The Holy Trinity of Digital Business

We have progressed from the industrial revolution to the digital age, which has rapidly changed the world, yet we are still taking small steps towards fully embracing the digital mindset, behavior, and skillset.

One common misconception about the digital age is that it is solely centered around technology. In reality, technology is a tool that enables you to achieve your goals. It is not uncommon to hear of companies investing millions in new IT systems and solutions under the guise of a digital transformation journey, leading many to believe that only the tech aspect of their business is changing. However, this narrow view can be detrimental to a business and result in wasted funds.

Digitalization is a fundamental change affecting all industries, societies, and customer behavior. It encompasses everything from value creation to the company's value chain, playground, business models, innovation, sales, and marketing. It is a change that cannot be ignored, and businesses must either adapt and reinvent themselves or face extinction.

To succeed in the digital business world, it is crucial to maintain a balance between the holy trinity of customer, business, and technology. These three entities are interdependent and must be considered at all levels. No one can be prioritized above or exist without the other.

The holy trinity of digital business: 1. Customer, 2. Business and 3. Technology

Scenario 1: Technology reigns supreme

Consider a scenario where technology is the driving force behind innovation. You develop cutting-edge technical solutions without fully considering their practical application, resulting in a product that nobody wants and a lack of viable business opportunities. Moreover, the IT systems you invested heavily in fail to support the needs and behaviors of your customers.

Scenario 2: Customer experience is paramount

Many companies are realizing the importance of prioritizing customer experience. While this is a step in the right direction, it can also lead to a scenario where you spend a lot of money creating a product that pleases your customers, but fails to generate a return on investment. It's essential to always evaluate the business impact of your decisions and investments, ensuring that the customer experience is balanced against the need for profitability.

Scenario 3: Business takes the lead

In a scenario where business objectives take center stage, the aim is to maximize profits by selling products at the highest possible price and to as many people as possible. However, if you fail to deliver value to your customers and meet their needs, this strategy will inevitably fail. In order to succeed in the long run, businesses must prioritize creating value for their customers while also meeting their financial objectives.

The Holy Trinity Across Organizational Levels

In my experience, companies that have adopted agile practices embody the Holy Trinity of digital business at the individual product level, but fail to do so at the business unit or company-wide level. At the product level, the product owner, service designer, and system architect work together in harmony, utilizing their diverse expertise and knowledge to create bullet-proof products and services. They understand that no one person or entity has all the answers and solutions, and collaboration and innovation are necessary to succeed.

However, at the business unit and company-wide levels, the story is different. Often, the software enterprise architect is the only entity with a holistic view and responsibility. While they may ask for business requirements, business owners/leaders are too high up on the hierarchy to truly understand the needs of the business. Additionally, there is no one entity responsible for the holistic customer experience, which is often considered a responsibility of the business owners/leaders. Ideally, there should be business and customer experience architects, alongside the enterprise architect, responsible for the holistic view at the business unit or company level.

At the top management level, the situation is even more concerning. Those in top management often have a strong business background, but lack knowledge of leading digital business or innovation, and may not understand the holistic nature of digitalization. There is often no representation of the customer in top management, despite the fact that the customer is the reason a business exists and the source of its revenue.

The conclusion

So what's the takeaway here? To create sustainable value for customers, businesses, and society, it's essential to maintain a balance between the holy trinity of digital business across all levels of operation. What does this mean in practice? It means having representatives from each discipline - business, customer experience, and technical - working together in harmony. This approach, known as digital business thinking, requires keeping the holy trinity in mind at all levels of the organization, including the product level, business unit level, and company level.

Digital business thinking in a a nutshell: When 1. customer, 2. business and 3. technology are always on balance in each of the organizational level from product level to business unit level as well as to company level i.e top management level.