Digital Business: Beyond the Basics
Digital business may be one of the latest buzzwords to capture the imaginations of enterprise organizations, but that doesn’t mean it’s just fluff.
According to Gartner, digital business refers to “the creation of new business designs by blurring the digital and physical worlds. Although that sounds abstract, you’re probably familiar with several mainstream examples like Uber, which made the tried and true method of hailing a cab an overnight fashion faux pas.
"Digital business is all about speed," states Ignacio Segovia, Chief Architect and Head of Product Engineering at Altimetrik. In a recent episode of Colider's Convo, hosted by Rhyan Robinson and Jacob Smith, Segovia walks us through the essentials to understand Digital Business, its challenges, the methodology, and the role data democratization plays.
Though you may be familiar with digital business from previous episodes of Collider Convo, Segovia, who has headed several different software businesses, brings fresh insights to the table.
For Segovia, digital business is all about outcomes.
"It's about realizing what it is to operate in a digital native ecosystem as opposed to forcing businesses into a digital ecosystem,” says Segovia. “So it starts off as a cultural shift.”
With more than ten years of experience at Altimetrik, Ignacio Segovia’s approach has helped expand the company in many different ways, including boosting start-ups, building capability centers in India - which encompass enterprise mobility design and various development areas - and delivering excellent customer outcomes for big, small, and enterprise companies with a tangible, realistic and budget-conscious methodology.
Getting a Closer Look at Digital Business
Ignacio Segovia asserts that digital business revolves around the infusion of digital capabilities throughout the organization. These digital capabilities can range from user experience and design to product management and roadmap forecasting, instilling engineering rigor, data science, data engineering, and various development and digital enablement skills, including SRE (Site Reliability Engineering), DevOps, and Cloud-native capabilities. These elements collectively converge to establish a singular source of truth, facilitating the creation of data assets instrumental in developing AI solutions. Segovia claims that AI solutions are no longer isolated; instead, they are now accessible beyond academic realms, enabling their utilization within the enterprise.
For Segovia, digital business fosters the development of what is referred to as knowledge capital within the organization due to its inherent digital nature. In this environment, all individuals operate within the same set of digital tools and productivity systems, which is a fundamental aspect of digital business. This transformation significantly influences the approach taken by business owners, business lines, and executives in managing their respective business units and revenue streams.
Segovia acknowledges that the concept of digital business represents the culmination of a journey that began approximately a decade ago with the onset of digital transformation efforts. These early initiatives had defined boundaries, marked by a clear start and finish. Yet, over time, they evolved into exceedingly costly and purposeless endeavors. Digital business, according to Segovia, plays a pivotal role in assessing and addressing the gaps within an organization to transition it into a genuinely digital entity rather than merely striving to become one.
Altimetrik’s Approach to Digital Business Methodology
Digital business puts organizations at the center of their transformation efforts, however, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few growing pains along the way.
"There’s often a lack of rationalization around appropriate digital business use cases,” says Segovia. “And a little bit of blind-sightedness for the business to understand what needs to happen next based on their own value and the value that they provide to the customer, as opposed to what's been running for so long.”
The digital business methodology (DBM) that Altimetrik prescribes centers on delivering quick solutions that put users front and center.
"DBM isn't just about technology; it's a mindset that sets you on the path of being a digital business from the start,” stresses Segovia. “It's the how behind the what.”
Here's how it works:
1 .Outcomes and agile excellence: DBM is all about outcomes. It's about cultivating an agile culture where every part of the organization, from product development to user experience, operates with flexibility and responsiveness. Think of it as different business functions operating in a harmonious symphony.
2. From data overload to actionable insights: In the data deluge, DBM helps organizations focus on what matters. It's not about more data or engineers; it's about making data work for you. DBM ensures data serves a clear purpose and is readily available for informed decision-making.
3. Excellence in engineering: To succeed in the digital age, organizations needs top-notch engineering. DBM emphasizes enhancing the quality of your engineering assets and aligning technology with your goals.
4. A holistic approach: DBM isn't just about technology; it's a shift in culture and strategy. It's the path to becoming a digital business, not just an organization in a digital world.
Incorporating DBM into your organization is key if you want to unlock the potential of digitalization and thrive in today's ever-changing business landscape.
"We help the customers pivot away from thinking they need more data engineering pods and product lines,” says Segovia. “Instead, we seek to harmonize product management and product organizational capability and, most importantly, to understand what the engineering capabilities of the organization are.”
The Path to Data Democratization and Digital Business Success
What does data democratization have to do with digital business, exactly?
According to Forbes contributor Brian Marr, “[d]ata democratization means everybody has access to data, and there are no gatekeepers that create a bottleneck at the gateway to the data.”
It sounds good in theory, but Segovia stresses the importance of taking a thoughtful approach to data democratization in digital business models.
"Data democratization is a big trend in the industry, but there are many ways to do it wrong, and there are many ways to do it right,” says Segovia. “We believe in setting up a culture of open APIs for data assets to be accessed by any business unit within the organization."
Successful data democratization also involves enabling collaboration, leadership training, and cultivating an agile culture across the board, ensuring that agile principles are not just words on paper but an integral part of the organization's DNA.
The first step in this transformative journey involves setting up an infrastructure where data assets are readily accessible to all departments within an organization through open APIs.
Once they're embraced in the ecosystem, the next step is to guide them towards adopting a digital business mindset. It's imperative for businesses to realize that digital initiatives are not mere IT expenditures. They are strategic endeavors with the potential to reshape the entire business landscape. This shift in perspective is pivotal in driving the success of digital transformation.
Additionally, organizations need to reorganize their approach. Instead of focusing on traditional product lines, they should enhance user journeys and customer experiences. Users are not concerned about the specific product they interact with; they want a seamless, efficient, and user-friendly experience. Whether obtaining a loan, managing wealth, or any other financial service, the user's primary concern is their needs, income, and socioeconomic context, all wrapped in an exceptional customer experience.
Breaking Free from Product-Centric Constraints
In a post-COVID-19 work environment, where digital-first work environments shifted away from a workplace perk to a minimum expectation, competitive businesses must grapple with the fact that attracting and retaining top-tier digital talent is becoming increasingly challenging. Modern digital natives are in high demand, so organizations must provide an environment that appeals to them.
Operating models must be flexible, collaborative, and free from the rigid constraints that stifle creativity and innovation. A modern, open, and streamlined organization is more likely to retain and attract the best talent.
"It's hard to maintain digital native folks around for too long,” says Segovia. “And so it's important to have a digital operating model that is collaborative, modern, and doesn't have all these constraints, all the way from HR and enterprise operation to IT and engineering."
CTA: Want to learn how digital business methodology can reinvigorate your organization? Read case studies from real Altimetrik customers.