ON DIGITAL
A Small Book on a BIG Idea
Mark J. Barrenechea
OpenText President & CEO

Barrenechea, Mark J.

ON DIGITALFirst Printing, November 2015
Printed in CanadaFirst Edition
ISBN
978-0-9936047-5-1
Published byOpen Text Corporation
275 Frank Tompa Drive
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
N2L 0A1(519) 888-7111
info@opentext.com
www.opentext.com

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Mark J. Barrenechea
Mark J. Barrenechea joined OpenText™ (NASDAQ: OTEX, TSX: OTC) as
President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in January 2012 and also serves
as a member of the board. Under Mr. Barrenechea’s direction, the company has
grown both organically and through strategic acquisitions into a $1.9B company.
Through its commitment to innovation and customer-centricity, OpenText
has successfully realigned its products to transform itself into a leader in theEnterprise Information Management (EIM) market.
Before joining OpenText, Mr. Barrenechea was President and CEO of Silicon
Graphics International Corporation (SGI), where he also served as a member ofthe board. During his time at SGI, he led the company’s strategy and execution.
Prior to SGI, Mr. Barrenechea served as Executive Vice President and CTO
for CA, Inc. (CA), (formerly Computer Associates International, Inc.) and as amember of the executive management team. Mr. Barrenechea was also SeniorVice President of Applications Development at Oracle Corporation, responsible
for managing a multi-thousand member global team. He has also held anumber of other positions, including Vice President of Development at Scopus, asoftware applications company, and Vice President of Development at Tesseract,
where he was responsible for reshaping the company’s line of human capitalmanagement software. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer
Science from Saint Michael’s College. Mr. Barrenechea currently serves as amember of the Board and Audit Committee of Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Mr. Barrenechea has authored several books about the evolution of theenterprise software industry, including Digital: Disrupt or Die, e-Government
or Out of Government, Enterprise Information Management: The Next
Generation of Enterprise Software, eBusiness or Out of Business, and Software
Rules: How the Next Generation of Enterprise Applications Will Increase
Strategic Effectiveness.

CONTENTS

1. Digital or Die. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .1
2. Hyperscale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
3. Disruption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
4. The Subscription Economy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
5. New Barbarians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
6. It Only Takes a Finger. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
7.

The Customer Journey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

8. Sold? But I Never Started the Sales Cycle!. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 26
9.

Innovation Redefined. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

10. It is a Network, Not a Chain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 34
11. The Internet of Things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
12. A New Asset Class Emerges. Data.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . .41
13. The Experience of Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .45
14. Trust and Security. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
15. Experimentation at Scale. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 52
16. New Digital Foundation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . 55
17. The Digital Mindset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

#1
Digital or Die
The Hernán Cortés conquest of the Aztec Empire
was not going well in 1519. After disease, famine,failed alliances, and lack of advancement, his
troops only saw one way forward—and that was
to sail back home. Before they could, one fatefulevening, Cortés burned his fleet and gave his
troops a simple choice: Conquest or Die.

It was true for Cortés, and it is true for Business Leaders today.
There is only one path forward. Today’s choice is Digital or Die.
This is not hyperbole, it is reality. Let me explain.
There is a nexus of forces that are converging to create thegreatest business disruption of modern times. New winners
and new losers will be defined. In my view, five of out ten
incumbents will be dethroned because of their lack of ability
to adapt.
What is this nexus of forces?
Three billion citizens of the world are attached to a global
high-speed, real-time network: the Internet. I would go further
than to say attached. We live on it. You turn off the Internet,
there is global chaos: ATMs stop working, senior citizens cannot
cash checks, trains stop running, armies cannot fight, modern
life stops.
Mobility is ubiquitous and the experience is as good as or
better than being tethered. There are over 7.5 billion mobile
connections worldwide.1
There are NO barriers to entry for new ideas, except the idea
itself. No barriers. Hardware can be rented and will soon be
free. Software stacks are free. And the technical requirements of“coding”, a curriculum once opined on by the dark-arts professorof Hogwarts, is now democratized. The development of new
products and services, from idea to product to global distribution,
has never been faster, easier, or cheaper.

2

The workplace has changed. Over the next few years, Millennials
will make up 50% of the workforce.2 Millennials do not follow
traditional social structures. They expect highly personalized
products and services, they want immediacy, and they are omnichannel. They learned computing using one finger. They want
it now and will go to the provider or employer who can deliver
it now.
Mindsets have changed. Massive capital is flowing to businesses
that are unproven and do not generate a profit. The theory
being, of course, scale insanely fast, capture massive subscriberbases, and do not run out of cash (do not worry about profits).
Profit is a four-letter word for disruptors. For incumbents, it is
the golden mean.
Business models are changing: from products to services,from one-time transactions to subscription fees, from delivery
on-premises to delivery in the Cloud. It is fair to say we haveentered the Subscription Economy.
Digitalization changes everything. The way we think, who wecompete against, how we innovate, how we experiment, thecustomer journey, our supply chains, the workplace, our paceand cadence.
The importance of this topic, “On Digital”, cannot be overlooked.
As a business leader, it is top of mind for me. I have thought longand hard about it, and was inspired to capture these thoughts inthis “small book on a BIG idea”.

3Together, throughout this book, we will explore a collection of
topics on digital. We can learn a lot from those companies whoare emerging as Digital Leaders, but one differentiator thatstands out for me is Hyperscale. Could you ever imagine having
a billion subscribers? Their services are intentionally disruptive,
both in the marketplace and via their business model. When you
look at the Barbarians at the Gate, they are Millennials, and thisis important. We need to understand the customer, and in thiscase the customer and barbarian are one and the same.
Peter Drucker’s five basic questions to ask our organizations still
hold true in the age of Digitalization:3
1. What is our mission?
2. Who is the customer?
3. What does the customer value?
4. What results do we expect?
5. What is our plan?
This is a journey revisited, and we will explore the Customer
Journey, the Sales Funnel (that is not a funnel), Innovation
Redefined and the Supply Network (it is not a chain).
What emerges from this is a new asset class, called Data. And
oh the possibilities on arriving at this place to Experiment at
Scale. Instantly.

4Success relies on Trust and Security. In the old world, one
disgruntled customer would tell five. In the digital world, one
bad experience leads to 1,000 shares—and lost customers, broken
trust, and deflated valuation. The Experience of Community
is critical.
This all requires a New Digital Foundation of technologies.
Further, one must have the Digital Mindset. And mindsets are
hard to change. It takes an event, sometimes a dramatic one. We
all know about IQ and EQ. How about DQ: A digital quotient?
The word digital implies Zeros and Ones, On and Off toggles.
But a DQ is “to the degree”. Where are you and how can you
measure your digital journey? Perhaps by a digital quotient.
Let me end where I began, as if we come to this place anew. It is
Conquest or Die. It is Digital or Die. Standing still is always theriskiest action to take—you are an easy target. Change is always
the safer path.

5

#2
Hyperscale
Digital is a “bit” grab, that is, an Internet land
grab. The theory being that the largest survive:
Google, Facebook, Netflix, Apple, Alibaba,
Tencent, Uber, and Airbnb. Scale insanely fast,build exactly what customers want, hire the best
people, and don’t run out of money! What do they
all have in common? Hyperscale.

Do a search on “hyperscale”. You will get a definition (onWikipedia) along these lines: “Hyperscale is the ability of anarchitecture to scale appropriately as increased demand is added
to the system. This typically involves the ability to seamlessly
provision and add computers, memory, networking, and storage
resources to a given node or set of nodes that make up a larger
computing environment”.4
This may all be well and true, but friends DO NOT let friends
BUY data centers.
Hyperscale is an outcome.
It is about dreaming big, and delivering big, and imagining
the reach of your business at new scale. It is digital scale in a
gravity-free Internet. You can be assured a competitor of yours
is in a conference room as you read this attempting to out-scaleyou. Some companies are scaling so large, they are pushing theedges of conventional thinking: Twitter with 500 million tweets
in 150 countries daily5; Google with around 4 billion searchesa day in 200 countries6; Alibaba with 254 million orders in
one day7; and Facebook and China Mobile with about 1 billion
subscribers each.8
Cars are producing 1.3 gigabytes of data every hour.9
Boeing 787s generate a terabyte of data every day.10 With 10,000
flights a day, it only takes a couple of years to get to a zettabyte.
You would not be able to process these amounts of data withtoday’s technology.
And imagine the possibilities (and warnings) when a company
flexes their hyperscale muscle.
7

Heck, even my refrigerator is trying to talk to me.
Digitalization is redefining scale.
Scale requires a network effect for competitivenessand differentiation.
Scale creates captive ecosystems.
Scale creates barriers for competitors.
Will Digital redefine “bigger vs. better”? It will for those whoachieve hyperscale.
What can we learn from this?
Leaders need to define what scale means for their businessand learn from the early leaders that are smashing throughconventional thinking about scale. Seek out the change agents inyour business. If you cannot find them, hire them.
Or go buy a company to inject new DNA into your business.

8

#3
Disruption
A common thread of Digital Leaders is theirability to disrupt an incumbent, a market, or abusiness model. Compared to “web” disruption,
digital disruption has 10x the innovators, it
is 1/10th the cost, and 100x the power. Digitaladvances our thinking on competitive theory.
To compete and win, one must disrupt, notjust differentiate.

The Internet tore down and rebuilt entire value chains. Products
and services could be distributed more cheaply with greater
reach. Barriers to entry in many markets were obliterated.
And the Internet was the foundation and early experience thathas enabled digitalization, and what I like to say, is a new way
to work.
Today’s digital disruptors are using technology to disintermediate
entire industries and unseat corporate giants. New nomenclature
has emerged to describe this transformational process. In theInternet Era, we talked about being “amazoned”. In the Digital
Era, we are talking about being “ubered”.
Uber has:
1.

Tapped into labor at mass scale

2. Ripped down a hundred year history of “medallion” value
3.

Exposed and cured the inadequacies and inefficiencies of amajor incumbent

4.

Made employee and employer one (though Uber claims it
has no employees, we will see)5.

Demonstrated the most perfect example of matching supply
to demand that I have ever seen

6. Operated a business in which cash is not used
Every industry is vulnerable. Every incumbent is vulnerable.

10Let me share a story. I have raised chickens in the past. They
are fun. When you let a chicken out in the yard, and you chasethem to get them back into the pen, the chicken will sometimes
stick its head in the grass or a shrub, with its rear sticking out inplain sight. The chicken thinks it is hiding from you. Is that how
you and your organization feel right now?
A common thread to digital disruption is that the middleman isgone, in every industry.
The average age of an Insurance Agent in the U.S. is 59.11 The
middleman will be gone in Insurance over the next five years.
Movies are direct.
Music is direct.
Insurance is direct.
Logistics and supply chains are massively changing. Amazon
is running algorithms on your buying behaviors. If you buy
an outdoor table online, they are shipping an umbrella to afulfillment center close by for same-day delivery.
Uber is ultimately a logistics business.
Salesforce redefined the partner ecosystem in software andservices. Why do you need a middleman when you are selling a
subscription service?
Simple answer: you do not.

11

These and other disruptors are part of a digital ecosystem that’s
growing. With more individuals and organizations interacting
and sharing ideas and information, the pace of innovation isincreasing exponentially. The formula is 10x the innovators at
1/10th of the cost and 100x the power.12
Today’s digital disruption is faster, cheaper, and stronger thanearlier disruptions introduced by the Web in the nineties.
This gives digital disruption an even greater impact. Speed ofdevelopment is faster. The magnitude of innovation, greater.
Whether you’re ready or not, the next wave of disruption is here.
You’ve arrived at a fork in the road.

12

#4
The Subscription Economy
If you had any doubt, we are officially in The
Subscription Economy. The model pioneered bymagazines is now everywhere. Customers want
the choice: to own the asset or have access to
it. A subscription model is no longer optional.
Shifting to a subscription model requires a Digital
Mindset and different approaches to management,
marketing, and money. The Subscription Economy
is now a mainstream part of our lives.

Pre-digital, subscription was for periodicals, newspapers, cars,
and book-of-the-month clubs. Today, it is a required part ofbusinesses. If you do not have a subscription model in yourbusiness, you need to—and it is not easy to do.
Every business must have a subscription model. Millennials
expect it. Your investors expect it.
There is a class of users that prefers to own an asset. Is it
generational? In regulated industries? Is it for strategic orbalance sheet reasons? Whatever it is, make sure your selection
criteria are clear.
All others prefer to have access to the asset.
We have officially reached the tipping point. Accessis the preferred method and thus we are in the “The
Subscription Economy”.
Subscription models challenge the incumbent or can create acompetitive barrier. Netflix challenged Blockbuster and continues
to challenge the entertainment industry in Hollywood. Salesforce
challenges Oracle and SAP. Apple challenges music and themobile/telco industries. You can now subscribe to an iPhone via
a new Apple service.
Heck, you can even subscribe to an IBM Mainframe today.
One of the prizes of subscription is loyalty.
But buyer beware. Subscription models are usually more
expensive in the long term. Do your math. If you intend to
subscribe for the long term, it can be two to three times more
expensive than purchasing outright.

14

There are also challenges in making your products or services
available as a subscription. You have to move from one-timetransactions to multiple transactions. You also move fromreceiving value up front to receiving a lifetime of value. And thegreatest determinant to long-term value and loyalty is rapid andcontinuous usage of your service.
Financially, you spread your revenue and cash flow over timeand you have to survive this “crossing of the desert”. If you aresimply substituting a dollar of upfront revenue for a dollar overa period of time, say three years, this is the most painful of
all crossings.
The best way to cross the desert without perishing is to identify
new areas of revenue to reduce the distance you have to travel tobreak even.
Successful transitions to the Subscription Economy are wellthought out, financially planned through, well communicated,and capture new spend.

15

#5
New Barbarians
Alaric led the Visigoths in the 410 A.D. sackingof Rome. “Why ruin a good thing?” I say.
Digitalization is going to sack 50% of today’s
incumbents in the next five years. They are called
the Millennials and they are led by immediacy. Let
us get to know the New Barbarians at the Gate.
For history repeats itself.

There is a large and powerful group hammering at the gates.
Unlike Alaric and his barbarians, they aren’t demanding goldor silver, and they aren’t looking to take over Rome. They
are, however, disruptors. They are taking over the workplace
and looking to change the world. They have usurped theBaby Boomers and GenXers as the largest demographic
in the workplace13 and now account for over 25% of theworld’s population.14
They are Millennials. And, at almost 2 billion strong15, they are aforce to be reckoned with.
Millennials are both creator and consumer, they are employee,
employer, and user (think Uber).
Digital is second nature to Millennials and plays a significant
part in their lives. They believe new technology makes life easierand brings people closer together. Millennials are mobile. They
are hyper-connected and always on.
Based on their love of all things Digital, Millennials are
introducing a whole new value system to the workplace. Theyeschew traditional hierarchical structures, prefer working in waysthat are open, flexible and social, and are introducing new digitaltechnologies into the enterprise (even if it means circumventing
IT policy). They are multicultural, global, and believe in a worklife balance.
This demographic will soon make up 50% of the global
workforce. To accommodate their needs, corporate cultures will
have to create an environment that caters to them (flex hours,
remote access, BYOD). And if their demands are not met, thisband of talented nomads will simply move on.
17

Their influence extends beyond the enterprise. Millennials aremaking demands in the marketplace too. Being hyper-connected
has created an “anytime, anywhere” expectation. As consumers,
convenience and instant gratification are key—otherwise they’llfind another brand that can satisfy their expectations.
Millennials are informed. They are a generation of researchers.
They consult blogs, social media, and peer reviews before
making a purchase and have an integrated, omni-channel
approach to shopping.
Millennials are communicators. After purchase, they post reviews
and rate products online. They are brand ambassadors and alphainfluencers. They tell brands what they want and even help
define the brand itself through open dialogue using social media
and other channels.
Millennials value authenticity. They want to be able to feel
good about what they buy because brands are a reflection of
their values.
They are promoters of technology and drivers of innovation. You
can gain their loyalty by providing an engaging dialogue thatempowers them to interact with and influence your brand.
Armed with new technology, influential opinions, and wallet
power, Millennials have the means to supplant incumbents.
If you fall short of meeting expectations—if you fail to deliver
relevant and authentic digital experiences, provide flexible work
environments, and adopt open communication—you will notsurvive the invasion.

18

These are the New Barbarians at the Gate and they are exerting
their influence. They are young. They are powerful. They are
passionate. And they will not be ignored. They are the future.
The Millennials are here and will sack the gates.

19

#6
It Only Takes a Finger
It has the power to create, it can also be yourflying fickle finger of fate. To disrupt at scale,it needs to be available everywhere, on all
devices, always on, with a wildly compellinguser experience. Wildly compelling. The days of
training, manuals, demos, and multiple clicks aregone. If you cannot download and go, you arein the Land of Luddites. Remember, your next
generation of users has been reared on “it only
takes a finger” to use a computer.

As the little girl in Poltergeist said, “They’re here!”
Touch screen computers have been around for nearly ten years.
My niece recently went up to my TV and said the “swipe” wasn’t
working. When I read her a children’s book, she asked, “What’sa radio?”
New college graduates have been completely raised in theInternet Era.
In ten years, college graduates will have been raised on“one finger”.
Digital engagement isn’t optional, it’s required. And it has to go
beyond easy, and be intuitive. When a five year old goes up to a
TV to swipe it, that’s intuitive.
Consumers have grown accustomed to sending messages,
downloading music, opening a bank account, and evenpurchasing a house—all with just one finger.
In the digital world, they have infinite choices at their fingertips.
No longer at the mercy of the local department store or car
dealership, customers can browse, compare, research, andpurchase without setting foot into a physical location—at any
time, from anywhere. The digital world is always on.
Decisions are made quickly, but they are informed. Gratification
is immediate.
This means that you have mere seconds to captivate a customer.
And you have to demonstrate that you “know” them in those few
seconds. So that first impression (which can be your only andyour last) is more important than ever.
21

Customers are growing increasingly savvy and fickle, and theirloyalty must be earned. Every unnecessary click or irrelevant
message aggravates, pushing your customer into the welcoming
arms of your competitor.
The Digital Leaders know this. That’s why they’re alreadyinnovating and creating wildly compelling omni-channel
experiences while the Laggards drag their multi-channel
heels, and the Luddites bury their single-channel heads
in the sand, content with being generic, outdated, and,ultimately, disengaging.
The experience has to be seamless, consistent, personal, andhighly engaging. To produce these, you will have to digitalize
your customer journeys and consolidate your information. This
starts behind the firewall and extends outside the enterpriseacross the supply network. Only then will you be able to predict
what content will positively influence your customers, respond inreal time, and deliver highly curated and satisfying experiences.
Remember, your customers have the world in the palm of theirhand, on their laptops or their mobile devices. If you don’t
impress, it only takes a finger… to unlike, unsubscribe, post abad review, or buy now—from your competitor.
The finger has the power to create—it can also be your flying
fickle finger of fate.

22

#7
The Customer Journey
In the sharp mountains of Digital, your Sherpa isalways “The Customer Journey”. Never lose yourguide and never follow false profits (ha!). Your
Digital Sherpa is defining and creating a simple
and complete holistic customer journey. Keep it
front and center for your organization.

Peter Drucker was right when he said, “The purpose of abusiness is to create and keep a customer”.16 This is the goalof every business: to create and keep customers. This principle
survives Digital.
Digital helps you keep this focus by giving you more ways toknow your customer better.
Know Your Customer isn’t just a regulatory obligation, it’s a key
competitive differentiator. The best way to satisfy your customer
is to truly understand them. You can do this by mapping yourcustomer journeys.
Customer journeys are made up of every point of contact
a customer has with your brand. And now these journeys
are Digital. Customers are leaving digital footprints. The
transactions, videos, peer reviews on social media sites,blog posts, web forms, call center discussions, point-of-salepromotions, and devices people use on their purchasing
journeys—these are your navigation points on the digital
customer journey.
Data accumulates (and becomes more valuable) at every
intersection. This detritus is pure gold. It is key to differentiatingproducts and services because it can be examined and analyzed
to uncover insights into buyer behavior—to reveal wants, needs,
and motives at each step in the journey.
Your Digital Sherpa is your guide in making sure that theexperience is targeted and consistent, no matter what channels
your customers are using.

24With Digital, there is greater potential to learn more about
your customers. The more that people consume online, themore touchpoints they use and the more information theyshare. Digital consumers are very transparent about their brandpreferences, experiences, and sentiments.
Your Digital Sherpa will help you find moments of truth.
Good maps are based on accurate data. Accurate data gives you
a 360-degree view of each customer. Once you understand what
motivates your customer at each step in a journey, you can more
effectively satisfy their expectations, in their moment of need.
Moments of truth can be tied back to actions that drive
processes. When the journey is deconstructed and digitalized,
the delivery of information or goods can be customized,
automated, and real time.
The journey has to be smooth and the experience
consistently great.
If you ignore your Digital Sherpa, the journey can betreacherous. One mistake, and you lose your way, or worse, youlose a customer. But chances are good the customer will comeback, and when they resume their journey, you have to be readyfor them. That’s why it’s important to map out and connect eachnavigation point, so you can anticipate your customer’s needs ateach step along the way.
Your Digital Sherpa helps you equip your customers with theright tools at the right time. You don’t give a climber a 50-footrope on a 100-foot cliff. And you wouldn’t expect a Millennial toshop from a mailbox.

25

#8
Sold? But I Never Started the Sales Cycle!
Bingo. That is correct. Consumers of digital do
not want a sales rep. They do not need a salescall, they need a compelling digital experience totake them from need to sold—regardless of thecomplexity of the product. Stores, configurators,
demos, videos, testimonials, pricing… all selfservice… all without a direct sales force. In thedigital enterprise, purchasers are either 100% soldself-service or 90% sold by the time they call asales rep.

Digitalization is the most direct route to market.
Consumers expect highly personalized products and services,delivered in real time. Instant gratification means no morewaiting in long lines, no more trudging through shopping malls,
no more cash purchases. Even tangible goods are fading into
services delivered in the Cloud. But these are generalizations,and consumers don’t want generalizations.
Customers expect customized, targeted, andimmediate experiences.
In the Subscription Economy, the customer sits in the driverseat, creating ecosystems around products and services, driving
distribution across networks (not chains), co-creating andcrowdsourcing, and forcing product development and service
availability to be “outside the box”.
Consumers have power. They navigate their own sales cycle ina digital, self-service environment. The sales funnel is being
replaced by an orbital model, based on multiple interactions thatcreate a lifetime of value. The focus is on nurturing long-term
relationships with loyal customers and community members
rather than funneling leads through the buying cycle.
Why would the process be linear when customers arebuilding ecosystems?
The funnel metaphor is all wrong. It’s not about quantity—or
the more leads you feed into the funnel, the more deals you’ll
close. It’s a more complex process than that and it’s based on
multiple interactions taking place across multiple touchpoints
and channels.

27

The purchasing journey isn’t a straight line anymore. Consumers
jump from videos to reviews to success stories to free trials.
They’re not necessarily there to buy, they’re also there to learn.
So much so, that it’s only once they’ve done their research
and are ready to buy that they reach out to a sales rep for a
price quote.
Customers want to try before they buy. And do so on their own.
Big Box retailers have attracted aisle browsers, where theylook at goods in the store and immediately surf the Web for abetter price.
No matter where they are in their purchasing journey (online
or in a retail store), it’s your job to support them by giving
them what they need in a consistently branded experience. If
customers leave the journey partway through, they have to beable to pick up where they left off when they return—it’s all partof a seamless experience.
While the customer is in the driver seat, you are a passenger
on the journey. A co-creator that makes sure all elements arecontributing to make it the best experience possible. You control
the interactions that your customers will experience. You canfind out what platforms they’re using and reach out to them
there. If they’re on Twitter, start tweeting. If they’re on Facebook,build a community there.
In a pull-model of communications, when they ask for
information, make sure you have it ready. Or anticipate theirneeds and send them recommendations preemptively. With
digital consumers, you have a captive online audience that you
can connect with directly.
28

Sales in the funnel are aggregate; whereas using the orbital
metaphor, sales are individualized or customized, with thecustomer at the hub. This means that each lead has to be
individually managed throughout the entire customer lifecycle.
The good news is, communities of buyers are the people you
can cross-sell and upsell to. To do this effectively, your programsmust be adaptive and deft, sales and marketing tactics have to beconstantly measured and refined.
Forget the funnel.

29

#9
Innovation Redefined
Digital radically redefines how we innovate,
regardless of industry. How do we collectrequirements? What products and services arereally being used? Delivering new products andservices happens instantly, globally, and acrossall users. Feedback is immediate. Waterfalls andMythical Man-Months are antiquated tools.
Ideas are presented with working products andusers. Imagine experimenting at scale with 100
million subscribers.

It used to be that a startup would raise capital, hire employees,
and purchase physical equipment all to produce version 1of a product. And this process would take years. While thisworked ten years ago, in a digital world, it would end incatastrophic failure.
Today, this process involves rented computers. Services are built
fast and deployed globally using cloud services. A sales force
often isn’t required for years (if at all). Customers are able totake simultaneous advantage of the latest version of subscriptionbased services (which are centrally updated on a weekly basis).
Technology stacks are free. And feedback is immediate via social
apps and sensors built right into the software.
Innovation is redefined, with a whole new set of rules:
 Scale fast Build exactly what customers want
 Functional specifications are dead
 Storyboards are in children’s books
 New ideas are presented with a working service and live

customers
Innovation is about turning ideas into outrageously successful
products and services. And that act of creation—from idea toconcept to completion—is insanely hard. And to complicate
things, it has to happen insanely fast.

31

When you think about it, innovation is a race. There’s no time
for Waterfall methods and Mythical Man-Months, and Agile just
isn’t agile enough. Sprints are becoming hyper-connected dashes.
Innovation cycles are faster, compressed, and even approach
the spontaneous.
Would you ever turn your business strategy and data over to a
crowd in the hopes that they could help you solve a businessproblem? It sounds pretty risky. Data, after all, is currency, and agood strategy can be very valuable.
But companies are crowdsourcing to innovate new products
and services and solving complex business problems. Facebook,
NASA, GE, and Amazon have submitted their businesschallenges in the form of open competitions with rewards for thewinning innovation. They know that in order to win, they haveto think outside of the box—and even outside of the enterprise—
to partner and innovate. And this includes partnering with
consumers to co-create.
It’s time to get creative about being creative.
In the past, technology has been fundamental in helping
organizations reduce costs and increase productivity. Today,
technology is transforming the very nature of business, making it
more fluid, social, global, accelerated, risky, and competitive. And
this is allowing startups to disrupt the incumbents.
It took the human species over 150,000 years to move fromcave drawings to the printing press, a few more centuries to
get to the steam engine, and two decades for the Internet
Revolution to get up and running. When you look back in time,
it becomes apparent that the speed at which we are innovating isconstantly increasing.
32

New digital technologies are contributing to the accelerated
pace of innovation. It’s estimated that by 2020 the number ofmobile phones will surpass the human population17—which is
phenomenal when you consider that smartphones and tablets
haven’t even been in wide circulation for a decade. The next wave
of innovation will be based on a mobile, hyper-connected world.
If we can learn anything from this progression, it’s that the paceof innovation is quickening. Which means that, in order fororganizations to thrive in the digital world, they must not only
operate at the speed of digital, they must innovate at the speed ofdigital too.

33

#10
It is a Network, Not a Chain
A chain is a series of connected links: slow andvulnerable. A network is a multi-path set of links:
fast and reliable. Transactions need to move at the
speed of digital. It is a network, not a chain. The
Digital Experience requires a network, trading
partners, extreme automation, and deep visibility
across all your key functions, from transactions
and cash management through to your physical“supply chain”.

In the digital world the supply chain is not a chain, it’s a network.
The network is made up of connections between businesses,
suppliers, partners, and customers. The customer sits at the
hub of this network, driving the supply chain, assembling
goods and services from a variety of vendors. Participation isplug-and-play, with suppliers filling in gaps to deliver satisfying
customer experiences.
The customer experience is really only as good as the supply
network that supports it.
The “value chain” of the past has been replaced by the
consumer’s “whole-life platform”. As part of this platform,
consumers expect mass customization, same-day delivery,
dynamic pricing, and real-time visibility.
All of these expectations are impacting today’s supply chain(which is really a network).
The full potential of Digital cannot be realized without
reinventing the supply chain.
In the digital world, supply networks are flexible, with fully
integrated end-to-end processes and commerce. Low-costsuppliers and digital manufacturers have agility built into theirproduction lines. Operations can scale rapidly—at a global level—
so they are digitalized and run in the Cloud. New channels areused to serve new markets.

35

The entire network is enriched through analytics and theInternet of Things (IoT). There is visibility at all nodes in thegraph. Analytics move beyond contributing to supply chain
optimization, revealing customer preferences and new paths tovalue. Better decisions can be made, so that better products andservices can be delivered, faster.
The IoT will streamline the exchange of data and commerce
across the network, with B2B integration operating as thecollaborative platform for managing global business transactions,securely and compliantly.
Over the next few years, more than half of the global 2,000s will
re-design their supply chains into networks to support digitalbusiness.18 Every high-performing supply chain is essentially adynamic digital network.
Now is the time to re-conceptualize your supply chain.

36

#11
The Internet of Things
If a refrigerator talks to the Internet, but noone is there to listen, does it make a sound? The
Internet of Things (IoT) is an opportunity for all
businesses to have products communicate to theircustomers and to themselves—from insurancecompanies with devices in cars to thermostats
talking to home owners to software products
communicating what paths of software are mostcommonly used. The IoT is about the Zen ofThings, to help customers consume services andhelp businesses build better products.

The IoT will transform the world as we know it, creating a giant,global network of devices and machines that are connected,
communicating, and exchanging data. Current estimates findthat in the next decade, the IoT will add trillions of dollars to
the global economy.19
The rapid growth of the IoT will be driven by low-cost sensors
and beacons, cloud computing, analytics, and mobility. It
promises a future in which every sector will be part of a hyperconnected world.
Sensors in software make better software.
Sensors in cars create optimized insurance policies.
Sensors in jet engines drive performance, utilization,and efficiency.
Sensors in the home lower electricity costs and increase security.
And sensors in car emissions can create problems, whenused inaccurately.
While the IoT is viewed by many as a nebulous, futuristic
concept, in reality, it already exists: we wear pedometers, smart
watches, and cameras; our pets are microchipped; and wedrive cars with built-in sensors. Wearable devices are becoming
mainstream, contributing to the trend of the “quantified
self”—or data-driven knowledge gained through tracking
with technology.

38

Thanks to the IoT, many of our everyday appliances will havethe ability to self-monitor and communicate with a network—
think Marge’s fully automated “Ultrahouse 3000” in the
Simpsons. Over one-third of U.S. consumers already have IoT
devices like the Nest Learning Thermostat and smart TVs intheir homes.20
Consumers are collecting their own first-party information, andthey’re using it to improve their lifestyles. Once everything is
digitalized and automated across the IoT, organizations will
become equally “self-aware”. Just as the quantified self is able
to make healthier choices, the quantified enterprise will beempowered to make more strategic business decisions based on
more accurate information.
As new information in new formats crosses the IoT, the supply
network will be wired, intelligent, and instrumented. Big data
analytics will add pervasive visibility into inventory, productand shipment status, and allow for the proactive replenishmentof stock and predictive maintenance. Sensor-based systems are
already in place in many industries to improve inventory control
and maintenance.
Measuring the impact of the IoT is difficult, but its potential
is enormous. As the IoT introduces new streams of data, theenterprise will have to be prepared to handle this information
before it even arrives. Information management strategies andsolutions will help manage, store, and scour this information
for insight.

39

Information security will be an issue as grids get smarter andprocesses that underlie infrastructure increasingly rely onmachine-to-machine communications. The U.S. national power
grid is already under constant cyberattack.
The convergence of technology and the Internet has createda perfect storm for innovation. Self-driving cars, refrigeratorsthat suggest recipes based on their contents, warehouses that
automatically replenish stock, and equipment that schedules its
own maintenance… these sound like futuristic, sci-fi fantasies—
but they are all available today. The future is here.

40

#12
A New Asset Class Emerges. Data.
Oh I love the smell of fresh clean Data in themorning. As an executive, I could not makedecisions without knowledge (some confuse thiswith micromanagement). Imagine billions andbillions of pieces of data a day, to inform andguide a digital organization. How fantastic is that?
Data emerges as a new asset class, as powerful asoil. And a new role needs to emerge with it, theChief Data Officer.

We live in a digital world. A testament to this new reality is thegrowing value of digital content: we design complex products,
manage our pipelines, transfer cash, procure trillions, hire
employees—all in the form of digital content. This is the new
digital reality.
Information is the new currency. The impact this is having onsociety, business, and government is profound.
Will data replace the Dollar, the Euro, the Yen? It certainly has
started to. New businesses and whole industries are emerging
to support the digitalization of content. Google, Facebook,and Twitter have built their businesses on the economics ofdata. They’re collecting it, analyzing it, and monetizing it atgreat profit.
When we consider the rate of increase in the amount of data
generated by today’s society, we can understand how this new
business model is a lucrative one. There is more data in moreformats being exchanged at faster rates than ever before. Eachday, we produce massive streams of data.
More data is shared across the Internet every second than wasstored in the entire Internet 20 years ago. Google processes
20,000 terabytes (roughly 20 million gigabytes) of informationa day.21 Video content is added to YouTube at the rate of 300
videos per minute.22 It would take longer than 1,000 years towatch all of this content in linear time. Retail giant Walmart
collects 2.5 petabytes (or 2,500 terabytes/2.5 million gigabytes)of data an hour based on customer transactions.23
Every digital business has data to monetize.

42

Data is new digital legal tender and everyone’s getting in thegame. As it is commoditized in its various formats, businesses
will have to find ways to reward customers in exchange for theirdata. Marketers will have to be more sophisticated in their use of
personal data. Individual consumers will sell their personal datato organizations that are currently benefiting from collecting vast
amounts of it for free. This will become common practice.
If data is the new asset class, then analytics is the next frontierin deriving value from information, uncovering “moments oftruth” that empower organizations. Analytics has the power totransform facts into strategic insights that deliver intelligencefor profound impact. Think “Moneyball” and the Oakland A’s in
2002, when Billy Bean hired a number-crunching statistician to
examine their odds and changed the game of baseball forever.
Across the board—from sports analysis to recommending friends
to finding the best place to eat steak in town—analytics is
replacing intelligence reports with algorithms that can predict
behavior and make decisions.
Analytics can create that 1% advantage that could make the
100% difference between winning and losing.
But where there is opportunity there is also risk. Data isvulnerable. Like money, data can be stolen. As information grows
in value, so will the need to protect and manage it—and this will
be increasingly mandated by governments and regulatory bodies.

43But how will governments and regulators monitor and protect
personal data that is stored in the Cloud? As more personal datais shared, and the Internet propagates a faster pace of crime,
businesses will need to focus on the development of governancepolicies, standards, and systems to prevent identity theft andonline fraud.
The Chief Data Officer as a role will emerge to help theenterprise focus on the strategic importance of information in adigital economy.
As the executive advocate for data management, the Chief Data
Officer will use the exploding volumes of data and analytics to
improve decision making and identify new revenue opportunities.
Across the organization, every function will want access to dataand insights about their operations. The Chief Data Officer
will make this possible by optimizing the management of data(integrating, deploying, securing, governing) and mobilizing
their organization around an information management strategy.

44

#13
The Experience of Community
With 3 billion connected citizens on the same
network using a handful of tools, it’s much worse
than “Oops, I just replied to all”. It lasts forever:
the good, the bad, the ugly. The new Digital
Echo Chamber of Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn,
Instagram, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Weibo, andWeChat has Brahma-like powers of creation andShiva-like powers of destruction. The Experienceof Community has a dual nature and needs to be
actively managed.

#thisbrandsucks
All it takes is a single tweet or post and a groundswell offollowers. Digital consumers are empowered. The Experience ofCommunity can build brand loyalty almost overnight, and it cantear it down just as quickly.
What happens when a brand is able to harness the power of
its community? The Airbnb “Hollywood & Vines” campaign isa great example. Using the #AirbnbHV hashtag, the company
collected more than 750 global submissions in a video contest.
It then edited the top picks into a short film about travel andadventure. As a result of the campaign, Airbnb received 75,000
Twitter impressions with 10,000 new followers in only five days.24
In the analog advertising world, these results would have comewith a hefty price tag, over a considerably longer time frame.
Instead, they used digital to get big results at very little cost.
These results aren’t limited to business-to-consumer markets.
Companies like GE, Deloitte, and InVision are using thecommunity experience to share ideas and engage with
their consumers.
Every person that is active on the Internet belongs to at least one
online community. In the digital world, community building is anecessary component of a digital business.
While Digital provides new opportunities to connect online,
it’s about the people, not the platform. Long-term communities
are built on a deep understanding of their members’ (orconsumers’) lives.

46

Successful communities recognize that members are real
people with real needs (they’re not just Nielsen ratings). In fact,
Millennials don’t even have a landline to pick up, so Nielsen
can’t get to them.
Communities are organically built around a common sense of
purpose. And this commonality has to be relevant. A community
also has to be a safe place to play. As responsible digital citizens,
members of a community can participate if they can demonstrate
the proper online ethics, or “netiquette”.
In successful communities, Freedom of Speech and Freedomof Choice flourish. And this is a good thing because feedback
allows for better content, better products, and better services.
Control should be minimal. Allowing a community to self-direct
leads to greater interaction and innovation. If this is not part of
the Experience of Community, members (and potential brandadvocates) will leave.
As easily as it’s built up, a brand can be taken down—with
devastating results.
Digital memory is infinite.
Remember “United Breaks Guitars”? A Canadian songwriterwrote a trilogy of songs about how United Airlines broke his
guitar during a flight and the videos went viral, receiving 15
million views on YouTube. The songs were a public relations
fiasco for United, who failed to respond quickly enough toundo the damage to its image, demonstrating the power of one
disgruntled digital customer.2547

Or how about the Lululemon SNAFU? One of the cofounders
blamed women’s bodies for a dysfunctional product line, causingmass outrage from female consumers and contributing to a 20%
drop in the company’s stock.26
In the old days, if a customer was dissatisfied with a productthey would speak to a manager and get their money back. Today
they post blogs, comments, ratings, or reviews. And the momenta tweet, video, or post goes live, users can comment and share.
This happens faster than companies can respond, and when they
do respond, the story has spiraled out of their control into a PR
crisis. Once customers complain, they can move on.
Your competitors are just a click away.
The Experience of Community is leaderless, outspoken,
ubiquitous, immediate, has a conscience, and has the power tocreate and destroy. And like quantum mechanics, the mere factthat you are measuring it changes the outcome.

48

#14
Trust and Security
If you cannot trust the Internet, it will fail. It
is that simple. The Internet is the Autobahn
for Digital. The security state of the Internet isfragile, and it is up to companies and employees totake control. If your user base cannot trust yourservices, you will not succeed. You need to think
unconventionally and assume the bad guys are inyour house at all times. Digital raises your profile,raises your risk, and requires new techniques tobuild, earn, and keep trust.

If trust breaks down on the Internet, then the Internet as an
economic platform will collapse.
From governments to healthcare providers to employers, all of
our valuable and highly confidential data floats around behindfirewalls, hidden in the Deep Web.
On the Public Web, millions of people access their personal data
every day. Transactions are made and money is exchanged—but
how safe is the Internet?
I recently read in the Financial Times that customer data at alarge telco was breached in the process flow between themselves
and a credit check company as credit checks were completed onphone purchases. And some “bad actor” had been breaching thisdata for years. Wow.
Our economy is online, and companies are more vulnerable
to cyberattacks.
The list of casualties grows every day, with big names falling
victim to cyber breaches. The attacks are becoming moresophisticated and harder to trace. And they’re becoming
more frequent.
You need to assume you are under attack every day. You needto assume the bad guys are on your network. And you need toassume that other nation states may not share your integrity.
Ultimately, you need to build a moat around your mostimportant systems.
It’s not the Internet that’s not safe, it’s the businesses that protect
information that are not safe.

50

Most companies forget that security is all about “back tobasics”. Employees need education. Fifty percent of all cybersecurity issues are caused by a lack of education and “naive”
employee actions.
The next 25% comes from hardware or software assets that are
not “up to date”. Are you running an outdated email client, forexample, that has known vulnerabilities?
Is your perimeter defined and protected, or did you leave thegates open?
These basics get you to 95% secure.
Do you store credit card data?
If so, why? If you do not store it, people cannot steal it.
In the underworld of dark fiber and cyber criminals, their reality
is not our reality, and their reality has elastic properties pulled indirections we could never imagine. But we need to.

51

#15
Experimentation at Scale
Dream Big. If you do not, someone else will. An
exciting outcome of Digital critical mass willbe the ability to experiment at scale. This will
require some mind shaping. In the pre-digitalworld, we may test market an idea or feature witha working group. In the digital world, you havethe opportunity to think differently and create
experiments at massive scale.

The Web is the greatest and most accessible research lab thatever existed. The ability to rapidly deploy and iterate andreiterate (often in randomized experiments) at mass scale is oneof the most significant platforms for innovation in the field oftechnology today.
Large Internet companies are already doing this. Amazon, eBay,
Etsy, Facebook, Google, Groupon, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Netflix,
Yahoo, and Zynga are using Experimentation at Scale to drive
innovation and improve their online products and services.
Whether you have 10 or 100 million subscribers, you can add
a new button or feature to your website and see what happens.
Instantly, all your subscribers can see it. Don’t like where it isgoing? Turn it off. Instantly.
Experimentation at Scale helps organizations make data-driven
decisions about product development based on consumer
behavior. It’s especially valuable when it’s used with Agile
Development. Highly scalable systems can be engineered toprocess data, support millions of users, and run hundredsof simultaneous experiments. This is a new approach toengineering; standard testing and debugging techniques don’t
belong here. It’s about immediate causation and correlation.
The goal is to conduct a large number of experiments, rapidly, toevaluate and learn at a faster pace and a larger scale. Running
thousands of experiments at the same time can produce resultsthat typical approaches—based on iterative product releases, fixes,
and customer feedback—do not.

53

The outcomes are focused around larger effects based on data
and the sheer number of users involved. Experimentation at
Scale can make huge leaps forward in innovation. Then there’s
the bottom line. Imagine if just a percentage of a percentage ofrevenue was increased by experimentation, and then multiply thisby hundreds of thousands. It could mean increases in revenue by
hundreds of millions of dollars.
The key to effective Experimentation at Scale is the ability
to admit that mistakes will happen, to iterate, and consider
each idea.
Digital experimentation has awesome potential. Research into thefield will continue as more and more companies (and industries)
adopt its practice. Ethical issues about privacy, accessibility, andconsumer data will become more important. As the boundaries
between reality and digital blur, Experimentation at Scale willplay a critical role in the evolution of science, technology, andmedicine. And it can change the way you do business.

54

#16
New Digital Foundation
Was your company born Digital or are you
re-born Digital? The re-born Digital can learn
from the early pioneers on people, processes, andproducts. The New Digital Foundation includes
extreme automation, centralized and consolidated
architectures that are pristine and scalable(built with speed and agility in mind), predictive
analytics, and new, lightweight development tools.

Digital is impacting every aspect of enterprise IT infrastructure.
Achieving balance between supporting new business models(the business) and delivering support and services (technology)
is hard. To survive in the digital world, radical shifts will bemade in enterprise architecture, core IT competencies, anddevelopment approaches.
For any organization that is “re-born digital,” this requires
implementing a New Digital Foundation.
This means no more legacy infrastructure. No more siloed
repositories. No more disconnected data. A New Digital
Foundation is a modernized platform approach that includes: Extreme automation
 Predictive analytics
 Centralized and consolidated architectures
 Lightweight development tools

Follow the disruptors and you’ll see that their processes are
digitalized from end-to-end. This means every transaction, every
process, and all of the data that flows in between is digital. Their
underlying systems are fast and configurable. They support
technologies that enhance automation, like sensors, machine-tomachine communications, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). This isextreme automation, and it lies at the core of any digital business.
When processes and data are fully integrated, predictive
analytics can be applied to add value all across the supply
network—to offer insights into better performance, customer
behavior, and product innovation.

56

Consolidation is key. Consolidating different operating systems
and applications onto a single platform is one of the mostchallenging IT projects, but the risk of not consolidating
is greater. It could mean obsolescence.
Adopting a consolidated, modern platform produces benefits inprocess efficiencies and reductions in IT costs. Standardization isachievable. Silos of information are united and more secure. But
consolidation does more than this: It helps to lay the groundworkfor Digital.
With a consolidated infrastructure, your organization will bebetter equipped to add digital technologies and hyperscale yourcapabilities. A consolidated infrastructure paves the way for a
modular approach, based on the development of lightweight,
easy-to-integrate apps. Flexibility is a key element in future,pristine enterprise architectures, along with the ability to include
global operations in a digital supply network.
This may sound self-serving, but you need to challenge yourentire existing platform, and in many cases, re-platform.
Remember throwing away the Mainframe? Remember throwing
away your client-server platforms? Remember throwing away
COBOL, OS/2, Lotus Notes, WordPerfect, and PageMaker?
Whether you’re a born-digital startup or a re-born incumbent,
the future of your business is intrinsically tied to building a New
Digital Foundation.

57

#17
The Digital Mindset
Wallace Stevens writes, “One must have a mindof Winter” in The Snow Man. So true. And
once you have that mindset, all things follow
naturally. One must have a mindset of Digital.
And once your organization does, it will movewith speed and purpose. The Digital Mindset isdriven by disruption, immediacy, scale, centricity
on journeys, experience, and a real-time-ness.
Just like we have an IQ and EQ, we also need todevelop a DQ, a digital quotient, where strategy,
culture, people, and capabilities converge.

Today’s startups are tomorrow’s Wall Street winners. These
are the businesses who are not afraid to risk it all. They are
not afraid to fail. They are the game changers, the disruptors,
the new thinkers. They are creating a sharing, Subscription
Economy based on Digital and information.
The Digital Mindset is the cacophony of ON DIGITAL. It
includes these top 10 tenants:
1.

Immediacy

2. Urgency
3.

Ease of use (aka not just easy, but intuitive)

4.

Grabbing subscribers

5.

Scaling really fast

6. Redefining business models (aka disruption)
7.

Creating a sense of community

8.

A journey-based approach

9.

Always on

10. My data is omni-present and accessible anywhere, anytime
The Digital Leaders are ahead of the game. They have identified
opportunities for digital transformation. They are thinking andacting in entrepreneurial ways, and shaking off the shackles oflegacy to move forward.

59

They have adopted a Digital Mindset. And the Digital Mindset
stands out in the crowd. You can spot it a mile away. Embrace it.
Promote it. Give it freedom from structure and convention.
To digitalize or not to digitalize is NOT the question. There isno question.
If you do not have the mindset, you cannot even get out of thegate. You are simply throwing Krugerrands down the toilet.
Creative leadership will succeed.
A transformational leader has to overcome outmoded structuresand old management styles to empower Millennials to self-direct,
make decisions, experiment, generate ideas, and take risks.
At OpenText, I wrote a whitepaper called “The OpenText Way”.
It is about Top Talent. I call them “G.O.D.S”.
G.O.D.S. Get stuff done and are Obsessive and Detail oriented—
and they are the dab of grit that seeps into the oyster to makethe pearl. They are not a bunch of bean-bag sitting oysters
at a pearl making convention. And they are Smart. They are
wicked smart.
G … Get stuff done
O … Obsessive
D … Detail oriented
S … Smart
G.O.D.S. move at the speed of Digital.

60

To attract and retain G.O.D.S., companies will have to invest
in effective capital management and create a culture built on
their values.
The pace of change in markets underlies the urgency with which
the enterprise must transform itself. The time to disrupt businessand capture opportunity is now. To operate outside of traditionalcomfort zones and partner with startups or build out capacity todiversify products and services. These are ways to scale and grownew revenue.
It’s time to take stock. What is your digital quotient? How
digitally mature are your operations, your workforce, yoursupply network? Do you have the strategy, culture, technology,
and mindset it takes to transform your organization into a
digital enterprise?
True transformation requires a pervasive shift throughout yourenterprise. The only path forward is to digitalize.
Cortés’ lesson endures. Disrupt or Die.

61

ENDNOTES
1“ Number of mobile connections worldwide from 2008 to 2020 (in billions),”
Statista, 2015, http://www.statista.com/statistics/371828/worldwide-mobileconnections/ (accessed October, 2015).

2“ Millennials at Work Reshaping the Workplace,” PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2011,https://www.pwc.com/gx/en/managing-tomorrows-people/future-of-work/assets/
reshaping-the-workplace.pdf (accessed October, 2015).

3P eter F. Drucker, “The Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask AboutYour Organization,” USA: Jossey-Bass, 2008.

4W ikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperscale (accessed October, 2015).

5“ S-1 1 d564001ds1.htm FORM S-1,” United States Securities Exchange
Commission, October 3, 2013. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/
data/1418091/000119312513390321/d564001ds1.htm (accessed October, 2015).

6S tatistics Brain: http://www.statisticbrain.com/Google-searches/ 		
(accessed October, 2015).

7

R achel King, “Ailbaba’s $1 billion IPO: The numbers to know,” ZDNet, May 6,
2014, http://www.zdnet.com/article/alibabas-1-billion-ipo-the-numbers-to-know/(accessed October 2015).

8S tatistics Brain: http://www.statisticbrain.com/facebook-statistics/ 		
(accessed October, 2015).

9C laudia Bacco, “Is Your Car in the Cloud?” RCR Wireless News, April 10, 2015,
http://www.rcrwireless.com/20150410/connected-cars-2/is-your-car-in-the-cloudtag11 (accessed October, 2015).

10J on Gertner, “Behind GE’s vision for the industrial Internet of Things,” Fast
Company, June 18, 2014, http://www.fastcompany.com/3031272/can-jeff-immeltreally-make-the-world-1-better (accessed October 2015).

11C aitlin Bronson, “One in four insurance agents will be gone by 2018,” Insurance
Business America, February 23, 2015, http://www.ibamag.com/news/marine/one-infour-insurance-agents-will-be-gone-by-2018-17943.aspx (accessed October, 2015).

12J ames McQuivey, “Digital Disruption: Unleashing the Next Wave of Innovation,”
Forrester Research, 2013.

13

R ichard Fry, “Millennials surpass Gen Xers as the largest generation in the U.S.
labor force,” Pew Research Center, May 11, 2015, http://www.pewresearch.org/
fact-tank/2015/05/11/millennials-surpass-gen-xers-as-the-largest-generation-in-u-slabor-force/ (accessed October 2015).
62

14

T
 he Millennial Generation: Another Baby Boom: http://www.newstrategist.com/
store/files/AmGen6SamplePgs.pdf (accessed October, 2015).

15

I nternational Data Base World Population by Age and Sex: http://www.census.gov/
population/international/data/idb/worldpop.php (accessed October, 2015).

16P eter F. Drucker, “The Practice of Management,” USA: Harper & Rowe, Publishers,Inc., 1954.

17C hetan Sharma, “2013 Mobile Industry Predictions Survey,” Chetan Sharma
Consulting, January 2013, http://www.chetansharma.com/
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18

Y ogesh Malik, Alex Niemeyer, & Brian Ruwadi, “Building the supply chain of the
future,” McKinsey & Company, January, 2011, http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/
operations/building_the_supply_chain_of_the_future (accessed October 2015).

19J ustin Koufopoulos, “The Ultimate Internet of Things Guide for Marketers,”
Percolate, 2015.

20

Ibid.

21S usan Gunelius, “The Data Explosion in 2014 Minute by Minute – Infographic,”
ACI, July 12, 2014, http://aci.info/2014/07/12/the-data-explosion-in-2014-minuteby-minute-infographic/ (accessed October, 2015).

22

YouTube Statistics: https://www.youtube.com/yt/press/statistics.html(accessed October 2015).
23

A ndrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson, “Big Data: The Management Revolution,”
Harvard Business Review, October, 2012, https://hbr.org/2012/10/big-data-themanagement-revolution/ar (accessed October 2015).

24

Wally Narwhal, “The Power of Online Communities and Crowdsourcing,” TributeMedia, July 8, 2014, http://www.tributemedia.com/tuesday-tips/tuesday-tip%E2%80%93-power-online-communities-and-crowdsourcing 		(accessed October, 2015).
25

“‘United Breaks Guitars’: Did it Really Cost the Airline $180 Million?” Huffington

Post, August 24, 2009, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/24/united-breaksguitars-did_n_244357.html (accessed October 2015).
26

E
 liana Dockterman, “What Lululemon Could Learn From Abercrombie About
Fat Shaming,” TIME, November 13, 2013, http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/13/forgetfeminist-outrage-by-shunning-plus-size-customers-lululemon-is-making-a-terriblebusiness-decision/ (accessed October, 2015).

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