Digital Business Transformation: First Steps

I recall the release of "Cyberspace: First Steps" back in the 90s and before anyone had an Oculus Quest. It was created long after the wake of Gibb's Neuromancer buzz, and yet nobody could quite see what was coming. As a title, "first steps" felt like a warm invitation to me — and I vividly recall how I couldn't understand anything that was written in the book. What stayed with me was the idea of "four-dimensional architecture" as posited by Marcos Novak as what you might have thought was just 3-D wasn't, because it was 4-D. For exmaple, in "liquid architecture" the two structures below could exist simultaneously because they are in 4-D versus just 3-D.

At Publicis Sapient I had the special opportunity to learn from the pioneers of digital business transformation in the industrial space, and there's a book coming out in January by CEO Nigel Vaz that lays that out quite nicely. Vaz describes the three modes of digital business transformation as also 3-D (not 4-D :+) literally expressed as three words that start with the letter 'D.'

• Defend: Easiest and most important for you to start doing. If you aren't doing this at all, then you'll be toast.
• Differentiate: A lot harder to do, but if you've already managed to defend yourself, then quickly go here.
• Disrupt: This is hardest to achieve because it means that you'll have to enter the unknown. Be brave!

As a fan of the work of Jeanne W. Ross at MIT Sloan, and to commemorate her recent retirement from MIT I made a personal investment in taking her course before she merges with The Force. After all, I did mention her model in the recent 2020 CX Report that consists of five components, and noted that it's all too easy to forget the key component of "shared customer insights":

I'm now two weeks before the end of the course, and I can say that I've really appreciated how Ross and her team have described digital business transformation in easy-to-understand lingo. If I succeed in completing this course (????) I'll be sure to share what I've learned in a future mini-post here.

And ICYMI, I am now at Everbridge working for CEO David Meredith on saving lives and keeping organizations running. We're hiring! —JM