OpenMind: "Reinventing the company in the digital age"
BBVA has published the sixth title in its OpenMind collection, which takes on the challenge of exploring and helping people understand the powerful forces that influence our world today.
In the last six years, the OpenMind books have dealt with a number of interrelated themes on the digital age: social and technological change, Big Data, innovation and new social behaviors and preferences. This year they look at the transformation of the company: Reinventing the company in the digital age (you can download it free here).
The aim of this new book is to understand how the digital revolution is shaping the future of our economy, our society and our daily lives. It does this by taking a close look at the IT-driven revolution and the transformation in the world of business and labor.
The rules of the game for doing business change almost daily, and it is harder than ever to keep up with the breakneck speed of the transformation of our environment. This has had an enormous repercussion on the world of work, and particularly on the so-called traditional sectors. To be successful in this great new age requires a radical change.
And to help bring about this change the book looks closely at five major concepts:
The impact of the technology revolution
We are seeing a reacceleration of the technological change that is transforming what –until today– were the solid foundations of companies across all sectors. In this unpredictable scenario, Big Data plays a key role. This chapter of the book describes how to understand and assimilate Big Data, how it can affect society and government, and how it can be managed to make the most of its potential benefits.
Customers and markets
This second section looks at two elements of crucial interest to the company: the customers and the markets in which they operate. New customer demands and the technologies used to interact with them are determining company strategy. In addition the structure of the market is changing and the focus is shifting to emerging areas. In short, business models are being redefined to adapt to the new possibilities for supply and the new demands of the consumers and the competition.
People, talent and culture
Digital transformation needs to be planned by people, and this chapter therefore focuses on the need to improve the quality of employment as a means to boost innovation. This can be achieved by improving our use of top-quality resources and by modifying our working practices and cultures. In the digital age, collaboration is key: co-creating, co-working, sharing, co-designing and co-thinking in a framework of diversity that favors creative thought.
Physical and virtual workplaces
Linked to the third chapter, the fourth section explores the need to create better-quality, smarter, more collaborative, flexible and satisfying employment. The aim is to develop new physical and/or virtual environments suited to these new demands. These ideas are examined in general terms, but also applied to BBVA's new corporate offices from the point of view of urban and architectural development.
Leadership, strategy and management
The company's adaptation to a radically different environment demands modifications in leadership and management methods in order to guarantee a flexible and transparent framework of action and bring about change. This can only be achieved by generating new organizational structures that allow and encourage this change, all the while maintaining the company fully operational. The complexity of this process and the need for strong –although open and inclusive– leadership to articulate it is perfectly exemplified by BBVA's transformation, which takes place in three major areas: technology, corporate culture and organization.