EDS

A.T. Kearney V.P. writes about winning digital revolution

Mastering the Digital Marketplace, a new book by Doug Aldrich – Vice President of A.T. Kearney, EDS' management consulting arm – gives executives a framework to transition their companies into the digital economy.

Aldrich writes that the digital revolution will make companies change their approach to product development, market participation and organizational structure.

"This is a book about how to win in the digital marketplace," Aldrich said. "How to transform a company's products or services, an organization's culture, even an entire industry to keep pace with the revolutionary changes taking place in society at large."

Aldrich addresses three fundamental questions that senior corporate leaders must be prepared to answer:

• How do we understand what the consumer our customer truly values? Time. Companies such as Mobil Oil, which introduced Speedpass to save customers time gassing up their cars, and American Airlines, which introduced ticketless travel where customers don't use boarding passes, saved consumers time and created loyalty in the process.
• How will the digital economy change my relationships with vendors and customers? It causes executives to create new transactional models to manage relationships effectively using the Internet.
• What will be the impact of the digital economy on my company's culture and organizational structure? A company needs to be flexible enough to expand during times of emerging opportunities, and shrink if that is more cost-effective, or outsource some aspect of creating or distributing its product to a business partner.