WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Xmas break is just around the corner and we all need something to read so why not predictions, if only to make sure we did not miss any.

Below are some articles that describe AmazonGO technology in more detail, including a video animation. As you can see, we know very little and everyone is guessing at this time based on patent filing and an article from a consultant now hired by Amazon.

• 2013 detailed report by Brittain Ladd, ex-consultant now Amazon employee, that may be the source of some of the concepts behind Amazon GO: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/beautiful-way-save-woolworths-brittain-ladd 
• Amazon 2015 patents that supports the GO store technology: http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.html&r=1&p=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&S1=(Steven.IN.+AND+Kessel.IN.)&OS=IN/Steven+and+IN/Kessel&RS=(IN/Steven+AND+IN/Kessel) and older one http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PG01&s1=%22DETECTING+ITEM+INTERACTION+AND+MOVEMENT%22&OS=%22DETECTING+ITEM+INTERACTION+AND+MOVEMENT%22&RS=%22DETECTING+ITEM+INTERACTION+AND+MOVEMENT%22 
• Very good analysis - in french - of what we know and some interesting tidbits about how Amazon may use it in the future: http://www.le-furet-du-retail.com/2016/12/amazon-go-comment-cela-marche-technologiquement-ce-que-l-on-sait-du-systeme-just-walk-out.html 
• Amazon GO website announcement and video: https://www.amazon.com/go 
• 2015 recode article that unveiled the concept a year ago - but went under my radar: http://www.recode.net/2015/3/30/11560904/we-may-have-just-uncovered-amazons-vision-for-a-new-kind-of-retail 

Various other articles:

• http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/6/13856158/how-amazon-go-stores-work-patent
• http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/139650-what-is-amazon-go-and-how-does-it-work
• http://www.usatoday.com/videos/tech/2016/12/07/how-amazon-go-work/95111660/

I don't write about agriculture very often although it is very close to my heart as I was a gentlemen farmer in my teenage years.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Agriculture accounts for only 2% of workforce but 100% of the planet depends on it for its survival. Disrupting agriculture with digital technology may have the impact that genetic manipulations and fertilizers, with much less side effects. Moreover, digital agriculture transforms the lives of farmers themselves, turning them more into information workers surrounded by big data and robots than manure shovels and sunburns. And that is a good thing.

One important stat from The Future of Jobs report is that the top trend that will drive change in work is new technology and innovation.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

All jobs will be affected by technology and thus every good digital transformation should include the human disruption and its impact on current and future employees. Too often, we implement digital change and fail to consider people impact.

Look at UBER taxis: their model is to plow ahead and disrupt the market but they have failed to accompany the taxi drivers that are impacted. Because of it they are facing huge head winds from governments and established corporations.

On the other hand, Teo Taxi (Montreal-based) has recognized the people impact and embraced human transformation of the cab drivers which results in much better relationships and less confrontation. Same technology, same process, different human approach.

A review of the most in-demand skills and the way to visualize them to more clearly identify and rate potential new hires.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

The article shows the gitHub contribution profile in the chart clearly shows that Alex is a more constant contributor than Dana and that he may have better skills for a computer programming job. what if if was possible to "visualize" the skills of your employees and prospects based on data and metric such as this one? We would then be in a better position to hire and promote the right individuals based on their true skillset and unbiased data.

A report shows that letting customers order ahead using mobile apps converts to higher sales order value.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Retailer have invested in mobile apps in recent years mostly use them as marketing tools to notify customers of promotions, etc. With recent trends showing that customers download less and less apps to concentrate on a few well known ones (Facebook, etc.), retailer must find new ways to have their customers use their apps. Looks like if you allow customers to save time by pre-ordering their meal, it becomes a hot and customers spend more. Good to know.

From healthcare to security, AI will invade our lives. Get ready.

A review of reports on the future of the workforce and the evolution of skills required. It provides links to detailed reports and data.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

If you have kids, read this.

If you a making strategies beyond 3 years, account for these changes in your plans.

If you are a startup, ask yourself if you are contributing to the changes highlighted here.

Excellent tv programme (in french) that reviews the robot penetration in business today and its potential impact on jobs in the coming years.

Bloomberg video interview that provides motivations for the explosion on VR in the coming years:

1- applications are numerous, with opportunities in different space, not only in gaming but in medical, movie, etc.

2- big players are lined up : Google, Facebook, Microsoft, etc.

That being said, there have been multiple false starts for VR and #D (remember 3D TVs and google glasses?), so I remaining cautiously optimistic with both VR and AR. They may not be ready for consumer market but may expand into certain key niche applications and industries.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT

In that context, it is essential for digital transformation strategies to consider VR and AR in their roadmaps. There must be clear business needs to drive adoption of this relatively immature technology which requires a number of user constraint (least of which is wearing a headset which makes you look like a dork and prevents you from living in the moment). But there are multiple types of industries where professionals can find benefits in viewing things in 3D in a lifelike fashion: those should be prioritized.

A great blog on different elements regarding eCommerce, from strategies to solutions and statistics. Here, one post that identifies the issues that prevent ecommerce deployment.

Explains 5 steps to build a house using open source components. Is this the future of home building?

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Open source has revolutionized software development and other technology areas. Can it also be applied to real-life products? This is exactly what this is all about: revolutionize the way we think about our everyday products by having low cost options with no patents or protections. This should keep costs down and foster innovation. Watch out.

Chart shows amount of money held in cash by institutions. 41% of Starbucks customers pay using the mobile app.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT

Mobile payment is a great thing when done right. Moreover, coupled with loyalty programme, this becomes a huge profit generating machine (some of this cash never gets spent + payment fees to credit and debit card companies are lowered). So why has mobile payment adoption been so slow? Why are not more companies jumping into this bandwagon? Should credit card companies and Apple Pay / Google Pay / etc products be worried?

A review of trends, forecasts, market estimates and other predictions regarding Internet of Things.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

IOT has th potential to impact all industries, from consumer products to manufacturing processes to healthcare and treatment. Its technology and platforms should thus be included in all digital transformation plans from this point forward. Moreover, this represents a growing niche for new companies and consulting firms.

An interactive chart that graphs 800 different jobs along with their automation potential - as estimated by McKinsey.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

If you are in school or just out of school, this chart should be of particular interest. For all the others, this is essential must read tooling when preparing strategy and planning for the future of your business unit, organization - large or startup.

Jobs with highest potential for automation represent opportunities for cost reduction, process improvements to reduce lead times, or creation of the automated tools and software that will replace them. For example:

• medical appliance technicians: 100% automation potential. If you are in this field your business plan should include major shift from human workers to robots. If employees are unionized, look at contract negotiation and employee retraining. If you build medical appliance, ensure your hard-software appliance includes the necessary components to make this automation simple and effective.
• sewing machine operators: 100% automation potential, 143K workers in the US. Replacing human by robot sewing machine is efficient but will require capital expenditures: has it been forecasted in your budgets? If that throws your business model out of whack, you have to think like a startup and "pivot" your company to a different yet adjacent space such as custom apparel design and fabrication.

And 798 other sources of inspiration. 

The company automated insights uses its AI tools to automatically write summary of baseball games (http://bit.ly/2a9g7qR), financial portfolio (http://bit.ly/2a9gG3T), and many other. This blog describes many of these applications. 

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

I wrote about automated insights in the past (http://sco.lt/7FRff7) as it was starting and have been watching ever since. It is important to take notice that AI has been hired by the Associated Press to write summary texts that go straight to the wire without human intervention (http://sco.lt/7FRff7). 

This is a trend worth watching as it means AI is slowing replacing human workers with machine intelligence in fields that were previously though impossible - here the redaction of human readable texts and stories. I wrote about data on why no job is safe from automatization and robotization (http://sco.lt/64xeyX).

Anyone putting together a digital strategy must absolutely consider the use of such AI tools in the coming years, and thus have a roadmap with trials starting as soon as NOW.

This is Capgemini business IT transformation guidance. In 146 pages, it presents cases studies of digital transformations and key technology building blocks that were used to deliver them.

Gartner survey of marketing leaders provides insight into where marketing organizations spend their budget. Their analysis shows that having an impact on sales has become more and more important for marketing departments to demonstrate the value of their spending.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT

No longer can marketing be just about drawing customers to the store doors. This survey shows that data and analytics now provides the means to measure the impact on sales that marketing activities provide and that leaders are asking their marketing department to demonstrate the return that their activities have on sales.

A 60 slide powerpoint presentation on Internet of Things, its current and future usage and penetration, possible uses, etc.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

IoT is a major trend which should impact all businesses in the near future. This is a well researched document that provides very useful charts for anyone putting together strategic plans and roadmaps. It covers a wide variety of industries and applications, which shows how wide and deep the IoT revolution could be. Must read.

US bureau of labour statistics releases historical data that shows the decline of the newspaper industry in favour of the internet publishing.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Less dramatic than previous charts that show the digital cliff that newspaper advertisement business fell in recently, this chart highlights the decline of physical delivery of news in favour of the digital delivery. Right inline with a post I wrote regarding the Digital Cliff in various posts http://bit.ly/1g5adjK (in french), http://sco.lt/5nD06r , http://sco.lt/6gOeWn , http://sco.lt/5Hfzlp 

Moreover, the bureau of labour statistics presents a large number of data and charts to help document the digital transformation. See http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/subject.htm 

Just one example of the huge rise in mobile phones. Given recent State of the Internet report that indicates Internet growth is slowing down, and that mobile phone sales have levelled off as well, this chart reminds us all that people are starting to use their phones in many different context. So even if growth stalls, the usage and data consumption will continue to grow for a while.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

If you propose interesting uses for mobile phones, your clients and employees will use them. And they expect to use more and more in the future. So waht have you planned in your digital strategy to leverage, extend, grow the usage of mobile phones for clients and employees?

218 slides of jammed packed information. Soon I will be able to blog one slide of this Mary Meeker State of the Internet annual presentation per day for the whole year. Wow...

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

This is an annual event for digital experts: the state of the Internet. This year, it focusses on deep learning (think voice+image recognition) and cars. Because really the Internet growth is slowing down. So is mobile phone usage. The trend thus appears to be what we build on top of the Internet and not the Internet itself. Finally.

Every company executive and board member should listen to this talk. Even if you don't understand everything you should ask yourself: how is our company positioned to address those trends? In most cases I assume the answer will be: we are not. This should be cause for concern and action.

For previous year presentations, go to http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses/?q=meeker