This presentation represents a full day workshop for senior executives designed to help define and execute digital transformation programs within their businesses.
Email if you want a downloaded copy. michael.cairns @ outlook.com
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Digital transformation: A seminar for senior management
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Introduction
Michael Cairns is a publishing and media executive with over 25 years experience in
business strategy, operations and technology implementation. As a business
executive, Mr. Cairns has successfully managed several troubled and under-
performing businesses, creating new business opportunities, developing new funding
sources and enhancing shareholder value for investors. His years spent as an
operating executive have largely been with brand-name publishing companies such
as Macmillan, Inc., Berlitz International, Wolters Kluwer Health, Reed Elsevier and
R.R. Bowker. As a consultant, Mr. Cairns has worked with clients as diverse as
AARP, Hewlett Packard, InterPublic Companies and Reed Elsevier with an emphasis
on business strategy, market development and corporate development.
His skills and experience include:
Business and corporate strategy development and implementation
Operations management and business transformation
Traditional and digital publishing and operations
Print-to-digital transformation and adoption of new business models
Software development and software services
Mr. Cairns holds an MBA (Finance) from Georgetown University and a BA from
Boston University. He has served on several boards and advisory groups including
the Association of American Publishers, Book Industry Study Group and the
International ISBN organization. Additionally, he has public and private company
board experience.
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Michael Cairns
Information Media Partners
Strategy Consulting
New York, London, Melbourne
Tel: 908 938 4889
Michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com
Find me:
LinkedIn Twitter Blog Flickr InstaGram
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Information Media Partners
Michael Cairns established Information Media Partners in 2006 as a boutique strategy
consulting firm focused on the information and education publishing segment. The work
conducted by the firm includes product development, corporate development, sales
management and corporate reorganizations. We work with established businesses, private
equity owners and potential acquirers.
Examples of our work include:
Reorganized and re-focused a $25 million software publishing company by aligning
business operations with client priorities; implementing internal collaboration tools and
project management standards; re-building executive team to focus on effective and
efficient management
Defined a new business strategy for a large non-profit association and advocacy group,
expanding their business model into global markets to exploit their core knowledge and
expertise across a broader market
Led an information technology capabilities review at a large international advertising
holding company. Completed over 200 interviews in 15 international offices and multiple
group focus sessions to define the operational ‘gaps’ between existing agency capabilities
and those necessary and important for client delivery by region
Completed a sales management effectiveness review for a global software company and
defined six key project initiatives to improve sales effectiveness, market development and
account management
We approach our client engagements in a standardized, logical manner which creates the best
environment to identify key business drivers, administrative and logistical road blocks and/or
product or market definition issues. Our investigative approach leads to better insights into
your businesses and supports the development of workable solutions and recommendations
for success.
Visit the Information Media Partners website for more information.
Sample Client List
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Digital transformation is not….
a choice
partial or part-time
casual or non-committal
incremental
about legacy systems
about complacency
about risk aversion
without consequences
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Digital transformation is about…
challenging the status quo
optimizing the value proposition to the customer
massive changes in process, technology, people,
products, customer relationships
experimentation and managing failure
new partnerships, employees, leadership
risk and risk-taking
organizational change and change management
agility and nimbleness
cross-functional, multi-disciplinary work practices
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Year 0 Years 1-3 Years 2-4
Launch digital reinvention
program
ID opportunities for near-
and long-term cost
reductions
Set business strategy for
revenue growth and
migration to digital
products/services
Devise and implement e-
commerce technical
platform
Re-scale/restructure
technology platform to
accommodate digital
production & delivery
Set framework for
launch of new e-
products and services
Adapt existing
products and services
to electronic
distribution platform
Continually refresh and improve scalable
technical platform
Develop and maintain a strategic direction
that progressively expands digital
transformation across organization
Continually explore and confirm expansion
targets -- new markets and new offerings
Enhance the continuous communication link
between product teams and customers
Continually update metrics for measurement
of company’s leadership in marketplace
Staging the transformation
Stage:
E-Commerce
Enabled
Digital
Enabled
Recognized
Digital
Leader
Estimated
Timeframe:
Project:
Build New Products
Build Out Core Capabilities
Transformative Products and Services
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Stage:
E-Commerce
Enabled
Strategy, products,
standards and processes
are aligned with the benefits
of electronic distribution.
Recognized
Digital Leader
Market leading provider of digital-based
solutions to core market and capable of
leveraging a state-of-the-art technical
platform for entry into new markets and new
product offerings.
Timeframe:
Core
Capabilities
Focus:
Same customers and markets,
but with improved operations,
ordering, communication and
reporting.
Existing customers and markets,
but with better, more adaptable
and high-margin products more
efficiently delivered.
Existing and new markets, with breakthrough
products, competitive advantage in the form of
editorial development and cost structure, and a
significant driver of innovation throughout the
organization.
A more efficient, customer-
responsive organization.
Digital marketing
CRM
Design, UI/UX expertise
Mobile strategy
Data strategy & analytics
Development &
engineering
Product management
Client-focused R&D
Core capabilities and HR
planning
Lamplight initiatives
Mobile apps (and access)
Payment platform
Access & entitlement
Integrated CRM, MDM
Multiple business models
2nd Generation KPIs
Expanded HR planning
Defined (new) customer journeys
Multi-channel strategies
Single view of target customers
Fully digital value chains: end-to-end provider
Operational continuous improvement
philosophy
Sunset ‘legacy’ products
Brand re-focus, relaunch
Seamless integration of acquired products
Envisioning digital transformation
Year 0 Years 1-3 Years 2-4
PercentageofRevenuefromDigital
Digital
Enabled
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Guiding digital transformation
Start with vision and purpose:
“When a unified understanding of customers is lacking, companies
struggle to mobilize employees around integrated touchpoints, journeys,
and consistent experiences, while often failing to discern where to best
place their bets as digital broadens customer choice and the actions
companies can take in response.” (1)
Focus on your customers/consumers and their behaviors
Define the right planning horizons to reinvent yourself
frequently
Understand and invest in competitive differentiation and
advantage
Harness flexible technology effectively
Define and establish new motivation and performance plans
Eliminate operational silos and fiefdoms which impede
change and cooperation
(1) Culture for a digital age, McKinsey Quarterly, July 2017
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Committed executive sponsorship
CEO/Board sets step-change objectives
Start with vision and purpose
Shareholders must have long-term conviction
Avoids ‘back-sliding’ and ‘good enough’ delivery
CEO communicates vision – what needs to be achieved, why and
when
Assign senior management responsibility
Make other leaders accountable
Remove blockages
Motivate staff via bonus, financial and other reward programs
Encourage inspired leadership where leaders ‘own’ digital change
Establish reporting frameworks that support constant questioning,
revision and adaptation
Aligning organization around ‘digital by default’
Agreement comes from relentless daily engagement
CEO actively interested in all activities
Proactive, disruptive, ambitious
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A relentless focus on the customer
Organize around customer outcomes, not legacy processes
Think ‘audience’, not ‘product’
Ask how does this create value for the customer?
Adopt customers into the product-development process: Co-design
with users
Use customer feedback to challenge assumptions/mock-ups and
build knowledge of customer needs
Establish a deep knowledge of needs, requirements, pain points and
objectives
Obsess over customer engagement and encourage continuous
improvement in product development
Use marketing actively to engage with consumers, not passively to
persuade
Include suppliers and partners in open product development
activities
Engaged customers become advocates for the product(s)
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A philosophy of iterative improvement
Build out core capabilities – establish base
Customer, product, marketing data management
Agile technology, UI/UX expertise
Data science and analytics
Select initial (Lighthouse) digital product ideas carefully
with respect to impact, cost, timeframe, need
Prototype: Make multiple product bets
Test and experiment
Test/plan business models which are experimental
Honor cost of failure and increase speed of learning
Enabling flexibility creates “pure play” opportunity
Setting reporting frameworks that review objectives and
results, provide opportunities to double-down or pivot
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Technology to facilitate not impede
Redefine the role(s) of IT from legacy maintenance to
enterprise and customer enablement
Replace old, inefficient systems
Outsource non-core activities to build flexibility
Seek nimble, flexible and easy-to-use technical solutions
Agility and resilience
Technology in terms of value to customers
Smaller, iterative, focused ‘blocks’ of work
Enable course correction and effective spending in development
Amazon technology practice: “Eat your own dog food”
Open source solutions and “open” by default
Subscription-based models and virtual/cloud-based solutions
over self-hosted servers and proprietary software
Limit long-term ‘lock-in’
Third-party provider contracts which vary based on usage/data
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Technology is increasingly personal
B2B users are all B2C users: Experiences co-mingled
Changes behavior of B2B users acting like B2C users
B2C users are impatient, dilettantes, passionate, social
UI and UX experience is shaped by B2C media experience
Invest in researchers and analysts to define customer needs
Think audience, not product: be channel flexible
Understand how customers want to consume your content
• “What does the customer do immediately 10 minutes before
and 10 minutes after they use your product?”
Adapt to the needs of the customer, not to the existing product
range
Essential to create multi-media: Text, audio, data and
visual assets
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Work across silos and collaborate
Develop digital thinking across the whole organization
No digital enclaves
Establish integrated cross-functional teams
Not limited to one department – literally applied and embedded everywhere
Collective wisdom
Catalog and make best use of the digital expertise you have
Establish collaborative tools and share knowledge
Office 365/Google Docs, Cascade, Atlassian, Slack, etc.
Share data, results, experience
Stream training sessions, community events and meetings
Ensure joined-up, comprehensive information systems
Implement fully-integrated business model(s)
Not ‘just digital’
Constraints often cultural, not technical
Silos enable inadequate information sharing, insufficient accountability
and lack of coordination on enterprise-wide initiatives
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Skills-based investment
Adopt broad-based internal training programs
Change hiring practices
Revise job descriptions
Distribute decision making
Avoid top-down management decision making
Enable cross-functional and cross-business small team-based initiatives
Provide ‘at point-of-use’ tools & data for decision making
Think and act like a start-up
Enable learning culture
Lunchtime talks on benefits of technology tools
Encouraging staff to ideate and provide mechanism to contribute
Establish internal venture fund
Encourage quick decision making via agile project management
practices
Acknowledge mistakes, learn from them, rapidly fix them with alternatives
Agile approach can facilitate a ‘culture of experimentation’
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Reward digital progress
Communicate benefits across the business
Show how digital works better and easier
Drive motivation for digital
Encourage people to think about how digital creates
improvement
Open decision making where all staff can participate
Simple as daily ‘stand-up meetings’
Tools and information at point of contact to encourage
decision making
Tough problems can be effectively addressed by
small, focused teams
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Data management
Product metadata management
Create product data methodology and center of
excellence
Customer (CRM) and marketing (MDM)
Secure data program
Data to drive product improvement and new product
development
Performance and users
Metrics which catalog activity and the impact of
changes and improvements
Social application interfaces
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Systematically gather and use data
(Re)define key performance measures
From basic to sophisticated over time
• Short-term growth milestones
• Specific measures for digital transformation/digital adoption
• Measures for the impact of digital change
KPIs impose themselves over time helping to navigate and
define road maps
KPIs represent the coordinates of user behavior
Data as a strategic asset (2)
Have a data strategy
Have a data owner
Data which is consistent, comprehensive, clear
(2) Corporate Data Strategy & the Chief Data Officer
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Look outward to market & competitors
Map competition across sectors by digital
achievement and/or capabilities
Actively engage competition
Apply experience from different industries
Create value through platforms and networks
Understand and invest in differentiation and
advantage
“Best in breed” benchmarking
Build global awareness
Seek partners to build virtual scale
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“Lighthouse” projects
New initiatives need to be chosen carefully
Markets where customers are passionate
Markets where decisions are expensive
Investments linked to clear achievable targets
Rank success, opportunity, benefit, timeframe, costs
Initial projects offer significant rewards with manageable
risk
Targets help prioritize benefits of initiatives
Targets make things clear and can drive transformative
change
External benchmarking can support target definition
Setting ‘step-change’ targets early on guards against
‘good enough’ and regression
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Establish high-caliber launch teams
Product launch team(s) under senior executive
(CEO, CDO, CRO)
Hire and/or train designers, data scientists, scrum
masters, developers
Expect to hire 10-50 new people for initial products
Explore “Acquhire” opportunites with M/A activity
Aggressive on price and justify with added features,
content, functionality, etc.
Launch teams hand over products to ‘core’ product
groups over time
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Please visit my blog for related articles
and presentations:
http://personanondata.blogspot.com/2011
/09/corporate-data-strategy-and-chief-
data.html
Michael Cairns
Managing Partner
Michael.Cairns@InfoMediaPartners.com
908 938 4889
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