数字化转型+消费趋势

The $500 billion missing ingredientin digital transformation Of course there are many reasons whyprojects fail: a resistant culture, lackof leadership, technical or operationalcomplexity. Digital transformation istheshiny new objectfor every consultancy and agency out there. Thenumbers are staggering. Businesses spent more than $1 trillion on digitaltransformation initiatives in 2017, a numberthat’s forecast togrow to $1.7 trillionby 2019. But here we’d like to offer four reasonswhy too often the focus on ‘digitaltransformation’ misses the point, andshow how injecting a consumer trendperspective can help increase yourchances of success above that 50%mentioned above. Kind of important whenspending your slice of that $1.7 trillion,we’d say ;) They’re chasing quite a prize: the WorldEconomic Forum estimates thepotential globalimpact of digitalization as being $100trillion. However, despite all this, only half of leadersfeel they’re successfully executing their digitalstrategies, withone in fivesecretly thinking theprojects are a waste of time! MONEY WELL SPENT? At TrendWatching we say that a consumertrend is a “new manifestation – in behavior,attitudes and expectations – amongconsumers of fundamental needs, wants,desires or values.” At the heart of this definition is the ideathat people have certain basic needs andwants that don’t change much year-on-year, if millennia-on-millennia. The questfor social status, the desire for securityand community, choosing convenience,seeking trustworthy information…the listgoes on. None of these basic human needsand wants were created by the digitalera. But digital technologies enablepeople to realise those needs in newways. Connecting with friends andfamily on social media. Trusting peersin the sharing economy. Real-timeaccess to hyperlocal information. Understanding the basic humanneeds and wants that are central toyour business will give your digitaltransformation a purpose. Case study:ASOS Take the recent initiative from ASOS, thedigital native fast fashion brand. In April2018 the retailer started testing a featureto show how the same outfit looks onpeople of different sizes. The initiativeuses augmented reality (AR) technologyto automate the process, because ASOSoften stocks over 10,000 items at any onetime so photographing every one 3–4times is not feasible. More importantly, this tech-driveninnovation fits into a deeply customer-centric but powerful wider businessstrategy. First, as an online retailerensuring customers receive clothes thatfit well reduces margin-killing returns.Second, this initiative sits within thebrand’s effort to promote inclusive fashionand follows its pledge to stop airbrushingmodels’ appearance. Retailers have been talking about AR foryears, but often applications are gimmicky:how many in-store shoppers want touse ‘magic mirrors’ when they are in thefitting room?! However, rather than beingfrivolous this is a practical, empoweringuse of AR technology. About time! Anyone who’s attended a technologyconference in the past decade will have heardthe cliché that ‘today is going to be the slowestrate of change you’ll experience in the restof your life!’ And it’s true, theconvergenceof exponential technology on exponentialtechnologymeans that every organizationwill need to be in a state of constant digitaltransformation 2Embrace thejourney, rather thana destination The key word above isconstant. IndeedWTF does ‘digital’ even mean these days?Like ‘online’, the concept is meaningless asevery singleproduct, interaction, processor experience becomes digitally produced,managed or delivered. Once you have a clear ideaof these, you can enjoy thejourney confident that you’reheaded in a clear direction.Even if your ultimatedestination will foreverremain on the horizon ascustomers continually raisetheir expectations. Back to the main issue: digitaltransformation implies a ‘before’and ‘after’ state, where a businessis now ‘digitally transformed’. Butas Jeff Bezos famously remindshis team, it’salwaysDay 1atAmazon. Day 2 is stasis. Day 2 isdeath. Equally, dealing with constantchange is exhausting. You needsomethingfixed to navigatetowards. What better than thebasic human needs and wantsthat will continue to motivate yourcustomers? Case study:Ben & Jerry’s At Ben & Jerry’s London outlet whichopened in May 2018, the companylaunched a blockchain initiative that letcustomers offset their carbon footprint.Ben & Jerry’s partnered with the PoseidonFoundation to calculate the environmentalimpact generated from producing andpurchasing a scoop of ice cream. By theend of the one-month pilot, customershad helped save 1,000 trees, covering theequivalent of 77 tennis courts. But this has taken place at the corporatelevel. Now Ben & Jerry’s are enablingcustomers to offset the impact of aspecific purchase. The key enabling factorhere is that blockchain enables carboncredits to be bought in tiny fractions, withtransactions processed at a disruptivelyfeasible