This week I was attending a conference, and one of the inspirational speaker sessions touched on the subject of how technology and digital information is changing the way enterprises do business. The old model has relatively been stable around the concept of either inside-out or outside-in with the customers/business on the outside circle and the organizations/solutions on the inside either pushing out products to consumers or creating products directly influenced by the customers demand. In the inside-out model, one designs a product and then pushes it out hence shaping the market with that product. In EA, this a focused planning on internal interactions for better operational outcomes. In the commerce world, a simple example would be a clothing store department where the designed outfits and apparel are pushed to the store floor, and I as a buyer would walk in with my buying choices limited to the available merchandise and designed outfits.
However, in the era of digital business combined with social and mobile transformations, these models are undergoing a forced change. Now, we are being governed by an outside-out model where everything is influenced and determined on the outside with focus shifting away from the enterprise to that outer circle. For example, and following the scenario given above, let us consider the new social apps such as those that lets you dress your friends and automatically buys the different designs imposed on your picture by other people. Here, we are no longer bounded by what designs and products introduced by rather altering the offered solution itself (the designed outfit). This is an outside-out model driving a new business model and imposing a different perspective for EA planning or approach to an enterprise. With and outside-out model, the EA team needs to take a broader perspective of not only business and technology but also the customers and their circle of influence. We are living in a connected world not only through devices but also through a social fabric and media where there are unknown possible combinations of all those three affecting the ecosystem of an enterprise and the way EA team approaches the architecture task.
The implications and ramifications on EA of an outside-out model will be felt at multiple levels. The business needs to understand this model and translate to the EA team, and IT should expect more agility and diversity. EA team should accordingly plan to communicate and work with both to facilitate and sponsor a closer partnership for driving change and innovation because “the times they are a changin’ “.
References:
"Architecting the Digital Business – Gartner Symposium/ITxpo Q&A With Betsy Burton". Christy Pettey. (Gartner, Sep 2015)
"Algorithms Are the Game Changers in a Digital Business". Daryl C. Plummer. (Gartner, Mar 2016)
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ReplyDeleteZiad,
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. I like how you have linked to the customer and the circle of influence they can create and how this impacts the business. Since this can happen very unexpectedly in today's digital age, it would seem that the need for forward-looking EA planning is even more critical. Being able to react quickly based on these external influences is not something that I was necessarily thinking about regarding value EA can provide. Times are a changin indeed!!
Thanks again,
Joe C
Ziad,
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting set of insights on the nuances of the expanding notion of "customer" in the age of social web. As architects we need to design ultimately for the end customer, i.e. our customer's customers.
Take also the example of Amazon's Book review feature... Today, before anyone buys a book, they will check what others think about the book, before making their buying decision. Obviously, this also happened prior to the evolving social web, but the behavior has been greatly enhanced because of the new social tools which allow us to do these interactions easily.
So yes, indeed I can see the model you speak of -- although I would think that your outside-out model ultimately will have an "In" in the end for the business organization to reflect on. But I agree that this is downplayed relative to the huge driving force of the out-out customer experience (CX). Perhaps it might also help clarify the nuance if we extend the term to be outside-out-out-out-(before-In), where the middle outs (exponential outs) have become our new reality because of how social the customers have become due to what our technologies has done.
Thank you for the insights.