"Every component of the value chain must be redefined to embed a digital native standpoint"
Wishing to discover what digitalisation can bring to business models, work environments and innovation processes? Our top-notch team of trainers are there to help you boost your skills in Digital Transformation.
From 20 May to 18 June 2021. Solvay Brussels School is organising a series of 5 masterclasses, of 2 days each, on five key topics for implementing digital transformation in your company: Digital Business Models, Strategy, Data Analytics, Digital Governance and Go to Market.
Learn more about each of these masterclasses with the interviews of our teachers and experts:
Digital Business Models Masterclass | Led by Benjamin Beeckmans & Omar Mohout | 20 & 21 May 2021
What impact do digital business models have on a company today?
There is no such thing as a digital business model next to a non-digital business model anymore. I mean, every aspect, every dimension of the management of a company has been fundamentally impacted by an ever-growing trend toward digitalisation. And if you think about it, the customer discovery process leading to value creation, the product and service design, the go to market strategy, the emergence of new touchpoint, even the multiple monetisation scheme, all these components of the value chain must be redesigned, must be redefined to embed a digital native standpoint.
Even at management level, the skillset required from today's leader, going from the management of people remotely to digital service excellence, must include those new tools that weave digital into the entire organisation. And failing to do so may result in quicker than ever obsolescence of your relationship with your clients, your employees and your shareholders.
Do you have an example that could illustrate that?
Many companies have successfully adopted a digital-first approach. To name a few, Tinder or Airbnb have successfully disintermediated their respective market by providing a digital-first service with just the information their clients wanted, when they wanted it, and with little or no friction between service request and delivery. On the contrary, travel companies like Thomas Cook, for instance, saw their profit pool shrink to the point they had to declare bankruptcy. And this was largely caused by a massive disintermediation process, a service that got digitised and eliminated friction. So, in a sense, it was a service that could be provided just as well using a digital platform than through travel agency.
What will I get from the "Digital Business Models Masterclass"?
Our programme will help you prepare your response to today's digital challenge to your business model. Together, we will identify the structural change that will generate more value and build your next generation enterprise. A participant can expect from this programme, a better understanding of the potential business impact of the combined effect of the COVID crisis with the acceleration of the digital transformation. He can also expect a better management of the tools required to assess the digital threat, assess its competitive position in this new digital environment through six key factors, including organisational design and leadership. Last, together, we will develop a framework to prepare your response and generate more value over time for your business.
Who is this Masterclass for?
If you're leading a company, if you're managing a department, or even if you design a new public policy, this programme is for you. We will help you make sense of the latest changes, threats and opportunities for your organisation.
Strategies For The Digital Age Masterclass | Led by Nicolas van Zeebroeck | 27 & 28 May 2021
What impact does Digital Transformation have on a company today?
Ignoring the new possibilities offered by the technologies is clearly a recipe for obsolescence of your business. And it's not just a matter of digitalising your existing processes or distributing products via the web or mobile applications. No, it's really about radically changing the way you serve your customers and you interact with them. It's really about the very definition of the business you’re in, and it's about how technology can help you redefine the rules of the game in your own business.
Do you have an example that could illustrate that?
RTBF, the Belgian French speaking public media broadcasting company. Well, every aspect of the linear TV and radio model is affected by the technology. How you create contents, how you diffuse contents via digital platforms, how you compete with streaming services, how you deal with eroding advertising budgets… Every aspect, really, of the business is dramatically affected by the new possibilities of the digital technology. And how you respond to those challenges is really what digital transformation is about.
Today, in such a disrupting world, could a company be affected if it doesn't implement Digital Transformation in its strategy ?
Technology should never be an end, it's just a means to support a strategy. And without a proper strategy, technology is just a nasty habit. So, the name of the game is not to digitalise your business, but to formulate a strategy that is fit for the digital age, and to identify which technology you need to make your business succeed. So, it's no easy game to play, since it requires courage to challenge the status quo and perhaps even cannibalise your existing profit pools. But it may open-up such huge access to entirely new revenue streams and comparative advantages, that it's really worth the pain.
What will I get from the "Strategies for the Digital Age Masterclass"?
You're going to learn how to make sense of digital technology in your strategy. You will develop a clearer understanding of how and which technology can reshape your business or industry and how to integrate those capabilities successfully in your strategy and your organisation. So, during the workshop, you will apply the frameworks to your own business to assess the digital readiness of your strategy and the digital maturity of your organisation, thereby helping you to identify priority areas for digital improvement.
Who is this Masterclass for?
For anyone willing to start or structure a strategic reflection on digitalisation, to better understand how technology affects businesses and how to leverage technology in a strategy that is fit for the digital age.
Data Analytics Masterclass | Led by Martine George | 3 & 4 June 2021
What impact do Data Analytics have on a company today? Do you have an example that could illustrate that?
I have had a very interesting conversation with the CEO of circular economy, small company, and the conversation was about how important it was for them to transform their business model by including some digital channel in order to continue to do some business during the COVID crisis. Through that experience, they realised how important data are in digital activities.
In just a few months, they captured through their e-channel, a lot of information about their customers, which helped them to envision a different strategy for their shops in the future. This experience also helped them to understand their lack of maturity in data and analytics, which also gave them some ideas in order to be supported by different partners to help them to envision this transformation and to become more data-driven. Now, they are ready to sell more products online and they can adapt easily their offers based on a lot of feedbacks they can receive from their customers, because they have organized smartly their data to support these changes.
What will I learn in the "Data Analytics Masterclass"?
If you are interested as they were to know more about data and analytics and how data and analytics can help you to revisit your current business within a digital environment, I really invite you to have a look to the masterclass “XXX” we are proposing. You will understand better the importance of collecting your data, how to analyse them, how to organize them to help you to take better decisions in the future. It will be also an opportunity to have a photo of your current data and analytics maturity. And to see based on your strategy, how data and analytics can support your future ambitions.