Digital Business in 2013:: it’s how things ARE on the inside that matters

Friday, 4 January, 2013 Leave a comment

Trust me, because I speak from personal experience, it is a hard (frustrating, lonely and costly) path you tread when advocating fundamental change for an industry such as insurance!

Social Business is the real deal, NOT a flash-in-the-pan.

Of course there any number of firms ready and willing to tell the insurance industry about the merits of their particular social media (Social Business) solutions…there is even a forthcoming event, “Digital Insurance Strategies 2013”…BUT, very few have sufficient knowledge about the number and nature of the industry’s root and branch problems. I fear there isn’t much scope for help from within an industry: in denial of the failings of the prevailing model and culture; structured for selling – push not pull; hampered by a prediction addiction; too closely-coupled to its supply chain to adapt to a changed environment; devoid of truly innovative [creative destruction] ideas – a long and inglorious record of self-serving destructive creation is no substitute and has the opposite of the desired effect, which leads to; the inability to afford the requisite level of transparency required to (re)build customer trust and loyalty.

For a digital strategy to be effective and sustainable in the Digital Age requires i2o [inside to out] change…otherwise it could be a, short-lived and very expensive exercise in turd-polishing!!!

Building a Digital Strategy

Last year, here on CMSWire, I took a look at what it was going to take for the typical company to begin the transition to a more fully realized digital business, meaning one that uses digital technology like a native to connect, engage and co-create with its ecosystem of stakeholders.

The fundamentals of digital business itself are actually fairly straightforward. It consists of a digital ecosystem (open supply chain, strategic data ownership, social capital and other network effects), dynamic value flows, a default stance to incorporate constant change in an emergent and decentralized fashion, and a data-driven view of the world. All of these must be key elements of how we re-imagine our businesses for the very near future.

Hierarchies to communities

The power of social capital being formed in social media in all its forms is reshaping who is in charge, who has the bulk of control over value creation, and how companies must cultivate and engage their stakeholders. Digital organizations understand that peer production is the most powerful force in business. Companies like Intuit and Procter & Gamble are upending industries with this idea.