Table Of ContentFOR WHIRLPOOL USE ONLY
David
“A very important read”
Moschella PROFESSOR F. WARREN MCFARLAN –
HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL
seeing
a visual guide to the
INDUSTRIES,
ORGANIZATIONS,
& CAREERS
of the
2020
s
SEEING DIGITAL
seeing
a visual guide to the
INDUSTRIES,
ORGANIZATIONS,
& CAREERS
of the
2020
s
SEEING DIGITAL
Published by DXC Technology
DXC Technology
1775 Tysons Blvd.
Tysons, VA 22102 USA
www.dxc.technology
© 2018 by Leading Edge Forum
www.leadingedgeforum.com
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-692-10112-4
SEEING DIGITAL SEEING DIGITAL
To all the unseen programmers, engineers, and technicians who
make the digital world appear to run so smoothly
SEEING DIGITAL
SEEING DIGITAL SEEING DIGITAL
Table of Contents
Foreword
Mike Lawrie, Chairman, President, and CEO, DXC Technology
Introduction
What do our clients want to know? ............................................................................1
Part I – The Post-Cloud Technology Landscape
Chapter 1 – From the cloud to the Matrix ...................................................................13
Chapter 2 – There is nothing artificial about machine intelligence......................27
Part II – The Digital Transformation Journey
Chapter 3 – The myths and realities of industry disruption.................................. 45
Chapter 4 – Becoming a platform organization ...................................................... 63
Chapter 5 – Building your firm from the outside in............................................... 77
Chapter 6 – Seeing technology’s risks.......................................................................93
Chapter 7 – Digital leadership is a team sport .......................................................111
Chapter 8 – The future of Enterprise IT ................................................................. 127
Chapter 9 – Digital as a career requirement........................................................... 141
Part III – Global Strategies and Competition
Chapter 10 – Leveraging the technology lifecycle.................................................159
Chapter 11 – The US, China, and a bipolar global IT industry........................... .173
Conclusion
Speaking digital – a lexicon for the 2020s............................................. ..................189
Index ........................................................................................................................205
SEEING DIGITAL
SEEING DIGITAL SEEING DIGITAL
Foreword
Mike Lawrie, Chairman, President,
and CEO, DXC Technology
For many years, open source projects have defied the skeptics, and proved to
be a powerful way to accelerate technology innovation. Today, business leaders
are increasingly deciding that their intellectual property (IP) shouldn’t always
be hidden away, only to be made available to a chosen few. Sometimes, IP needs
to go where the people are so that it can be leveraged, improved, and reach a
critical mass of usage.
That’s why DXC Technology is now making our proprietary research
and analysis publicly available. We believe that the more clearly our clients,
partners, employees, and the wider business ecosystem understand the digital
world before us, the greater the benefits for us all. In this sense, Seeing Digital
can be viewed as DXC’s contribution to the digital transformation mindset that
so many organizations need today.
In this brief foreword, I will share my personal observations regarding the
technology challenges faced by large enterprises today, as well as the lessons
learned during our own transformation journey. In both areas, the ideas,
insights, and frameworks in this book have sharpened our thinking and focus. I
believe they can do the same for you.
Today’s enterprise transformation challenge
Business leaders tend to be optimistic about the future. They see globalization
expanding their marketplaces, technology creating new opportunities, and
rising living standards sustaining a strong economic climate. But whether
we are working with clients in banking, healthcare, insurance, aerospace,
manufacturing, government, or other sectors, I consistently hear about three
main challenges:
1. Relentless cost pressure. Large businesses and government agencies
could not operate on the scale they do without computer automation. But
automation tends to build upon itself, and organizations must become
ever-more efficient not only to compete but to survive in today’s global
marketplace. The intense emphasis on lower costs at every level of the
enterprise often puts great strain on day-to-day operations.
2. ‘Re-platformed’ operations. Traditional organization structures are being
bypassed by integrated, intelligent digital platforms that enable the intuitive
online experiences that customers and employees have come to expect.
However, most of our clients are still in the midst of this shift, with one foot
ii SEEING DIGITAL
planted in each world. Moving to a truly digital-first operating model can be
a highly complex process of business and cultural change.
3. Designed-in agility. Most executives can easily imagine a radically
transformed digital future, but most also find it hard to gauge the actual
extent and speed of change. They are looking for ways to ensure that
today’s tactical technology decisions support the agility they know they will
eventually need.
Few organizations believe they can meet these challenges entirely on their
own, which is why even the largest firms choose to work with a best-of-breed
network of business partners, leveraging the knowledge and experience of those
who have been there before.
Transformation at DXC
Our company has been going through its own transformation journey. It’s
no secret that in recent years, the IT services industry has been shifting away
from large-scale outsourcing – sometimes described as ‘your mess for less’ –
to a business characterized by strategic partnerships that help clients develop
seamlessly connected digital systems that lower costs, improve the customer
experience, and enable new forms of business innovation.
Like many of our clients, DXC Technology has approached its transformation
challenge in two main phases:
1. Getting fit. At the former CSC, we launched a multi-year transformation
effort that emphasized streamlining and standardizing business operations,
revitalizing our internal talent base, carefully selecting partnerships, and
significantly lowering overall costs. While these changes were difficult –
and often painful – they were the only way to get our company prepared for
the future we envisioned.
2. Scaling for the future. Once we were sufficiently fit and focused, we
were ready to enhance our capabilities and scale our operations to drive
growth. We started with point acquisitions in key industries (such as
insurance) and practice areas (such as service management). Then, in April
2017, we merged CSC with the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett
Packard Enterprise, creating today’s $25 billion, 150,000-employee DXC
Technology – with the vision, people, and resources needed to help our
clients thrive on change.
While we still have a great deal of work to do, being aligned with, and
prepared for, the digital future is the right path for transformational success.
Just about every company and government agency we work with is now facing
some version of this challenge.
SEEING DIGITAL SEEING DIGITAL iii
Lessons learned
Having experienced the business transformation process several times over the
years, I’m often asked what lessons I have learned. My answer is that whether
we are talking about individual careers, our clients, or our own firm, I see the
same three needs:
1. Understanding and empathy. Almost everything starts with strong
situational awareness – the ability to listen, see, and acknowledge reality, as
well as the willingness to put yourself fully in the customer’s shoes.
2. Sensing and learning. To thrive over the longer term, organizations and
individuals must anticipate how the big picture is changing, and then be
ready to act when the time comes. This requires a skill set that is continually
refreshed, as new digital capabilities and practices emerge.
3. Conviction and stamina. Business transformation is hard work. Leaders
at every level must establish a clear direction, and then stick to it by making
tough decisions. But none of this will matter unless leaders also have the
energy, drive, and agility to get the details right and sustain a long-term
process of change. There is almost never a quick fix.
Since joining the former CSC as CEO back in 2012, I’ve seen many times how
our research and thought leadership arm, the Leading Edge Forum (LEF), has
helped our people and our clients in all three of these areas. LEF has enabled
us to better visualize and communicate the many changes that surround us. It
has identified key market and value chain shifts well before they hit the knee
of the curve. Perhaps most importantly, LEF has highlighted the importance of
sustained digital leadership at every level of the organization.
In short, LEF has been the tip of the DXC Technology spear. Its research and
ideas have played an essential role in our transformation journey, and we think
it can help in yours too.
Next-generation challenges
I have always felt profoundly fortunate to have had so much of my journey
coincide with the growth of the information technology business. This
remarkable industry has provided all the challenges, opportunities, inspiration
of colleagues, and sense of purpose one could ask for.
And yet, the most exciting years clearly are ahead. Science, knowledge, and
technology are now being systematically brought to bear on just about every
human activity, creating entirely new industries and careers, destined to be led
by a new generation of tech-savvy and globally minded individuals from every
corner of the world. The ability to personalize education can make it possible for
each of us to create the life we want to lead.
But of course, we know that there are challenges that come with today’s
hyper-connectivity and intense global competition. Our industry needs to better
