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Digital Insights

 Please see below recent intelligence about the ongoing digital revolution.

 

June 2016

 

 

 

May 2016

 

 

  • Deloitte Digital announced that NetSuite had named it the 2015 Global Systems Integrator of the Year. This award is one of many honours that Deloitte Digital has recently earned. NetSuite had recognised Deloitte Digital each of the previous three years with a top honor, including Global System Integrator Enterprise Solution Partner of the Year in 2014, Global System Integrator Quality Partner of the Year in 2013, and Global System Integrator Newcomer of the Year in 2012. Moreover, Forrester Research recently placed Deloitte as the leader position in their 2015 Forrester Wave for Business Transformation Consulting Report. According to Forrester Research, "Deloitte drives business transformations with its customer and industry knowledge and shows remarkably high quality for all related services."

 

 

  • Deloitte announced the launch of Deloitte Pixel , a worldwide enterprise crowdsourcing offering. This capability enables Deloitte teams and clients to leverage external crowds to access specific, difficult-to-find expertise, collaborate to develop new products or ideas, and even design, build and test new digital assets. With a depth of experience and capabilities, Deloitte Pixel(TM) is a go-to source for crowdsourcing advisory and delivery services. Deloitte's methodology for crowdsourcing involves breaking large problems into smaller pieces--pixels--and inviting individuals to contribute in a way that is time-bound and skill-specific, resulting in faster, better, and often less-costly outcomes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • For over a decade companies have been urged to “digitalise” or risk getting left behind. While many accept this as a reality, INSEAD argues that the precept is at best confusing and at worst unclear for those eager to act. Too often information about the “digital revolution” and its impact on business comes from analysts, consultancies and the media, but little is heard from the workplace, from business managers grappling with the new realities brought about by digital on a day-to-day basis. It was to uncover their truths that we initiated a study to examine the reality of digital in today’s workplace. It was INSEAD's aim to understand the implication of digital technologies for companies, how it is being incorporated into organisations, what managers and their boards expect of digital, and how it is truly changing the way business is conducted. The findings were published in its report The Real Impact of Digital - As Seen From the “Virtual Coalface”.

 

 

 

 

April 2016

 

 

 

 

  • The vast majority (94%) of executives interviewed by the Economist Intelligence Unit for a new EIU survey cited a “moderate” or “severe” digital skills gap. Financial services and manufacturing had the largest enterprise-wide skills deficits, while healthcare and retail survey participants were concerned with department-specific shortages. - Cyber-security and web/mobile development are the most important digital competencies today. Big Data will top the list by 2018. Internal opposition to creating new digital jobs is cited as a hiring obstacle by 49% of respondents. Older workers are more resistant to digital transition than their younger colleagues, the survey shows: 80% of companies face internal resistance to digital transition of processes and work among older members of the workforce - Over one-third of companies (37%) believe that digital workers have no desire to work in their industries, a problem particularly acute in retail and manufacturing

 

 

 

 

 

March 2016

 

 

  • The nature of disruption is changing. In the past, disruption occurred at the level of discrete product and service technologies that competed to offer better value for customers (e.g., 2.5-inch vs. 3.5-inch disk drives; LCD vs. CRT television; online vs. brick-and-mortar banks). Today, disruption is occurring at the level of ecosystems, warned The Harvard Business Review. The Internet of Things is a good example of this change. Every industry, no matter how traditional - agriculture, automotive, aviation, energy - is being upended by the addition of sensors, internet connectivity, and software. Success in this environment will depend on more than just creating better digital-enabled products; it will depend on building ecosystem-level strategies that encompass the many moving pieces that come together to create the new value proposition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Where do your clients rank against their competitors in digital capability? How will new advances in technology affect their industry? How could they use digital to disrupt themselves? These are some of the big questions our clients face in a digitally driven marketplace. PwC UK has grown its digital capability to help clients stay ahead of the digital curve. For example, our digital protothons are creating new ways for clients to overcome their business challenges and we have opened a new Google innovation lab in Northern Ireland. We are also piloting our cloud-based platform, engage. To help you have a digital conversation with your client, our award winning World in beta campaign is entering a new phase of exploration. Over the coming months, World in beta will be taking a close look at industries to help answer our clients questions on how digital is changing their market.

 

 

  • In Will You Be Mine in the Digital World?, Strategy& argued that, as they look to enhance digital capabilities through mergers and acquisitions, traditional companies have to heed a new  set of "dating rules":

 

    • Non-tech companies made 48% more digital deals in 2015 than 2011. When opposites attract, dating rules change: http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #MnA
    • Acquisitions are like marriage proposals. Companies must ensure they’re a good match before they say “yes”: http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #MnA
    • Like dating, traditional-on-digital acquisitions need boundaries. Know your walkaway price: http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #StrategyThatWorks #MnA
    • Globally, digital deals accounted for about 32% of all transactions in 2015 http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P @stratandbiz #MnA
    • Many non-digital companies have jumped into the market by becoming serial acquirers. The right strategy? http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #MnA
    • New data shows spike in acquirers in non-digital industries, including #auto, #retail, & hospitality http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P [attach exhibit from article, pasted below]
    • Of ~20K digital deals announced between 2011 & 2015, ~1/3 involved a non-tech, non-telecom buyer. http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #MnA
    • Digital #MnA presents challenges at every turn; new @strategyand insights on what works: http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P
    • “Very little of this framework applies to digital deals.” @strategyand on digital dealmaking: http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #MnA
    • “What’s it worth?” In digital deal making, there’s often no obvious answer. @stratandbiz http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P
    • What do traditional companies need to know about successful digital dealmaking? http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P                                                                                 
    • When digital/traditional companies combine, it can get messy. @strategyand’s rulebook: http://strat.bz/Qe9n94P #MnA

 

 

 

February 2016

 

 

  • The European Commission published the results of the 2016 edition of the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). The findings show that Member States have made progress in areas such as connectivity and digital skills, as well as on-line public services, since the publication of the Commission's Digital Single Market Strategy last year but that the pace of progress is slowing down. More needs to be done, both at the EU and national levels, to remove the obstacles which prevent EU Member States from fully benefitting from digital opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January 2016

 

 

  • Accenture argued that there is one key word that is at the centre of the digital economy or companies' digital strategy: it is the word platform, which basically combines a number of elements. The platform as a tool. The platform as a place where partners in an ecosystem reconfigure, and the platform as a centre of solutions. The platform business model is, for Accenture, probably the greatest opportunity in the next 3-5 years to create growth in the digital economy. Which platforms, which ecosystems, are providing the most value? How can you tap into internal and external resources, expand your capacity? This is the key role of the platform, this is the so-called “network effect,” that a platform provides. Also from a competitive standpoint, an industry specific digital strategy needs, requires, to be clear on which platform, what roles, which data, are fundamental to compete successfully in that industry and, or, in a disruptive way across industries. The key is really to identify which part of your business is prime for a platform strategy, starting with the most information intensive part of your business.

 

 

  • A report from Accenture argued that few businesses grasp how dramatic the changes arising from new platform-based ecosystems will be. The threat they pose? Unexpected new competitors seizing advantage. The opportunity? Previous technology disruptions were often unpredictable, but now, enterprises have a line of sight to track growing ecosystems and anticipate their impacts. Forward-thinking leaders can get ahead of the game, develop their ecosystem strategies, and ride the results into new markets.

 

 

  • Accenture's Pierre Nanterme claimed that digital disruption is at the heart of all the conversations he has with CEOs today. And this is not surprising, as it presents the most significant threats and opportunities any of us have faced in business. When assessing the implications, consider the fact that that new digital business models are the principal reason why just over half of the names of companies on the Fortune 500 have disappeared since the year 2000. And yet, we are only at the beginning of what the World Economic Forum calls the “Fourth Industrial Revolution,” characterised not only by mass adoption of digital technologies but by innovations in everything from energy to biosciences. While the digital transformation of industries will be profound, we must keep in mind that it will have wider economic and social impact, too, as with previous revolutions driven by steam and coal, electricity and computers.

 

 

  • Every business is becoming a digital business, argued Forrester. To win customers, organisations must transform the way they deliver the software to create high-value experiences for customers, employees, and partners, meaning that application development and delivery professionals should shape their application delivery strategy to deliver high-quality applications quickly and at low cost.

 

 

 

 

 

December 2015

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Deloitte hired Sheila Doyle as its new UK Chief Information Officer to "drive digital innovation" which the firm said demonstrated its "focus on the strategic role of technology". Doyle will join the firm in January, moving from Norton Rose Fulbright where she has been the law firm's Global CIO since May 2011. Deloitte's Global CIO Larry Quinlan is based at the company's headquarters in New York. She said: "I am looking forward to bringing my experience to Deloitte and delivering innovative IT services that support client and business needs. Deloitte has a relentless focus on providing excellent client services. My role will support that ambition by delivering customer facing solutions and ensuring our technology can drive digital innovation." With over 30 years' experience, former Gartner consultant Doyle has been CIO at BP and the Royal Mail's IT director. She will lead a Deloitte UK IT department of 300 when she starts in 2016.

 

 

 

 

  • Our Global CIPS Leader, Norbert Schwieter's new article, Ten Digital Trust Challenges . It examines a range of key digital trust issues that many institutions aren’t currently equipped to deal effectively with - which has strong relevance for pwc in light of our purpose. It follows on from A Magna Carta for the next industrial revolution which posed the question of whether we need a bold new charter between public and private institutions and their stakeholders, in order to navigate the challenges of the digital age.

 

 

 

 

 

November 2015

 

 

  • The recent development of digital platforms has helped to bring buyers and sellers together in a diverse range of product markets, argued PwC. ‘Peer-to-peer’ operators such as Airbnb, Uber and Laundrapp have successfully introduced new business models into their markets, disrupting pre-existing competitive dynamics. This has often provoked substantial opposition from the industry incumbents whose businesses have been affected, with disruptors accused of both flouting industry regulations and even of anticompetitive behaviour. On the other hand, supporters have argued that the dynamism which they bring to markets creates huge benefits and advocate a laissez-faire approach to encourage such innovation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • In The Imagination Gap, strategy+business warned that a future that hasn’t quite conformed to prior expectations is perhaps the most striking facet of Strategy&’s recent series on industry trends, an in-depth analysis of the prospects for 16 of the world’s bellwether sectors. A single conclusion is common to all of them: to profit - indeed, to survive - in 2015 and beyond, companies must not just adopt new, unanticipated, and more decentralised forms of digitisation and technological innovation, but must use them to reshape their business models. Companies in every industry are confronting an imagination gap between the established and safe - but rapidly aging - way of doing business and the opportunities and challenges of the technologies emerging today.

 

 

  • More than one-third (36%) of global organisations still lack confidence in their ability to detect sophisticated cyber attacks, according to the annual EY’s Global Information Security Survey 2015, 'Creating trust in the digital world'. The survey of 1,755 organisations from 67 countries examined some of the most important cybersecurity issues facing businesses today and found that 88% do not believe their information security structure fully meets their needs. When it comes to IT security budgets, 69% say that their budgets should be increased by up to 50% to align their organisation’s need for protection with its management’s tolerance for risk. The most likely sources of cyber attacks: criminal syndicates (59%), hacktivists (54%) and state-sponsored groups (35%) retained their top rankings. However, compared with last year’s survey, respondents rated these sources as more likely: up from 53%, 46%, and 27%, respectively, in 2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • PwC’s Experience Centre and Digital Services continue to get lots of press, including recent features in the Wall Street Journal, Digiday and ClickZ. The market is clearly beginning to recognise PwC as a digital force that is transforming the way our clients do business. As external awareness continues to grow, it’s important we can all articulate what PwC’s Digital Services can bring to bear for our clients. The Reimagine Business video series does just that - showing what meaningful, practical change might look like for clients across a variety of industries.

 

 

 

October 2015

 

 

 

 

  • KPMG’s recent piece, Bots in the Back Office: The Coming Wave of Digital Labour explored the ‘withering’ BPO industry. KPMG’s report said “The concept of labour arbitrage as the primary value lever of business process outsourcing (BPO) is dying. The geographic discussion is giving way to automation."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Data is the lifeblood of the digital economy, it can give insight, inform decisions and deepen relationships. It can be bought, sold, shared and even stolen, all things that suggest that data has value. Yet when PwC surveyed 1,800 senior business leaders, very few organisations can attribute a value to their data and, more concerning, many don’t yet have the capabilities we’d expect to manage, protect and extract that value. The business leaders we questioned were divided equally between Europe and North America, and in mid-sized organisations (over 250 employees) and enterprises (over 2,500 employees). The results of the study, which was done on behalf of Iron Mountain by our Research to Insight (r2i) team, have been used to create a first-of-its-kind Information Value Index which benchmarks how well different businesses in different countries currently manage their information for competitive advantage.

 

 

 

 

 

September 2015

 

 

  • Deloitte has "absorbed" Oracle-specialist cyber risk consulting firm Qubit and its 22 employees, with its founders becoming Deloitte partners as of October 1st. Qubit was founded in 2005 and last financial year had revenues of $5m. Deloitte's cyber risk services leader, Tommy Viljoen, indicated that Qubit won't be the last acquisition in this space,  "Acquisitions will be focused on all areas of the digital portfolio, but we have a massive investment happening in the cyber space, including a new cyber intelligence centre, which we are putting millions into. We just don't see the other large accounting firms as being our rivals these days. We see the broader tech group being the rivals. Our focus has changed as we have moved away from the others."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

August 2015

 

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