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Designed for Digital: How to Architect Your Business for Sustained Success
One of Forbes's Top Ten Technology Books of the Year
How to redesign ‘big, old’ companies for digital success—featuring a survey of 300+ business leaders and 30+ global organizations, including Amazon, Uber, LEGO, Toyota North America, Philips, and USAA.
Most established companies have deployed such digital technologies as the cloud, mobile apps, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence. But few established companies are designed for digital. This book offers an essential guide for retooling organizations for digital success through 5 key building
• Shared Customer Insights
• Operational Backbone
• Digital Platform
• Accountability Framework
• External Developer Platform
In the digital economy, rapid pace of change in technology capabilities and customer desires means that business strategy must be fluid. As a result, business design has become a critical management responsibility. Effective business design enables a company to quickly pivot in response to new competitive threats and opportunities. Most leaders today, however, rely on organizational structure to implement strategy, unaware that structure inhibits, rather than enables, agility. In companies that are designed for digital, people, processes, data, and technology are synchronized to identify and deliver innovative customer solutions—and redefine strategy. Digital design, not strategy, is what separates winners from losers in the digital economy.
Designed for Digita l offers practical advice on digital transformation, with examples that include Amazon, BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, LEGO, Philips, Schneider Electric, USAA, and many other global organizations. Drawing on 5 years of research and in-depth case studies, the book is an essential guide for companies that want to disrupt rather than be disrupted in the new digital landscape.
How to redesign ‘big, old’ companies for digital success—featuring a survey of 300+ business leaders and 30+ global organizations, including Amazon, Uber, LEGO, Toyota North America, Philips, and USAA.
Most established companies have deployed such digital technologies as the cloud, mobile apps, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence. But few established companies are designed for digital. This book offers an essential guide for retooling organizations for digital success through 5 key building
• Shared Customer Insights
• Operational Backbone
• Digital Platform
• Accountability Framework
• External Developer Platform
In the digital economy, rapid pace of change in technology capabilities and customer desires means that business strategy must be fluid. As a result, business design has become a critical management responsibility. Effective business design enables a company to quickly pivot in response to new competitive threats and opportunities. Most leaders today, however, rely on organizational structure to implement strategy, unaware that structure inhibits, rather than enables, agility. In companies that are designed for digital, people, processes, data, and technology are synchronized to identify and deliver innovative customer solutions—and redefine strategy. Digital design, not strategy, is what separates winners from losers in the digital economy.
Designed for Digita l offers practical advice on digital transformation, with examples that include Amazon, BNY Mellon, DBS Bank, LEGO, Philips, Schneider Electric, USAA, and many other global organizations. Drawing on 5 years of research and in-depth case studies, the book is an essential guide for companies that want to disrupt rather than be disrupted in the new digital landscape.
208 pages, Paperback
Published September 21, 2021
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586 people want to read
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July 17, 2021
Staying Up to Date with Business/IT Developments - Having read Ross’s other books (e.g. see my review of “IT Savvy”), I thought I had to get this title to stay up to date with latest business/IT developments when I saw it was coming out. As I read the text, I felt familiar with the discussion of aligning processes technology and people and the emphasis that current and future efforts will continue to go beyond just IT concerns. Ross and her co-authors’ illusions to companies such as Campbell Soup and DHL with whom I had worked during IBM Business Consulting projects also lent to my confidence in their findings and projections concerning digital design.
More specifically, the book’s contents include a Series Introduction and Preface then 8 chapters: (1) Digital Business Design [a rationale and overview of the authors’ info gathering and study of the subject], (2) Building Shared Customer Insights, (3) Building an Operational Backbone, (4) Building a Digital Platform, (5) Building an Accountability Framework, (6) Building an External Developer Platform [chapters 2-6 are digital design building blocks], (7) Developing a Roadmap for Your Digital Transformation [arranging the building blocks] , and (8) Designing Your Company for Digital. There is also an Appendix 1: Committing to an Operating Model to Build an Operational Backbone and Appendix 2: Assessing Your Building Blocks for Digital Transformation as well as helpful Notes and Index.
As mentioned above, given past history, I had familiarity with different aspects of the topic, but did pick-up on newer aspects, fuller understanding, and the direction moving forward. For instance, the authors encapsulate that “Digital technologies are game changing because they deliver three capabilities: ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power. . . [for] develop[ing] new offerings to help solve customer problems.” They distinguish between ‘digitization of a company” versus “new digital offerings,” and speak about how businesses need to attend to both areas. There is mention that the book is applicable to non-profit and public sector concerns, but the wider socio-economic implications are beyond the book’s scope.
The authors do give much attention to the need for an “experiment, test, learn” culture and organization design emphasis on “new roles and accountabilities vs restructuring.” They stress that “the digital journey [is] long, [where] people take time to embrace, [and] adapt to new ways of working . . .” Their statement that the effort involves “. . . more fundamental organizational change than simply adopting Agile methodologies . . .” bring to mind books such as Dignan’s “Brave New Work” (see my review).
While the generation of “Customer Insights” for effective use of digital capabilities is significant, the possession of a robust “Operational Backbone” to deliver is also critical. From my earlier activities, I had an acquaintance with these dimensions as well as the idea of “Component Business Modeling” (see my review of Sanford and Taylor’s “Let Go to Grow: Escaping the Commodity Trap”) as a way to link them. What was new for me was the authors’ explanation of component APIs (application programming interfaces) as well as the designation of component owners and teams. These assignment help enable digital offerings and assure appropriate component interaction among each other and with other enterprise or cloud services. The other revelation was their description of fifth building block, “the external developer platform” as well as the internal and business ecosystem complications that it entails where as Manovich suggests “Software Takes Command” (see my review).
The diagrams and examples throughout the book illuminate, and the different ways of assembling the digital building block puzzle pieces to convey or lay out a development road map is cute and satisfying. Yet cases such as those related to Phillips Healthcare and Spotify during this time of COVID-19 bring to fore more nagging questions about the wider social effects and use of digital technologies (e.g. see my reviews of Topol’s “The Creative Destruction of Medicine,” Byrne’s “How Music Works,” and Kelly’s “The Inevitable”). As the authors say SMACIT (Social, mobile, analytics, cloud, the Internet of Things) with the acronym taken literally as the way we often experience or feel related changes may have broader meaning than they realize for good and ill (e.g. some such as Blackburn et al at McKinsey have recently indicated that pandemic conditions have accelerated digital development and use).
Even though the book does not explore the wider issues, it does provide a means for comprehending what is occurring with the expanding prominence (coming dominance?) of digital capabilities. It also should be an important resource in coming up with ways to proceed that will be of societal benefit as well in the long run.
More specifically, the book’s contents include a Series Introduction and Preface then 8 chapters: (1) Digital Business Design [a rationale and overview of the authors’ info gathering and study of the subject], (2) Building Shared Customer Insights, (3) Building an Operational Backbone, (4) Building a Digital Platform, (5) Building an Accountability Framework, (6) Building an External Developer Platform [chapters 2-6 are digital design building blocks], (7) Developing a Roadmap for Your Digital Transformation [arranging the building blocks] , and (8) Designing Your Company for Digital. There is also an Appendix 1: Committing to an Operating Model to Build an Operational Backbone and Appendix 2: Assessing Your Building Blocks for Digital Transformation as well as helpful Notes and Index.
As mentioned above, given past history, I had familiarity with different aspects of the topic, but did pick-up on newer aspects, fuller understanding, and the direction moving forward. For instance, the authors encapsulate that “Digital technologies are game changing because they deliver three capabilities: ubiquitous data, unlimited connectivity, and massive processing power. . . [for] develop[ing] new offerings to help solve customer problems.” They distinguish between ‘digitization of a company” versus “new digital offerings,” and speak about how businesses need to attend to both areas. There is mention that the book is applicable to non-profit and public sector concerns, but the wider socio-economic implications are beyond the book’s scope.
The authors do give much attention to the need for an “experiment, test, learn” culture and organization design emphasis on “new roles and accountabilities vs restructuring.” They stress that “the digital journey [is] long, [where] people take time to embrace, [and] adapt to new ways of working . . .” Their statement that the effort involves “. . . more fundamental organizational change than simply adopting Agile methodologies . . .” bring to mind books such as Dignan’s “Brave New Work” (see my review).
While the generation of “Customer Insights” for effective use of digital capabilities is significant, the possession of a robust “Operational Backbone” to deliver is also critical. From my earlier activities, I had an acquaintance with these dimensions as well as the idea of “Component Business Modeling” (see my review of Sanford and Taylor’s “Let Go to Grow: Escaping the Commodity Trap”) as a way to link them. What was new for me was the authors’ explanation of component APIs (application programming interfaces) as well as the designation of component owners and teams. These assignment help enable digital offerings and assure appropriate component interaction among each other and with other enterprise or cloud services. The other revelation was their description of fifth building block, “the external developer platform” as well as the internal and business ecosystem complications that it entails where as Manovich suggests “Software Takes Command” (see my review).
The diagrams and examples throughout the book illuminate, and the different ways of assembling the digital building block puzzle pieces to convey or lay out a development road map is cute and satisfying. Yet cases such as those related to Phillips Healthcare and Spotify during this time of COVID-19 bring to fore more nagging questions about the wider social effects and use of digital technologies (e.g. see my reviews of Topol’s “The Creative Destruction of Medicine,” Byrne’s “How Music Works,” and Kelly’s “The Inevitable”). As the authors say SMACIT (Social, mobile, analytics, cloud, the Internet of Things) with the acronym taken literally as the way we often experience or feel related changes may have broader meaning than they realize for good and ill (e.g. some such as Blackburn et al at McKinsey have recently indicated that pandemic conditions have accelerated digital development and use).
Even though the book does not explore the wider issues, it does provide a means for comprehending what is occurring with the expanding prominence (coming dominance?) of digital capabilities. It also should be an important resource in coming up with ways to proceed that will be of societal benefit as well in the long run.
December 19, 2019
Better than reading typical Gartner or Forester research reports. Could have more failures to help teams and companies recognize past mistakes. End of book provides good advice that there is no one way. Ultimately success will depend on leadership to drive necessary culture change.
May 2, 2023
Välillä on hyvä palata ”back to the basics” -kirjallisuuteen, kun yrittää selkeyttää omaa kuvaa perin hajanaisesta digitaalisesta kokonaisuudesta. Eri toimialat, yrityskohtaiset kyvykkyydet, eri legacyt, erilaiset muutosvastaisuus/ -myönteisyyskulttuurit, organisaatiorakenne jne jne ja vaikka ihan vaan sattuma. Kaikesta muodostuu vyyhti ja silloin tällaiset kirjat auttavat hahmottamaan mitkä olivatkaan ne kokonaisuuden rakennuspalikat. Yllättävän ajankohtainen!
Tämä istui omaan akuuttiin tarpeeseen, hain kokonaisuuskuvan rakennetta. Ei ehkä sovi pienille yrityksille tai jos etsii esimerkkitarinaa digitaalisesta transformaatiosta tietyssä kontekstissa.
Tämä istui omaan akuuttiin tarpeeseen, hain kokonaisuuskuvan rakennetta. Ei ehkä sovi pienille yrityksille tai jos etsii esimerkkitarinaa digitaalisesta transformaatiosta tietyssä kontekstissa.
April 28, 2020
If you work in a medium or large sized organization - currently going through a digital transformation or aiming to start - you absolutely need to read this book. Great rigor, evidence-based and full of practical insights - a true gem on the topic.
It’s by far the best book on organizational design I’ve read so far, and probably one of the best on digital transformation.
I would have given it 6 starts if I could!
It’s by far the best book on organizational design I’ve read so far, and probably one of the best on digital transformation.
I would have given it 6 starts if I could!
March 28, 2021
Very interesting view, on how companies should architect their businesses, in order to be competitive in the era of digital economy. The authors suggest, that to be successful, each company should have 5 main "architecture blocks", and that most big companies already on their way to redesign themselves. The most interesting here is that the book is not someone's personal account of "how company should operate", but a result of long and thorough research, with lots of interesting business cases.
Also, it is interesting to note, that though the book mostly concerns the redesign of big companies, the proposed framework of digital business can (and should) also be applied to startups. Sure, startup may seem successful but in most cases this is only while it has investor's money. To became successful in long-term, you should decide on the architecture of you business, and definitely it should be very flexible.
Take away message, which defines modern digital business:
Digital technologies make it possible - and customer demands make it necessary - to solve customer problems rather than just sell a portfolio of products and services
Digitized and digital are not the same. Digitizing means improving business processes and operations. At the same time digitization was the goal of prior business transformations, which includes enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). So, nowadays digitized processes are must-have basis for modern businesses, and many big enterprises are on their way to the digitization. Some startups can be more flexible on early stages, however, if the processes (not decision making, but routine operations) depend mostly on people, such startups won't be able to scale.
Also, it is interesting to note, that though the book mostly concerns the redesign of big companies, the proposed framework of digital business can (and should) also be applied to startups. Sure, startup may seem successful but in most cases this is only while it has investor's money. To became successful in long-term, you should decide on the architecture of you business, and definitely it should be very flexible.
Take away message, which defines modern digital business:
Digital technologies make it possible - and customer demands make it necessary - to solve customer problems rather than just sell a portfolio of products and services
Digitized and digital are not the same. Digitizing means improving business processes and operations. At the same time digitization was the goal of prior business transformations, which includes enterprise resource planning (ERP) and customer relationship management (CRM). So, nowadays digitized processes are must-have basis for modern businesses, and many big enterprises are on their way to the digitization. Some startups can be more flexible on early stages, however, if the processes (not decision making, but routine operations) depend mostly on people, such startups won't be able to scale.
January 27, 2021
An excellent follow-up to Ross's Enterprise Architecture as Strategy, expanding on the need to supplement the traditional-EA foundations described in the older book with a more nimble ecosystem to allow business agility in the "digital" (SMACIT) arena. One of those rare books where every page seems to be insightful and obvious at the same time.
The only caveat to this is that I'm yet to be convinced about the whole "bimodal IT" thing, which is implicit in every page of this book; for that, I can't really give 5 stars. But if you're going with Gartner's vision of slow and steady vs fast & furious, this book makes the journey there eminently understandable.
The only caveat to this is that I'm yet to be convinced about the whole "bimodal IT" thing, which is implicit in every page of this book; for that, I can't really give 5 stars. But if you're going with Gartner's vision of slow and steady vs fast & furious, this book makes the journey there eminently understandable.
July 28, 2022
Decent overview of the digitalisation process cleverly broken down into 5 jigsaw pieces a company builds to get there, with some worked examples at the end. Some parts felt a little like just-so stories but it’s fine, this is all post hoc stuff anyway.
Didn’t like so much the quotes from other literature that shrunk the text a few fonts for no discernable reason, more so if there was a quote from an spokesperson. Despite that I would have liked to have a little more on the human side of things, but it’s easier to describe the system rather than the people in it, in a Steinbeckian sense.
Didn’t like so much the quotes from other literature that shrunk the text a few fonts for no discernable reason, more so if there was a quote from an spokesperson. Despite that I would have liked to have a little more on the human side of things, but it’s easier to describe the system rather than the people in it, in a Steinbeckian sense.
April 18, 2023
This is the go-to for any sizeable company planning to enact digital transformations in systems. It presents very structured and practical models that are ready to be replicated in business settings (the research is backed by MIT) or at least give an idea of what should be started thinking & planning for the business to stay aligned or even ahead of the digital game.
This book is suitable for beginner-intermediate business/ digital strategist readers, contains an excellent variety of examples and baby action steps for complex business problems.
This book is suitable for beginner-intermediate business/ digital strategist readers, contains an excellent variety of examples and baby action steps for complex business problems.
April 24, 2021
My primary goal for this book was to get a business perspective of how companies are run and what drives some decisions. And this book certainly did help with that.
As with EA as a strategy, this book gives a strong foundation as to how companies can be managed while also giving good examples to back this up. Making this an easy to read book while also being fairly memorable thanks to the examples.
As with EA as a strategy, this book gives a strong foundation as to how companies can be managed while also giving good examples to back this up. Making this an easy to read book while also being fairly memorable thanks to the examples.
August 15, 2021
This is a nice, high-level overview of navigating a corporate digital transformation journey. The material is presented much like a college lecture: tell 'em what you are going to tell 'em, tell 'em, tell 'em what you told 'em. It's produced by MIT, so....
I really enjoyed the case studies of Spotify (lots of detail on employee team organization for successful decentralization), Schneider Electric (components/APIs/third-party app marketplace), and various financial services firms.
I really enjoyed the case studies of Spotify (lots of detail on employee team organization for successful decentralization), Schneider Electric (components/APIs/third-party app marketplace), and various financial services firms.
July 28, 2020
Easy read, Great content.
Jeanne combines the result over the research (content) with examples on application at the companies that are included in the research.
My guess is that for various type of readers the book delivers.
It contains lists, vision, fundamentals and operational examples.
I can recommend this book to (almost) everybody in a management or enterprise architecture role.
Jeanne combines the result over the research (content) with examples on application at the companies that are included in the research.
My guess is that for various type of readers the book delivers.
It contains lists, vision, fundamentals and operational examples.
I can recommend this book to (almost) everybody in a management or enterprise architecture role.
May 4, 2024
Solid. Could you glean the same content from dozens and dozens of Gartner and McKinsey reports? Sure, but you don’t want to. This reads like an overview of required capabilities for digital transformation, and a practical approach on how to wrap a strategy around it and get started based on your needs. This framework should be useful for any business
December 5, 2020
The case studies throughout the book were helpful in illustrating the different building blocks (things organisations need to have in place when designing for digital). Good advice in the final chapters on how to start.
January 27, 2021
Going digital doesn’t happen quickly. Keep investing money, time and effort to make sure the backbone meets the changing needs.
Digital transformation means gradually pursuing a new direction and slowly changing people’s habits.
Digital transformation means gradually pursuing a new direction and slowly changing people’s habits.
February 18, 2023
Great work for anyone facing the digital business transformation taking place across the globe. It offers a clear rationale for the development of a framework to transform businesses into digital with lots of case study analysis and insights.
February 19, 2024
it provides a well design approach on how to evolve a company into digital, with examples and assessments, althought it is a very similar approach as other transformations such as the infinite game or xlr8
March 16, 2025
Excellent read on digital transformation, detailing a 5-step road map with case studies samples from various companies from SaaS to more traditional businesses like energy/healthcare. Recommended for those seeking a high-level overview of corporate digital strategy
July 20, 2020
Book good
September 6, 2020
Great book for anyone trying to understand what digital transformation is and what it means for the industry/area that they work in! Especially useful for someone that is not in the IT sector.
October 12, 2020
A great reference book about digital transformation and its building blocks. This was the textbook of the course I took from MIT Sloan School of Management.
October 31, 2020
Loaded with recent and relevant cases thay will surely answer the how and why of going digital. Great aid to the many webinars the authors have given on the topic.
October 22, 2022
Best book about digital transformation
Clearly explained a rationale framework to transform businesses into digital with lots of insights from case study. I highly recommend reading
Clearly explained a rationale framework to transform businesses into digital with lots of insights from case study. I highly recommend reading
January 12, 2023
Excellent book for modern architects. Practical approach and in a concise way.
February 24, 2023
Solid read. Well written. Concise.
May 27, 2020
Very impactful insights, but difficult after the first chapter or two due to the dense subject matter. Will read again to learn as much as I can - Jeanne’s articles on the subject are fantastic.
January 11, 2020
This book provides for a comprehensive conceptual description of digital transformation building blocks, stages and its underlying logic. Highly recommended for those who want to see the whole digital transformation picture
January 4, 2020
Not a bad book on digital transformation. Gives a good look at IT in big companies from a business point of view. There is a good structure, case studies, sort of recipies, but on a high level. Not sure this book will be actual in 10 years, but for nowadays - recommended!
December 6, 2024
read this book for a class so not fun but pretty concise and factual
November 6, 2019
The books is about the digital transformation of established companies. The authors distinguish digitzed and digital. Digitized is about using digital tech for processes, digital is about new digital offerings and new value propositions. The bookd focuses on digital and identifies five building blocks that help established companies to map out which capabilities they need to work on in order to develop successful digital offerings.
Very insightful, "how-to" book for digital transformation. When other books on the topic only talk about business models, this books tells you "how" to transform. Tons of real-life examples.
Very insightful, "how-to" book for digital transformation. When other books on the topic only talk about business models, this books tells you "how" to transform. Tons of real-life examples.
June 5, 2024
Interesting high-level models:
* operational backbone versus digital platform
* the five building blocks for a digital platform
Some examples of innovation are somewhat outdated (e.g. references to the "Spotify Model"). And others do not take in account if the company innovated riding on "free" money (Uber) or had to pay their bills.
* operational backbone versus digital platform
* the five building blocks for a digital platform
Some examples of innovation are somewhat outdated (e.g. references to the "Spotify Model"). And others do not take in account if the company innovated riding on "free" money (Uber) or had to pay their bills.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews