At this point in time, most companies are grappling with digitization. This is being driven from the very top of future-looking firms. Yet, there seems to be a mismatch between the corporate strategy at such organizations and the support functions such as finance or HR. As, a result companies are developing digital capabilities, but not exploiting them. Only a fifth of companies are managing to use their resources, as confirmed over business research undertaken by BCG. If used strategically, firms can still leverage their capabilities to reduce cost by about thirty percent and improve productivity by a factor of two-fifths. A few of the best practices have been identified that these handful of digital leaders, possess beginning with the entire process being focused on generating business value. The design principles are user-centric. Agile working ways have been introduced. These firms generally tend to have a centre of excellence where holistic digital capabilities are developed, rather than focusing on individual functional areas. These firms do not trust single vendors, but make use of a multitude of them to separate out the risks. In order to begin, one must first understand the level of digital maturity the company is at. Any digital projects already undertaken needs to be had a close look at. As a sort of internal research, one can start off with lighthouse projects to see how well they do in a small, controlled area. Broad transformation projects need to be sued to scale them up. For this a proper roadmap is required.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/en-us/publications/2018/what-when-support-functions-are-not-ready-for-digital.aspx?linkId=54828720&redir=true

Uploaded Date:25 August 2018

The hotel industry has largely been the subject of disruption from one of the digital era’s poster child when it comes to disruption. That is Airbnb because of which several players have started transforming their management structures into something more agile to remain competitive. INSEAD has conducted a study in collaboration with the Accor Hotels group to understand strategies traditional players are undertaking to fight this disruption. What Accord has done to beat other older firms is to track key business intelligence from customers. Their customers are now being involved in several functions such as destination choices, accommodation preferences, pricing as well as sharing of experiences. Where Airbnb has changed customer perceptions and expectations from hoteliers, other digital players such as Agoda, Expedia, Trip Advisor and Booking.com have all carved their own niches to respond to this onslaught. Accor has leveraged this enormous digital content now available to tweak their own systems using the customer feedback. They have even developed a platform to regulate their e-reputation. Accor has used this vast content in its digital marketing by bombarding the market with this curated material. They have even changed their organizational structure away from the earlier-siloed one.

Source:https://knowledge.insead.edu/marketing/lessons-in-digital-transformation-from-the-hotel-industry-5123

Uploaded Date:25 August 2018

Like several other industries, asset management too is undergoing a metamorphosis. Its chief practitioners are increasingly making use of advanced business analytics. After the sluggish performance in 2016, the sector saw unexpected growth last year as confirmed in the latest BCG study on the same. There was a 12% increase in the Assets under Management (AUM) where the total has now crossed US$ 79 trillion, aided by strong performance in the US and Chinese markets which individually grew at 13% and 22% respectively. African and the Middle East region saw the least bit of growth clocking at only 7%. In spite of the obvious size advantages these players enjoy, they have not yet adopted digitization as much as the potential lies. As a result, their digital assets fall far short of digital natives such as Baidu, Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple and Alibaba. Companies will increasingly also need to factor in geographical diversity.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2018/global-asset-management-2018-digital-metamorphosis.aspx?linkId=54484927&redir=true

Uploaded Date:25 August 2018

Digitization is often merely thought of as a tool to reduce work and the resultant costs associated with internal processes. However, companies that are termed as digital-attackers follow a much wider approach. Digital technologies are not being fully understood or taken advantage of by business leaders. In a recent study conducted by McKinsey, about half acknowledged challenges in incorporating these technologies. For such efforts to succeed, full support of the top management is needed as this will enable digitization principles to be embedded within the corporate strategy itself. The capabilities deployed and the solutions derived need to stem from customer-centric inputs. Agile ways of working and thinking need be incorporated for this to succeed. Similarly, even the IT landscape needs to be flexible. Since now data is everywhere, it needs to be leveraged. For this, an advanced business analytics infrastructure must be in place for its competencies to be taken advantage of. Crucially, the business model must be fully scalable and automated.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/electric-power-and-natural-gas/our-insights/winning-the-cost-battle-success-factors-in-digital-transformations-for-energy-retailers?cid=other-eml-alt-mip-mck-oth-1807&hlkid=704f856527634504a9ed595db3ee20d0&hctky=2657824&hdpid=68764403-c28a-49bd-9556-78e14a54102e

Uploaded Date:25 August 2018