[MUSIC] Hello, and welcome to the course

on Digital Transformations. My name is Deepa Mani. I'm an Associate Professor with

the Information Systems Group at the Indian School of Business. I'm also the
Executive Director for
the Srini Raju Centre for Technology and the Networked Economy, a center at ISB
that focuses on ICT-centric research, education, and outreach. In this course, we
will learn about
how technology-led products, services, and business models
are disrupting industries and fundamentally altering business functions. In turn,
the course will empower you
with the skills required to compete and perform in this new technology-intensive
business environment. I'll get into the specifics of
what you learn in this course in a couple of minutes. But as a prelude,
let me first present to you some facts about the business environment
that we operate in today. This is essentially the motivation for
this course. Indeed, life was much easier when
Apple and Blackberry were just fruits. However, technology and
technology-led products and business models have come to
dominate an area of industries, fundamentally changing
competition in these industries. The world's largest bookseller today
is Amazon, a technology company. The largest direct marketing
platforms today are Google and Facebook, again, technology companies. Sony and BMG
do not dominate
the music landscape today, rather they only provide content to
technology companies like Apple, Spotify, Gaana, Xiami, Baidu, etc, etc. Technology
companies like WhatsApp and
Skype have shaved of nearly $386 billion of revenue from global telecom companies
like China Telecom, Vodafone, Etel, etc. All between 2012 and 2018. The financial
services industry has
been visibly transformed by technology companies such as PayPal, Square, etc. And
still more disruption
seems to be in order from companies that are leveraging
technologies like Blockchain and BitCoin, to change the very face of traditional
financial services as we know it. No wonder Marc Andreessen
quipped a couple of years ago that software is eating up the world. And it's not
just industries. Fundamental business functions,
such as R&D and product development are being digitized. Here's a snapshot from one
of
my research papers that looks at how the patent stock of companies
has qualitatively evolved over time. What this picture is telling you is
that the proportion of information and communication technology patents
in the average firm's patent portfolio increased nearly
threefold since the mid-90s. What that means is
products of diverse firms across a wide array of
industries are being digitized. The days when you could repair
your own car, long gone. That's because your car
is no longer the bundle of mechanical components
that it used to be. Software runs the engines,
software controls safety features, and software entertains passengers,
guides drivers to destinations, and connects each car to mobile,
satellite, and gps networks. If industries and fundamental business functions are
being
transformed by information technology, then all firms, including incumbents
in in these industries, need to place information technology at the
center of their strategy and operations. As General Electric CEO, Jeffrey Immelt
noted in his letters to shareholders in 2013, every industrial company
will become a software company. And that vision of firms requires
a shift in thinking about IT, and it requires a transformation
of the IT function. What do I mean by that? Well, in the past,
IT was a support function in firms. The IT organization was peripheral
to business strategy, it focused on automation of transaction intensive
processes, and IT was a cost center. However, in the competitive
environment that I just described, IT moves center stage. It is central to business
strategy,
product differentiation, and market performance of firms. This cost center drives
innovation in firms, and is now transformed to being
a key competitive asset. Yet firms are unprepared for
this transformation. Various industry reports of the like
quoted here tell you that IT managers and leaders strongly believe that
they have a critical role to play in the transformation of their companies.
However, they also believe
equally strongly that they and their IT organizations are unprepared for
this transformation. A sentiment that is reflected
in this Gartner survey. Yet, an understanding of the role of
IT in creating competitive value and transforming companies is critical. It's no
wonder that companies today are
working harder than ever to prepare for a digital future. A recent survey by MIT
Sloane management
review and the Lloyd Consulting, found that companies are strengthening cultures,
re-configuring processes and capabilities, and aggressively developing talent
that will steer them into the future. And what is the nature of this talent? Survey
respondents emphasized
that leading a digital company does not require
technologists at the helm. Instead, a bulk of the respondents
highlighted managerial attributes, such as having a transformative vision,
being a forward thinker, having a change-oriented mindset. And other leadership and
collaborative
skills as critical attributes of the talent that they seek in
responding to a digital future. And the bulk of them believed
that their organizations did not have these skills in-house. In fact, 70% of the
respondents said
that their organizations need a new or completely different talent base
to compete in the digital economy. This course on digital transformations
addresses these very talent needs of organizations that compete in
a fast paced, dynamic digital world. This course is not about hardware,
software, or networks. It's about IT-enabled business models and
capabilities and how you can leverage them to
drive competitive advantage. There are four modules in this course, and
each will empower you with the skill and capability that is invaluable
in competing using technology. In the first module, you will learn
about some of the technological forces that are leading disruption in
today's business environment. And you'll also gain insights into
why encumbrance in an industry, like Blockbuster or Borders,
failed to recognize or respond to change that is potentially
disruptive to their industries. At the end of that module, you will
be able to recognize technology-led disruptions in your own industry,
and the shifts that are required in your organization to respond
to these potential disruptions. The second module will talk to you about
platform mediated business networks. A class of business models that
characterize a variety of digital goods companies like Facebook,
Apple, Amazon, etc. Knowledge of this class of business models
will help you design business models for digital goods,
as well as compete with them effectively. The third module highlights
the role of IT in designing information capabilities that provide
end-to-end visibility in your value chain. A capability that drives
the competitive advantage of companies like Walmart and Amazon. We will outline the
ingredients
of this secret sauce, so you can design supply chains that
transform your cost of operations. Finally, the fourth module
of the course will talk about a class of technologies
called Network IT. Network IT facilitates unstructured
interactions in the firm, and in the process, aggregates information and knowledge
that is
dispersed across the firm. You will learn about leveraging Network IT
as well as network analytics to radically improve information flows and
decision making in your firm. I'm very excited to make this journey
with you, I hope you are too. We will start with a module on
technology-led industry disruptions. That's up next, see you soon. [MUSIC]