At a recent ASNET Board (1) seminar on digitalization, Tete Mensa-Annan Director Microsoft Technology Center gave a great presentation on the four dimensions of digital transformation as they apply to most companies.

Digital transformation is according to Tete a continuous iterative process working on four dimensions: Empower your employees, Engage your customers, Optimize your operations and Transform your products.

In our previous post we wrote about how ExO-Tools might be applied by SMExOs (Small Medium sized Exponential Organizations) to engage with customers. In this post and as a natural next step we discuss how ExO-tools may be applied in transforming your products.

Tete said about transforming your products that “Today digitalization is taking place across the company and is no longer limited to a single product. Data insight makes it possible to understand your market and industry and it enables you to anticipate future trends. This is beneficial when making decision about product launches and it opens up a field of new business opportunities”

How could an SMExO (Small Medium sized Exponetial Organization) apply ExO-Tools to transform products?

Perhaps ExO-tools like Community & Crowd and Experimentation may be applied when you transform your productss

Community & Crowd are externally oriented ExO-Tools that extend your SME-organization

By establishing a skills-based community, you can draw on the time and efforts of passionate community members, to create unique applications. Crowds can contribute with creative input, validation of applications, and funding

Why is Community & Crowd important?

  • Increases loyalty towards your company
  • Drives exponential growth
  • Validates new ideas and learning
  • Allows agility and rapid implementation
  • Amplifies ideation

Key questions to ask yourself:

  • Is there an existing community we can leverage?
  • How will we turn external community into advocates?
  • How will we create value for our community?
  • How can the community create value for our offerings?

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Experimentation is an internally oriented ExO-Tool that uses simulation and rapid prototyping to quickly develop Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). 

Constant experimentation and process iteration reduce an organization’s risk.  A prerequisite for experimentation is a willingness to fail: a key principle of Lean Startups is to “fail fast and fail often while eliminating waste.”

Why is Experimentation important?

  • Facilitates measurement and tracking of experiments
  • Maximizes value capture
  • Get your products faster to market
  • Ensures faster learning

Key questions that you should ask yourself:

  • What do you want to learn and what experiments will you run to do it?
  • How will you measure the success of these experiments?
  • How can we encourage experimentation within the organization?

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(1) ASNET Board is supporting Danish SMEs in establishing an external board of directors and in this way strengthen the companies management. ASNET Board is a network organisation consisting of experienced managers working professional in company boards