WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: a beautiful illustration of the circular economy and the multiple options to consider before the landfill.

WHY IT MATTERS: this report presents the case for the disruption of consulting by small firms like mine as it is enabled by digital technologies. Fascinating read.  

WHY IT MATTERS: this well-researched article highlights the PROs & CONs of work from anywhere - WFA - and provides best practices from large companies that have done this at scale (1300 WFA employees at GitHub). A reference for us all in digital transformation and also a showcase for the real impact of our work: large cities may struggle to attract people versus small towns that have lower cost of living and little traffic, countries may find that work visas need to be adapted to limit remote workers (how to do that), etc.

All in all, it may be the biggest transformation that digital brings: a societal change. Who knows...

WHY IT MATTERS: I wrote about this when it came out and it feels like the McKinsey Digital Quotient remains as meaningful today as it was 5 years ago. The DQ helps identify the criteria for digital transformation and visualize if your company is above or below average...

See criteria and more here: www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/digital-disruption/raise-your-digital-quotient 

WHY IT MATTERS: this maturity may be overly simplistic but the plan is sound. Start with exploration, proof-of-concepts, prototypes, etc. Then move on the unification of processes to finalize with transformation!

WHY IT MATTERS: this report is a great summary of the digital technologies that can support the remote workers as part of digital transformation of businesses.

WHY IT MATTERS: this article shows collaboration best practice and offers useful visuals to understand the perfect use of the collaboration tools out there.

WHY IT MATTERS: a great overview of the long lasting impacts of COVID in our lives.

WHY IT MATTERS: no surprise, companies will hire technologists and agile methodology experts post confinement to enable their remote workforce ... and reduce the need for humans!

WHY IT MATTERS: we've seen an acceleration of eCommerce adoption during covid lockdown worldwide. McKinsey says 10 years in 3 months. Shopify stock has surged, instacart orders have grown 250x, mirakl has raised 300M$ in funding, all based on this recent trend. 

But guys that have been doing retail for a long time are skeptical - like WholeFoods CEO (now Amazon). When everyone is FORCED to stay home, then of course eCommerce and home delivery will explode they. When things go back to normal, then retail will go back to normal is their belief.

Who's right? 

If you know me, you know where I stand on this. Going digital is like being an alcoholic: the first thing you must do on the road to recovery is recognize you have a problem... ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: adopting an agile approach is a great idea. But it requires clear vision, strategy, governance and teams that leverage digital tools and solutions to make sure anarchy does not set in. We have the experience in software development after 20 years of trials and errors. Let's hope marketing teams can learn from our mistakes...

WHY IT MATTERS: not sure this is something they stress for marketing professionals in school these days. Marketing has become a technology business and you need the skills and the resources to properly use martech tools and solutions including: SEO, email, analytics, data analysis for end to end attribution, etc.

WHY IT MATTERS: this article dates back a few years but is very important to understand Amazon and why it is so disruptive to retail.

Amazon invests most of its profits into developing solutions and infrastructure (via CAPEX or capital expenditure) in order to CAPTURE FUTURE ECOMMERCE SALES as the world moves from physical retail to digital.

To compete, retailers must either 1) leverage Amazon infrastructure (via marketplace, FBA, AWS, etc.) 2) or, if they are big enough, invest massively their CAPEX to build competing infrastructure to Amazon. This is difficult because their shareholders are used to getting return on their investments (which CAPEX will reduce): that may need to change. Or get the customers to pay for it (ie. massive walmart investments in eCommerce that they have just passed over to their suppliers - effectively having customers pay for it).

To maintain economic prosperity, governments should also invest in building shared infrastructure: large automated distribution centers, parcel delivery (canada post, USPS, etc.), digital payment processing, digital IDs, etc. This new infrastructure will benefit local retailers and local manufacturers, effectively financing their eCommerce competitiveness and ensuring survival of the economic fabric of their city / region / province / country.

WHY IT MATTERS: never waste a good crisis. Well if this is true, then companies that will find solutions to tackle the health interventions highlighted by McKinsey should have a bright future. In many cases, digital technologies will be at the center of those solutions...

WHY IT MATTERS: this long read is an easy to read starter on the brain, how it evolved and how it works. An essential primer for understanding the profound impact that neuralink can have in the long term future (think decades). 

Neuralink product demo of Aug 28, 2020: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVvmgjBL74w

Also this provides good background for then reading "on intelligence", "how to create a mind" or "superintelligence"

WHY IT MATTERS: this article helps positions the strengths and weaknesses of lean and agile to highlight where each fits best in an organization.

WHY IT MATTERS: ecommerce has surged during covid lockdown. Data now proves what we've all assumed: covid lockdown has accelerated eCom growth in a few months. Now the question is: what will remain after the pandemic is over? Will consumer adopt eCommerce more or be happy to go back in store?

My take is that

- consumers will keep using eCom *if* we can reduce delivery costs as they make eCommerce unprofitable for most retailers

- an economic recession or depression (or government financial crisis) may see consumers go back to stores as they look for savings which are more often than not found in large stores, rarely in eCommerce

- categories probably will behave differently in the recovery, consumers being more price conscious on grocery than they are on clothing or appliances or other

WHY IT MATTERS: amazing reference of business models to help explore possibilities in your innovation plans.

WHY IT MATTERS: biggest hyped product in Apple glass. No one knows when they come out but they may represent as big a leap as iPone was in 2007. This article provides some good insights in future possibilities of an augmented reality world - as different from today as nokia phone vs. iPhones. Great read to see the potential. But be careful, this remains very visionary and many solutions (hardware, software, ecosystem, etc.) need to be in place for this to become reality... Hype ahead!

WHY IT MATTERS: this short article from HBR provides trove of links for further reading on the subject that is on everybody's mind these days...

WHY IT MATTERS: digital transformation often means innovation: different or new technologies, modified processes, new skills and expertise. To innovate - and thus to transform digitally - McKinsey suggests 8 elements to include in this article.

WHY IT MATTERS: innovation often is tightly related to digital transformation. This survey from planbox provides useful insights about the state of corporate innovation and also provides some useful tools such as the maturity levels highlighted here.

WHY IT MATTERS: delivery is the last problem to solve for eCommerce to explode. Not only do delivery fees need to be reduced via automation and "milk runs", but it is impossible for retailers and restaurant to support the rent of mostly empty space (during covid and I assume some time after) in prime locations. The overall business model has to change. Ghost kitchens, dark stores, and other solutions are required.

WHY IT MATTERS: interesting visualization to help categorize innovation projects.

WHY IT MATTERS: one wonders why telehealth and telemedecine is not more prevalent given the high cost of health and aging population. This report highlights the potential for telehealth and the market potential is huge.