Over three years ago, I went out on a limb and started to write at length about a key transformation that was coming.
I believed cloud concepts would likely transform every familiar aspect of IT: not only the technology, but how IT was organized and delivered.
It was rather bleeding-edge stuff at the time, but as we sit today, the industry concepts -- and their impact -- are now widely acknowledged.
You don't get quizzical looks anymore when you launch into a cloud or ITaaS discussion. People get it.
At the time, I didn't think my observations involved any great insight, for me they were just simple extensions of patterns I was starting to see every day. A new transformation pattern was emerging; all it needed was to be described, along with a handful of implications that would result.
Well, it's happening again.
There's another big transformation starting to occur. Just like the cloud discussion, it's comprised of familiar elements, just organized and thought of in a different way. I've been poking around the edges for quite a while; I think now is the time to dive in, state my case -- and hopefully drive the discussion forward.
Cloud is transforming IT, creating the capability for IT to transform the business. I see this happening in my customers' businesses. I see this happening in EMC's own business.
This next transformation is what I'll call a digital business model.
It is a not a new concept -- examples are everywhere. Having a great digital business model is somewhat easier if you were "born digital", e.g. Amazon, Facebook, eBay, LinkedIn, et. al.
These models are easy to spot: they are designed so that an absolute minimum of the business exists in the physical world.
Unfortunately, this digital business nirvana is much, much harder to achieve if -- like so many of us -- your business was born in the physical world -- and is now being challenged (or disrupted) by digital business models.
Sooner or later, we will all have to transform our organizations into digital models. You can see many examples of people who are already hard at work at one aspect or another.
It is simply inevitable from my perspective. And I'm not alone.
And if you tend to think deeply about either technology strategy or business strategy (or hopefully the intersection of both!), this is a highly relevant discussion.
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