On my blog Digital modelling under the sun I had promised to share news about what happened when solving a specific customer challenge with the Digital Business Modelling tools applying the research The new world of digital business models (DBM) of my colleagues from Services Innovation and the Innovation Center Network.
After a few months on the road in 3 continents, I can share now some promising examples of the power and potential of the DBM approach tacking complex business challenges in different industries.
The Business of IT: One of the first cases was at major Utilities from the south of Europe where the IT corporate department wanted to be prepared for the future. We applied the DBM cards as an ideation technique asking them to position themselves as an independent organization supporting customers for a profit. The combination of a business perspective with digital technologies generated a promising reflection about their role and development path in the company.
Go wild: we agreed with a Global Chemical Leader to utilize DBM as part of Business Model Development training. They were working in two groups dealing with real situations, generating different but very valuable results. One team proposed ideas for digitizing the current business model, the expected outcome , but the other team created a complete new, a bit crazy but full of potential, digital business opportunity.
The Full Monty: the opportunity to deploy the complete DBM approach came at Global High Tech Company at their HQ in northern Europe. We combined DBM with the comprehensive Business Model Development method, and structured the engagement with a Design thinking approach. It was hard work but with very positive results. As an example, one of their major projects got a push forward and a new initiative got with a fresh digital appeal.
For a better world: we run a session for helping Social Entrepreneurs from Central and Eastern Europe for explore the viability of their projects. The application of the DBM approach proven to be a good way for expanding the reach and scalability of their social businesses with digital technologies.
Soul searching: sometimes the best digital opportunities are in the least expected places. An international global agency asked our help to identify a path for the digital world. After exploring options with the DBM approach, they realized that their next phase was not about deploying fancy technologies but instead how to leverage their current and strong core capabilities in the digital times.
A long shot: looking to help a traditional national telecom operator from North Africa to become in an agile digital vendor, we had to apply the complete arsenal from Digital Business Modeling to Design Thinking. The opportunities identified were extensive, from new products to develop and new customers to reach, to change management projects and IT architecture analysis.
The leap: when going through the DBM process with the Executive Team of a top CPG vendor from South America it became clear that they needed a solid digital core for sustaining the company evolution, but that situation was also an opportunity for adopting the most advanced technology platform.
I am pleased to report that the experience so far has proven so positive that Digital Business Modeling have been incorporated as a Service Offering in the Business Transformation Service Portfolio and we are enabling our consultants for delivering DBM projects.
However, the story does not finish here. My research colleagues have been working on extending the framework and we are preparing new formats and methods. These are just the first steps of the digital journey. More to come.
