5 steps to build an “x factor” into your digital strategy

Competing for The Digital Future Kick Start Your Digital Strategy and Transformation Program

X5 Steps to Build an “X Factor” Into Your Digital Strategy

Competing for the Digital Future | Leadership Program


5 Steps to Build an Digital “X Factor” Into Your Digital Strategy

Your Digital “X Factor” – Strategy based on transformative scenarios

• Why you need a scenario based strategy

• Steps to developing your digital “X Factor”

1. Profile customers & industry value chains

2. Technology impact scenarios

3. Disruptive market scenarios

4. Digital leadership scenarios

5. Scenario based strategy


Why you need a scenario based strategyDigital innovation is reshaping markets and our economy in unpredictable ways

• Our society, economy and companies are being transformed

– Highly connected world

– Radical new ways of living and creating, sharing, and consuming knowledge, goods and services

– Those will drive new market and economic paradigms

• Creating accurate predictions of exactly what will happen when is impossible

• Creating probable market and economic scenarios is possible

• Scenarios are a powerful basis for creating a real digital business strategy

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Developing a Digital Strategy vs Chasing Shiny Digital Objects

Strategies that focus only on technology will hold no value in a disrupted market

• Business survival and leadership require understanding how combinations of technology and changing social values will reshape;

– What people value

– How value will be created

– The worth placed on that value

– Industries and industry models

• Developing a strategy without these models = chasing shiny digital objects

• Developing a strategy with these models gives you an “X Factor”

– Context for understanding market forces & strategic decision making

– Strategic scenarios to create sustainable customer value and business momentum

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Additional ResourcesClick below for free slide decks, blogs and videos from our Digital Leadership Program

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Online training, materials, and tools and a powerful planning framework dramatically reduce the time you need to organize, present and get buy in for your program

Free 50+ question discussion guide excerpted from our leadership program

Online at

http://www.creatinginsanelygreat.com/competing-for-the-digital-future/an-introduction-to-digital-strategy-and-transformation/



Transformative Scenario DevelopmentIterative process. Starts with understanding customers and industry value chains

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Customer and Industry Value Chain Profiles

Digital Ecosystems

Disruptive Market Scenarios

Digital Leadership Models

High Impact Technology


Developing Customer ProfilesProfiling visionary customers and their digital strategies – key to strategy

• How do these customers create value?

• What creates value for them?

• What are the disruptive market scenarios they are investing in?

• How will they harness digital innovation?

• What does your industry currently contribute?

• How will their digital strategy and the market scenarios they see impact that?

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Customer ProfilesHow do they create value? Your contribution? Impact of digital innovation?

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Developing Industry Value Chain ProfilesProfiling industry value chains surfaces opportunities for industry disruption

• Profile the value chains for your industry and your customers

• Identify primary consumers, producers, and intermediaries

• Identify major costs, time loss, frustration, inefficiencies, barriers to quality

• Evaluate impact / opportunity digital technology to bridge the value chain or bring breakthrough value

• What jobs, processes, and organizations might be eliminated? What might be added?

• How might those possibilities impact your customers? How might they that impact you?

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Industry Value ChainsImpact of digital innovation industry value chains. Yours and Customers.

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newIndustry Value Chains

How Jobs Are Done


Profiling Digital EcosystemsDigital ecosystems are force multipliers for digital technology and innovation

• Disruptive technologies are powerful change agents in their own right

• When they interoperate they form digital ecosystems that act as force multipliers

– Accelerate impact and reach of digital innovation and technologies

– Reduce time and cost of entry

– Increase access to ready markets

• What major digital ecosystems support you and your customers?

• What are the major platforms?

• Who are the major players and what economic models are they fostering

• How will emerging technologies impact them

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Digital EcosystemsWhat digital ecosystem enable you and your customers?

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Identify High Impact Technology ClustersWhich emerging technologies have the greatest potential impact

• Given previous profiles and scenarios:

– Which technologies and technology clusters will create the greatest impact?

• How will they impact:

– Customer’s industries

– Industry value chains

– Digital ecosystems

– Your industry and company?

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High Impact Digital TechnologyWhat combinations of technology will create greatest impact and value?

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CertaintyModerate High


Identify Disruptive ScenariosTransformative market scenarios define transformative customer and society outcomes

• Personal transportation

– Combine GPS, smartphones, digital maps = UBER.

– Add intelligent cars and sharing economy = Autonomous shared vehicles

• Replacement parts

– Combine 3D CAD drawings, cloud based data & 3D printing on demand parts

• Some scenarios transcend industries

– Autonomous transportation

– Cognitive computing

– Robotics

• Others will be industry specific like computer-assisted surgery

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Identify Disruptive ScenariosTransformative market scenarios define transformative customer and society outcomes

• What scenarios will impact your customers and your industry?

• What will be valued within these scenarios?

• How will that value be created?

• What digital platforms and economic models will emerge within these market scenarios?

• What new growth market segments will they create?

• What market segments will be disrupted in their wake?

• How will those impact existing industry value chains?

• What new value chains will be created?

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Disruptive ScenariosWhat new market scenarios / economic paradigms will high impact technology drive?

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Courtesy - Frank Dianahttps://frankdiana.wordpress.com/


Transformative Market ScenarioName: Description of value created – outcome delivered

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Market Partnerships Market Activities Value Proposition Customer Relationships Customer Segments

Market Resources Channels

Cost Factors Revenue Generators


Industry Value Chains: New ParadigmImpact of digital innovation industry value chains. Yours and Customers.

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newIndustry Value Chains

How Jobs Are Done


Identify Leadership ModelsWhat leadership opportunities are in the transformative market scenarios

• What outcomes will be most valued?

• What industry value chains and digital ecosystems will support them?

• What will the primary value creation hubs be?

• What are your company’s core competencies?

• Where you can apply them within the transformative market scenarios?

• Which of your competencies create greatest value for customers, and opportunities for you?

• What opportunities exist to become a major platform within those scenarios?

• What alternative product, services, and business models will support those?

• What are the implications for marketing and operations?

• Where you are currently at greatest risk?

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Digital Leadership Model(s)Name: Products, services, and business model

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Partners Activities Value Proposition Customer Relationships Customer Segments

Resources Channels

Costs Revenue


The “X Factor” A Scenario Based Digital StrategyWhat is your optimal Agile strategy?

• Market scenarios

– What themes, risks, and opportunities do the scenarios and models you developed share?

– Where are the biggest and most common centers of economic and societal gravity?

– What does common sense tell you about which are most likely to occur?

• Digital leadership models

– Which give you the ability to cover the greatest number of highest probability market scenarios?

– What options; partnering, investment or alliances or even divestiture, let you address the highest value scenarios with the least amount of cost and risk?

• Strategic roadmap

– Which strategic path gives you the ability evaluate scenarios as they unfold and move fastest when market direction is clear?

– What implications are there for your product, marketing and operational strategies and systems?

• Customers and partners

– Which customers and partners can help you refine / invest in your strategy?

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Integrated Digital StrategyHow will you accelerate relevance, value, and effectiveness?

Company CapabilityScenario Based

Planning Strategic Objective

Vision /Customer Value

AB C

Market Environment

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Additional ResourcesClick below for free slide decks, blogs and videos from our Digital Leadership Program

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Online training, materials, and tools and a powerful planning framework dramatically reduce the time you need to organize, present and get buy in for your program

Free 50+ question discussion guide excerpted from our leadership program

Online at




Transformative Scenario DevelopmentHow will changes here impact what customers value and how that value will be created?

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Courtesy - Frank Diana

Old Economic Paradigm?


[email protected]

Mike Connor

Principal, Spice CatalystDirector, Customer Value Creation International (CVCI)

Author:• Creating Insanely Great Customers• Competing for the Digital Future

A Leadership Program in Digital Strategy and Transformation

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