Digital transformation is a term often tossed around in boardrooms but rarely understood in its full depth and breadth. David Rogers joins us on this episode of The Innovation Engine podcast to discuss his latest book, The Digital Transformation Roadmap, and his vast experience advising a bevy of top-tier corporate clients including Google, Microsoft, Citigroup, and Toyota.
A renowned faculty member at Columbia Business School, expert in digital transformation, and the brain behind several groundbreaking books on the subject, David is the perfect voice of reason to bring a logical understanding to this vital concept.
David underscores the significant differences between a digital-first startup and a legacy enterprise attempting to make its products and services viable in the digital realm. He emphasizes that digital transformation is not a short-term project, but a continuous journey intertwined with both digital strategy and sweeping organizational change.
In David's latest book, The Digital Transformation Roadmap, he outlines the Five Steps for Digital Transformation:
Define a Shared Vision: This involves crafting a vision unique to the organization. It should be more specific than just wanting to "go digital" and should be commonly understood by everyone in the company.
Pick the Problems that Matter Most: Prioritize key issues and be willing to say no to less important opportunities.
Validating New Ventures: Shift from traditional planning-focused models to iterative processes that allow for continuous learning and adaptation.
Managing Growth at Scale: Adopt different management or governance models that can work across multiple teams and cater to different strategic opportunities.
Growing Technology, Talent, and Culture: Identify gaps in technology infrastructure, talent, and company culture, and address these.
The process is cyclical, not linear, and the steps should be revisited regularly for continuous adaptation and improvement.
Tune in for an insightful journey into the heart of digital transformation with one of the foremost thought leaders in the field. Don't miss David's deep insights, actionable strategies, and a fresh perspective on a topic that's reshaping the global business landscape.
Learn more at davidrogers.digital
Read "The Digital Transformation Roadmap" by David Rogers
Connect with David Rogers on LinkedIn
Read "Marketing Myopia" by Theodore Levitt
Produced by NOVA Media
Bernie Doone joins us on this episode of The Innovation Engine to delve deep into the intricate world of Information Services. Bernie is no stranger to our listeners, having previously co-hosted episodes featuring insightful dialogues with experts like Marianne Johnson of Cox Automotive and Josh Eastright from Bloomberg Industry Group.
At its core, Information Services revolves around B2B companies whose assets lie predominantly in insights and value-added services. These entities play the crucial role of transforming data into insights and content, combining proprietary, third-party, and publicly available data. Companies like Bloomberg Industry Group and Cox Automotive are stellar examples of Information Services companies that have evolved into digital powerhouses, now offering tools and insights right when their customers need them most.
Throughout the conversation, we uncover key developments and trends in the Information Services sector. From building a common data platform to leveraging metadata for intuitive search, and from creating exceptional user experiences to the importance of research insights — we touch on a number of facets that are reshaping the industry.
Bernie brings a fresh perspective to product development that is sure to broaden your own understanding of what it means to innovate. Join us for this in-depth exploration and garner insights into the ever-evolving world of Information Services, the fascinating intersections with technology and AI, and why this industry can serve as an inspiration for sectors far and wide.
Resources:
Connect with Bernie on LinkedIn
Read The Product Mindset by David H. DeWolf and Jessica S. Hall
Read The Infinite Game by Simon Sinek
Read Enduring Ideas: The three horizons of growth from McKinsey & Company
Produced by NOVA Media
Productizing a services business is no small feat, but the benefits of doing so are vast: improved margins, increased productivity, higher company valuations, and less reliance on increasingly in-demand tech talent. Eisha Armstrong joins us on this episode of The Innovation Engine to share more about how to turn a services company into a productized business.
Eisha has established herself as an authoritative voice in this space, having authored two compelling books: Fearless: How to Transform a Services Culture and Successfully Productize and Productize: The Ultimate Guide to Turning Professional Services into Scalable Products. With her deep understanding of the challenges faced by B2B services companies competing against digital-first companies and scaling efficiently, Eisha offers some insightful strategies and tips.
In this conversation, Eisha highlights the importance of setting clear goals to inform your productization approach, treating productization as a portfolio, and overcoming the fear of productization.
Listen in as Eisha and host Scott Varho unpack the essentials of a product-friendly culture, highlighting five levers: vision, organizational structure, governance, talent, and people-related practices. Finally, Eisha introduces us to the 'four horsemen of productization': Knowing, Perfectionism, Scarcity thinking, and Individual heroics. She breaks down this daunting task into something surmountable that anyone in a services organization can’t afford to miss.
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
Produced by Nova Media
Sam Yen, the Chief Innovation Officer for Commercial Banking at JPMorgan Chase, joins us for this episode of The Innovation Engine to discuss Innovation by Design and Scaling Innovation. Sam is responsible for JPMorgan Chase’s digital products, platforms, innovation, and product strategy, so there is a massive amount of responsibility that falls under his purview.
We kick off the episode by diving into Sam's guiding principles for leading teams and prioritizing work in a financial institution of JPMorgan Chase's scale. He stresses the importance of being customer or client-centered, maintaining effective communication, ensuring a deep understanding of end-to-end experiences in product delivery, and keeping the bigger picture in mind while fostering a culture of quick learning and iteration.
Sam shares his insights on the power of design in crafting user experiences that are intuitive, delightful, and even "forgettable" in terms of ease of use. We discuss the challenges and constraints of fostering innovation in a large financial institution and how the constraints by which financial services companies are bound can, perhaps counterintuitively, lead to more focused solutions. We also cover Sam's previous work at SAP and the four phases of scaling innovation in large organizations he uncovered with Janaki Kumar and Baba Shiv. The four phases Sam details on the innovation journey run from the "lonely soldier phase" all the way through to a fully scaled culture of innovation.
Sam Yen is an acclaimed design leader who has had an exceptional career trajectory. Prior to his role as Chief Innovation Officer for Commercial Banking at JPMorgan Chase, he served as Managing Director for SAP Silicon Valley and was SAP's first Chief Design Officer. At SAP, Sam led their Design Thinking practice both internally and for customers. Sam offers a valuable perspective on integrating design principles at the highest levels of corporate decision-making and scaling innovation throughout large organizations.
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
Produced by Nova Media
Ready to be inspired by a transformation story that propelled a bank to new heights? In this discussion with Paul Cobban, we dig deep into the remarkable business transformation of DBS Bank under his leadership.
DBS' incredible journey saw the company go from having the reputation of being known as "D#mn Bloody Slow," as Paul tells it, to becoming a digital powerhouse that regularly earns accolades for its digital experience and transformation. DBS was named "World's Best Bank” by Global Finance 5 times, and it was hailed as one of Harvard Business Review's top 10 business transformations of the last decade, alongside innovation stalwarts Netflix, Amazon, and Adobe.
Paul also shares insights from the book he co-authored with Scott Anthony, Eat, Sleep, Innovate which serves as a roadmap for companies and leaders looking to excel with the right mindset, tools, and habits.
Join us for this engaging conversation as we uncover the magic behind DBS' transformation journey and gain valuable insights from Paul Cobban's wealth of knowledge and experience.
Produced by Nova Media
On this episode, we're diving into the world of Agile Thinking with our guest, Kevin Philpott, Director of Product Design at Pie Insurance.
Pie Insurance is a venture-backed insurtech startup, having raised over $600 million in funding since its inception in 2017. Kevin, who has been with Pie Insurance from the very start, is now responsible for all B2B, B2C, and enterprise digital interfaces. Prior to Pie, Kevin held senior product design roles at companies such as RapidFinance, part of the Quicken Loans Family of Companies, and GEICO. His experience across small, medium, and enterprise-sized companies gives him a unique perspective on the Agile Thinking challenges that occur in different business environments.
In this episode, Kevin shares his insights on building a culture of Agile Thinking. He emphasizes the "think big, start small, learn fast" mentality and the importance of focusing on outcomes over outputs. He stresses that the role UX can play in developing an Agile Thinking culture extends far beyond wireframes and pixels and reaches into areas like user research and deeply understanding quantitative metrics. Kevin also discusses the value of failure and learning, the power of trust in product development, and the need for a user-centric approach in product design.
Whether you're a product leader looking to shift your team's focus towards Agile Thinking or a UX designer eager to make a bigger impact, this episode is packed with practical insights and actionable advice.
Resources:
Connect with Kevin on LinkedIn
Learn more about Pie Insurance at pieinsurance.com
Read "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
Produced by Nova Media
On this episode of The Innovation Engine, we explore the fascinating world of applied innovation and the critical process of testing the commercial viability of ideas. Join us as we speak with Michael Rabjohns, Global Head of User Experience Research and Design at 3Pillar, and Steven Cooper, a Lead UX Designer in Michael's group. Both bring extensive experience in the digital product space. Between them, they have worked with household names like Marriott, Calvin Klein, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Google. Alongside host Scott Varho, they share their unique insights and valuable advice on navigating the complex landscape of innovation and product development.
Listen to the full conversation to hear about the importance of understanding users and their needs, the role of execution and the necessity of pivoting or persevering based on user feedback, and various tools and techniques for user research and testing. We also discuss the challenges of communicating with stakeholders, creating safe spaces for unbiased research, and the benefits of using low-fidelity prototypes in the early stages of development. Don't miss this engaging discussion packed with practical knowledge and valuable insights for product developers at any stage of their innovation journey.
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
Produced by Nova Media
Do you know the difference between focusing on outcomes versus outputs in product development — and why the difference can make or break a product? In this episode, we explore how shifting the focus from churning out features to driving business outcomes can help product teams deliver far greater value to users and organizations.
Our guest, Josh Seiden, is a designer, strategy consultant, and author of the book Outcomes Over Output: Why customer behavior is the key metric for business success. He spent two years working on a stock trading app that never shipped, which taught him the importance of putting products in users’ hands “unreasonably early.”
Josh presents three “magic questions” to help product teams focus on outcomes and introduces a new behavioral model that suggests teams should focus on changes in user behavior that create business value. He explains the importance of telling a specific story about the user journey, highlighting key moments that make a difference, and building a shared perspective and understanding to make collaborative prioritization decisions.
Finally, Josh discusses the benefits of outcomes-based roadmaps, providing context for why the team is doing something and outlining traditional roadmap content, questions, and risks.
Resources:
Learn more and get the full show notes at: 3PillarGlobal.com
Produced by Nova Media