and processes that came before.

iii. Experience design and product capability

If customer value is how the performance of the modern digital business is ultimately measured, product design and development has one overarching goal - to enhance customer experience. And learning about that experience entails listening to the customer, not the enterprise’s own views or preconceptions. In a digital business it is data that acts as the enterprise’s ear to the ground, providing a steady stream of insight on customer needs.

iv. Intelligence-driven decision making

Machine learning and artificial intelligence enable organizations to turn data into a strategic resource. By capturing the trends and patterns that signal change is coming, these tools give the enterprise time to prepare and act, often one step ahead of the competition. But while technology provides the foundation, it’s the ability to take data and factor it into key decisions and the development of new business hypotheses that defines the higher levels of digital fluency.

v. Engineering culture, delivery mindset

To effectively leverage technology to serve business goals, the modern digital business needs a critical mass of technical excellence. A thriving engineering culture is defined by a deep knowledge of software practices and the skilled application of technology. It also exhibits a high degree of integration with the rest of the organization, as no great technology team can innovate in a way that serves the business if it works in isolation.