Over the Christmas period, i spent a bit of time reading up on things that i had been putting off for a while. One of those things was to find out what the heck the World Is In Beta is all about. It turned out to be quite interesting, so in this post i have shared a few of the notes that i made while watching YouTube and reading around about the World Is In Beta.
The World Is In Beta – What the heck does that mean?
In short, The World is In Beta is what the rest of us are calling the digital revolution. But PwC have some interesting ideas:
- Everything is constantly changing – as a result, predicting is not the as important as the ability to adapt
- Recognising that technology is constantly in the hands of your customers
- Science fiction is increasingly becoming science fact
When you click on the PwC World Is In Beta website, they provide a nice illustration of how the ‘digital world’ is literally changing before our very eyes. They illustrate how many patents and trademarks have been filed, emails sent, online purchases made while you have been at their site. This very vividly shows that the world is changing.
PwC’s concept of the World In Beta recognises the importance of technology and more importantly both the challenges and opportunities offered by the digital revolution. PwC go on to provide an explanation as to what companies should and should not do to manage their own digital transformation.
The World Is In Beta is a call for action by PwC in which they challenge companies to look at the world around them in a different way. To remove the constraints that companies may have put around themselves, and to re-evaluate who they are and what they do. And at the heart of this is technology. Doing this PwC believes will help you and your organisation maintain a competitive advantage in a increasingly dynamic world.
Oh, and guess who can help you on your journey….? ; – )
The World Is In Beta – Why is it important?
Industry leaders are increasingly recognising the importance of the disruption that is going on around us. PwC illustrate this by explaining how:
- The Digital Revolution is changing everything – they way we socialise, buy stuff, move around, work and rest
- The importance of a strategy that recognises the digital world around us
- Technology is enabling different business models and products
- People are digitally connected, and the data that connects us is enabling new levels of big data analytics
- Lastly, and obviously that the future is digital
The World Is In Beta – Key Concepts:
PwC are projecting themselves as an organisation that understands the digital revolution and leading the drive among industries to change so that companies maintain their competitive advantage. As you’ve probably recognised, competitive advantage is a recurring theme. Following are some of the important concepts that PwC outline:
- Speed – The need for quick decision making, digital agility and flexibility
- Empowerment – A culture that challenges the status quo
- Innovation – The ability to create new products, in some cases products that maybe unrelated to the current business model
- Trust – Specifically understanding the value of trust
The World Is In Beta – Impacted Industries
There is plenty of good stuff in this section, and well worth a read. In short, digital will impact every industry. But PwC hone in on some specific examples, namely driverless cars, healthcare, entertainment, retail, 3D printing, drone technology, mobile payments and of course banking.
One of the notable acronyms used is CRM – for Connected, Real-time and Mobile
The World Is In Beta – Digital Transformation
Here PwC talk about 3 waves of digital transformation:
- Short term changes – for example adding a digital front end to an existing website
- “The wholesale digitisation of some markets” according to PwC, as is happening in books and music. The use and importance of big data to personalise services is highlighted
- Changing demands where people, businesses and organisations start to actively embrace and use their digital identities
Interesting stuff, eh….?
🙂
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