ABeam DX Insight No.7
DX Leadership
- Digital Understanding and Approach Required of Leaders -
ABeam DX Insight No.7
DX Leadership
- Digital Understanding and Approach Required of Leaders -
September 8, 2021
Kazuki Sugata
Executive Officer, Principal
Strategy Business Unit
Capturing the evolutionary process of the digital world is an effective way to promote digital understanding at the leadership level and appropriate decision-making.
Leaders who have digital decision-making power understand the need for DX initiatives and data utilization, but often seem to be at the mercy of the latest buzzwords and cannot get a bird's eye view of the digital world, which slows down decision-making.
In digital decision-making, a high level of understanding of the advantages and disadvantages of digitalization based on technical understanding is said to be important, but in reality, even digital experts often find this difficult.
In this regard, it is useful to understand the historical background as a gateway to the digital world. A business model is transformed starting from the technological innovation at that time, and the strategic implications end up being recognized to a greater degree than technical aspects.
For example, by sorting out the process by which the digital basic structure evolved into the SaaS model, it may be possible to understand not only that the form of provision has changed, but also how technological innovation leads to business model transformation and has great implications for the company's strategy.
Figure 1 Strategic Implications of Historical Transition of Digital Basic Structure
Technological innovation dramatically expands the data that can be handled in the digital world and, coupled with the evolution of processing technologies (semiconductors, analysis technology, IT infrastructure, etc.) that enable data utilization, new digital services accelerate business model transformation. Further, by combining such services with new contract models such as subscription services, it is possible to externalize the risk of responding to the ever-evolving digital technology (external vendors can make planned technology investment by subscriptions), making it possible to focus on digital utilization in higher layers. In this way, progress in digital technology will evolve your business into a business model that enables new value creation.
As mentioned above, while a digital background is indispensable for future leaders, opportunities for digital organization and input are limited. In addition, it is important to understand not only general theory but also the issues of the company.
An example of a digital program for leaders conducted by ABeam Consulting to solve such problems is provided below.
Figure 2 Example of Digital Program for Leaders
ABeam Consulting proposes an approach that can be utilized and established in practice while using not only training but also inputs such as individual interviews and diagnosis of the company's situation. The key is to start such an initiative with the CDO (Chief Digital Officer), Human Resources, and the like serving as the main engine. Capturing the evolutionary process of the digital world is an effective way to promote digital understanding at the leadership level and appropriate decision-making. Even leaders need learning opportunities to make the right decisions.
