Description
In today's digital age, people expect to communicate and interact with each other in a myriad of different ways that best suit their needs. Behaviours are evolving, from the way we talk to each other through to our insatiable appetite for on-demand content.
Unravelled — The Three
Dimensions of Digital Business
Featuring Research from Gartner
A Message from Martijn Blanken
How Is Digital Business Transforming Industries?
Research from Gartner:
Gartner Survey Shows Digital Business Leaders Breaking From the Pack
Riding The Emerging Wave Of Digital Business
Telstra’s Own Digital Transformation
Telstra in Action
About Telstra
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In today’s
digital age,
people expect to
communicate and
interact with each
other in a myriad
of different ways
that best suit their
needs. Behaviours
are evolving,
from the way
we talk to each
other through to
our insatiable appetite for on-demand content.
Professional and personal lines are blurring; our
customers want rich technology experiences
in their business environments, the same
way they get them at home - straightforward
and secure on every device, but with the
smartphone at the centre.
A Message from Martijn Blanken
Telstra is investing heavily to constantly re-invent
the boundaries of digital business at each new
technology horizon, helping customers facilitate the
strategic change required to be successful in this
digital era. Using 3 dimensions - Digital Discovery,
Digital Core and Digital Applications we provide
world-class solutions that are fundamental to the
operation of any digital business.
What follows, highlights our capabilities in this
space and showcases our broad partner ecosystem,
working with some of the brightest and most
innovative organisations across the globe. The
report features Telstra’s Chief Scientist Hugh
Bradlow and looks at how the power of digital is
disrupting industries, as well as taking you through
Telstra’s own digital transformation journey, which
helps us share real world experiences that can
help shape the future digital environments of our
customers’ organisations.
Martijn Blanken,
Group Managing Director & CCO
Telstra Global Enterprise & Services
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How Is Digital Business Transforming Industries?
Disruption may
seem like today’s
buzz word but
we have been
witnessing it
for the past four
decades – the
emergence of the
personal computer,
the mobile phone
and of course the
world wide web to
name just a few.
These disruptive
foundations have created a base for the building
blocks we know today – harnessing core
functionality to enable a new way of doing things
– Airbnb and Uber of course stand out in their
respective industries.
The choice to embrace a digital business can
be driven by a number of factors, including
benefits to the user in terms of customer
experience and/or better utilisation of assets
or efficiency of operations. Thankfully, powerful
new technologies are enabling both an improved
customer experience across all industries as
well as improved efficiency and asset utilisation
through process automation.
Emerging technologies that will power
the next phase of digital business
To date, creating a digital business has been done
by using digital channels to interact with and
engage customers. The next phase will be driven
by insights derived from data to improve every
aspect of the business – customer interaction,
business operations and asset utilisation.
Many businesses may argue that they don’t
know what to do with the data they have, let
alone farming for more, however that would
be missing the point. Organisations must
ensure quality over quantity, only by retrieving,
managing and analysing relevant data will you
extract the required insights that lead to
business improvement.
The technology that makes this type of
analysis possible is generically referred to as
“The Internet of Things” or IoT. However, this
well-known term can be broken down into six
specific categories:
Measurement:
New sensor technology is an explosive
area of development, facilitating the
measurement of previously unmeasurable
(or too costly to measure) variables. The
measurement of location and movement
has become particularly cheap and
effective thanks to the sensors found
in billions of smartphones, but it is also
affordable to measure environmental
and biological parameters.
Data collection:
The data collected requires the power of
the cloud for processing, which requires
specific network capabilities: such as low
power for long battery life, high bit rate for
video feeds, fast movement for speeding
objects (like jet planes) and assured latency
for time critical measurements.
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“Only by retrieving, managing and analysing
relevant data will you extract the required
insights that lead to business improvement.”
Hugh Bradlow
Chief Scientist
Telstra Global Enterprise & Services
4
Data aggregation:
The flood of data from both sensors and
human sources need to be managed. The
arrival of Big Data technologies in recent
years has led to the ability to store and
manipulate vast amounts of data. Generally
these are cloud-based services where data
can be aggregated.
Data analysis and decision making:
Data is now everywhere but to be
useful it requires algorithms that extract
intelligence from the data. Recent times
have seen a surge in Machine Learning
algorithms which mimic the workings of
the human brain. This has transformed, for
example, the field of speech recognition.
These advances mean you can draw
inference from data in a human-like
manner which makes it possible to
automate functions that previously required
human intervention. Effective application
of machine learning (and other statistical)
algorithms will be the basis for competition
in the coming decades.
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Actuation:
Once meaning has been extracted from
the data, you still need to act upon it.
Today much of the actuation is done in
IT systems (for example, an insurance
company offering a policy tailored to the
requirements of an individual customer),
but increasingly machines will become
involved in the implementation (for
example, self-driving cars, autonomous
control of power grids, etc).
Security of the whole system:
As the influence of connected devices
becomes more pervasive, the security of
the system becomes more critical. Hacking
is rife across all industries, and when you
live in a world where hackers have shown
that they can take control of a car on the
road and disable its brakes security failure
is no longer an inconvenience – it is life
threatening. Security is a combination of
technology, people and processes and
organisations will need to ensure that they
have strength in all three or work with
partners who do.
Source: Telstra
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Research from Gartner
Gartner Survey Shows Digital Business Leaders
Breaking From the Pack
Strategic Planning Assumption
By 2020, more than 7 billion people and
businesses, and close to 35 billion devices, will
be connected to the Internet.
Analysis
Digital business is the creation of new business
designs by blurring the digital and physical
worlds. It promises to usher in an unprecedented
convergence of people, business, and things that
disrupts existing business models and creates
new revenue opportunities. By 2020, more than
7 billion people and businesses, and at least 30
billion devices, will be connected to the Internet.
With people, business and things communicating,
transacting and even negotiating with one
another, a new world comes into being — the
world of digital business.
Internet-connected things will create new
dynamics in all facets of business. Take, for
example, the tire pressure monitoring system in
a vehicle that warns the motorist when a tire is
underinflated. In a digital business scenario, the
system would automatically alert an emergency
roadside service if the tire went flat, then order a
replacement tire and charge the transaction to a
credit card. In some cases, things can already act
on behalf of humans:
• HP’s Instant Ink service monitors ink levels
and automatically sends a new cartridge.
• LG’s smartThinQ appliances can be used to
diagnose and troubleshoot problems.
In fact, 32% of leaders at organizations with
$250 million or more in 2014 annual revenue say
they have a business that is a digital business,
according to Gartner’s Digital Business Survey
of IT, Business and Marketing Executives.
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In
the same survey last year, 22% of organizations
said their business is a digital business when
we asked, “Which level best describes your
organization’s business today?”
Digital business leaders are widening their
first-mover advantage over others. Gartner’s
2015 Digital Business Survey of IT, Business and
Marketing Executives highlights the success
factors, priorities and changing leadership driving
successful initiatives.
Key Findings
• IT, business and marketing leaders concur on
the benefits of digital business, according to
a recent Gartner survey. However, a widening
gulf is forming between organizations already
undertaking digital business initiatives and
those only in the planning phase.
• Addressing security and risk of proliferating
device data is the No. 1 digital business
design requirement.
• CIOs lead digital business innovation,
according to our survey, and the title of
vice president of digital business gains
prominence.
Recommendations
• Companies in planning stages of digital
business: Choose if you will invest in building
your own unique business moments now or
are waiting to copy the success of others in
one or two years.
• Companies in the middle of digital business
activities: Sustain or build anew a “learning
culture” to rapidly convert your newly won
insights on digital business into actions and
revenues.
• Companies that have not yet considered
digital business: Consider the impact that a
world of intelligent things and sensors could
have on your customers and on your business.
Will you lose business to new competitors?
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The 2015 survey results suggest that companies
are making investments in digital business.
Most are still in the early stages of investigating
and experimenting with the use of sensors,
asset tracking, smart machines, smart grids, 3D
printing, robotics, smart cities, drone delivery and
more. Leaders surveyed come from organizations
that use digital marketing techniques or have
implemented or plan to implement some digital
business activities. These findings suggest that
investment in digital business is growing, even if
respondents’ initiatives do not all meet Gartner’s
definition of “digital business.”
Now is the time to make serious decisions about
digital business. Our survey shows that the world
of digital business is starting to segment into
those organizations that are planning to become
a digital business and those that already are.
The latter organizations are starting to separate
themselves from the rest of the industries in their
business practices. In addition, organizations
that have implemented digital business activities
are more likely to make digital business an
integrated part of their business strategy.
Leaders focus increasingly on strategy.
Organizational leaders said that having a digital
business strategy would be essential to the
success of their digital business initiatives.
(Respondents in 2014 ranked leadership, talent
and culture as No. 1, followed by digital business
strategy.) The importance of strategy has grown
because digital business is not an end unto
itself. Instead, it is a means to an end. Business
objectives will vary by organization. Some
organizations, for example, are pursuing digital
business to grow revenue. Those in industrial
manufacturing are adopting digital business to
improve the efficiency of operations.
Other survey findings highlight the different
ways that IT, business and marketing leaders are
approaching digital business.
Finding: IT, Business and Marketing
Leaders Concur on Key Ways That
Digital Business Will Impact Their
Organizations
When asked to identify what would be the impact
of digital business — either positive or negative
— over the next five years, organizational leaders
overwhelmingly concurred on the upside:
• Customer experience and engagement (86%)
• IT organization (86%)
• Workforce productivity (84%)
• Sales organization (83%)
However, organizational leaders may leave
themselves vulnerable to unexpected problems
because they anticipate little downside to digital
business. Just slightly more than 5% project a
negative or significant negative impact in:
• Staff (7%)
• Mergers and acquisitions (6%)
The disruptive effects of digital business cannot
be underestimated. To date, a limited number of
product categories — music, books, photographs
and newspapers — have seen their business
models upended. Going forward, organizational
leaders in other product and service categories
will also need to adapt by restructuring the
workforce, eliminating obsolete roles, and
finding talent that can help design systems
and workflows that optimize the use of things
integrated with people and business to drive new
value for customers.
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Finding: A Widening Gulf Is Forming
Between Organizations Already
Undertaking Digital Business
Initiatives Versus Those Only in the
Planning Phase
Digital business leaders are more likely than
others to focus on design and the creation of
new digital business moments (see Figure 1).
We asked respondents to rank the importance
of five success factors (see the right side of
Figure 1). We broke down the results according
to whether companies were using digital
marketing techniques (a precursor to digital
business), were planning digital business or
had already implemented digital business (see
the left side of Figure 1). Not surprisingly, the
last group accorded more importance to design
and moments, which are necessary to execute
digital business.
Digital business moments are catalysts that
set in motion a series of events and actions
involving a network of people, businesses and
things that spans or crosses multiple industries
and multiple ecosystems. Gartner defines
business moments as specific transient
opportunities that illustrate how people,
businesses and the Internet of Things interact.
These moments of untapped opportunity and
competition can rapidly change the dynamics
across industries. As such, the successful
design and development of business moments,
which the company can replicate, are the
most significant undertaking an organization
working to become a digital business can take.
Innovative companies are tailoring digital
business moments to complement their
existing products and services. Auto insurer
Progressive has a pay-as-you-drive program
called Snapshot, for example. The program
uses telematics via plug-in modules to track
a motorist’s driving habits. Motorists then
get a savings on their insurance premium for
following safe driving habits. Walt Disney
World created a new guest experience with
its wearable RFID-enabled, customizable
MagicBands, which function as a room key,
wallet, admission ticket and line skipper (see
Note 1 for more digital business scenarios).
n = 304
Q. How do the following competencies rank in terms of the impact they are expected to have
on the success of your organization’s digital business initiatives over the next two years?
Source: Gartner (August 2015)
FIGURE 1 Comparing Critical Success Factors in Digital Business
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Gartner’s survey also reveals that most
companies undertaking digital business
initiatives don’t make a distinction between
digital business strategy and business strategy
— to this group, they are the same or integrated
with the main business strategy. Those in the
planning phase see the two as separate. In
practical terms, a company that is moving from
strategy to execution will have fewer steps to
reach its goals compared to one that has to insert
a separate planning process for digital business.
Over time, even if the faster team stumbles, it
can recover and get on the right track faster
than one that has more process for strategy. This
distance further increases when performing tasks
before and after the transition.
Executives already in digital business are
invested in piloting and deploying, while those
at companies planning initiatives are into
investigation and experimentation.
In addition, organizations in the planning
phase of digital business are more likely to be
focused on leadership, talent and culture. Why?
Digital business initiatives require business
transformation, such as building collaborative
and agile teams that can respond to rapidly
changing circumstances.
Q15. Which digital business and technology strategy actions, if any, has
your organization been taking or is likely to take by year-end 2016?
Source: Gartner (August 2015)
FIGURE 2 Comparing Initiatives in Digital Business Technology
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Finding: Companies Implementing
Digital Business Initiatives Have
Different Priorities Than Those in the
Planning Phase
As Figure 2 shows, the top priorities for digital
business front-runners include adopting new
technology (70%). The next highest priorities
— creating a highly collaborative environment
(56%) and supporting customer-driven
technology change (53%) — represent responses
to an external stimulus and are characteristic of a
healthy digital business.
Companies planning to implement digital
business activities also make new technology
adoption their top priority, although the number
was 21 percentage points lower than those with
initiatives already underway. Renovating core IT
toward a digital business future was the No. 2
priority among those in the planning phase.
The transition to digital business comes as a
transformation first, then as continuous learning.
Companies need to move to organizational
structures that are more flexible and responsive
in order to move up the learning curve as quickly
as possible. This emphasis on learning becomes
more apparent when we look at which priorities
have grown the most compared to our 2014
survey (see Table 1).
Table 1. Investment Priorities Growing and
Shrinking Fastest From 2014 to 2015
GROWING SHRINKING
People and culture
development
Partnerships, alliances
and value networks
Risk management Staff
R&D and innovation Product enhancement
Source: Gartner (August 2015)
Finding: Addressing Security and
Risk of Proliferating Device Data Is
the No. 1 Digital Business Design
Requirement
Securing business and customer data is the
leading requirement for digital business design,
according to 22% of survey respondents — the
same as in 2014. Tied for No. 2 was digital
marketing capabilities to reach new customers,
and a new category, the system integration of
people, business and things.
In fact, IT security is one of the top three
digital business-technology-related challenges.
The other two are data management and IT
leadership. In light of the new risks of digital
business, Gartner projects that spending on IT
security and risk will at least double over the
next five years.
The introduction of system integration of people,
business and things at such a high priority
highlights a key element of major advances in
technology: the initial offerings generally start to
become components of much larger systems as
the markets mature. We expect this to happen
in digital business in a manner that will spawn
significant opportunities for services and products
yet to be designed.
Finding: CIOs Lead Digital Business
Innovation, and Vice President of
Digital Business Gains Prominence
We asked what three roles are responsible
for leading digital business innovation in the
organization. The top answers depend on who you
ask, reflecting the inherent bias of an individual
based on his or her particular role:
• CIO or IT director was among the top three
responses given by 57% of the IT executives.
• Chief marketing officer (CMO) was among the
top three responses from 38% of marketing
executives.
• Business unit executive or managing director
was one of the top three responses for 35% of
the business unit executives.
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Given human nature, the partisan views should
not be a surprise. More interesting, however, is
that the second highest of the top three ranked
roles cited across the different constituencies
were either of the following:
• CTO (40% by IT leaders; 33% by business
leaders)
• CIO (35% by marketing leaders)
A comparison of the 2014 versus 2015 survey
also reveals a noteworthy trend: the rise of
the vice president of digital business. In 2015,
22% of survey respondents said the role of VP
for digital business was one of the top three
involved in digital business, compared to only
11% in 2014. The chief data officer also rose in
prominence, ranked in the top three by 22% of
the respondents in 2015 compared to 10% in the
prior year.
Other findings:
• While 34% said digital business leadership
is an IT department push, 26% said their
leadership is executive-team-driven with
core value creation. Another 27% saw digital
business driven by a business requirements
lead.
• Only 13% said they’ve identified the
next major digital business technology/
technologies and are planning the
investment. Whereas 63% said they really
don’t know what the possibilities are for the
next-generation digital business technology.
• A total of 64% said they expect to have their
digital transformation completed within
the next two years, suggesting that many
organizational leaders may not yet understand
the complexities they are about to encounter.
• Enterprises expect to spend, on average, 10% of
their revenue on digital business in 2015.
Evidence
Gartner fielded 304 surveys in a research study
(2015 Digital Business Survey of IT, Business and
Marketing Executives) between May and June
2015, in order to understand how businesses and
institutions understand, identify and exploit the
new opportunities that digital business represents.
Surveys were conducted online among organizations
that use digital marketing techniques or have
implemented/currently plan implementation of
some digital business activities.
A total of 304 surveys were distributed in the U.S.
(n = 150), the U.K. (n = 53), Germany (n = 51)
and Australia (n = 50). Respondents were screened
for involvement in their organization’s digital
business activities.
Companies were required to have $250 million
or more in 2014 annual revenue, and operate in
one of the following industries: manufacturing,
retail, government, healthcare providers, banking,
insurance or communications, media and services.
The survey was developed collaboratively by a
team of Gartner analysts who follow the executive
leadership market and was reviewed, tested
and administered by Gartner’s Research Data
Analytics (RDA) team. The results of this study are
representative of the respondent base and not
necessarily the market as a whole.
1
In the 2015 Digital Business Survey of IT, Business
and Marketing Executives, we asked, “Your
organization may have more than one business.
Thinking about your organization’s business that is
most advanced toward digital business, which level
best describes your organization’s business today?”
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Note 1
Digital Business Scenarios
• Manufacturing: A shipment of parts for a
construction site is stopped at the border
between the U.S. and Mexico. The shipping
container detects the delay and communicates
with the construction site project management
system and the project manager, and makes
recommendations on what needs to be done to
keep the project on schedule.
• Banking: A financial advisor leverages her
virtual personal assistant and autonomous car
to help her navigate a series of meetings and
phone calls to quickly help her clients after
the U.S. government imposes sanctions on
several countries.
The creation of new business designs that not only connect people and business, but
connect people, business and things (physical objects that are active players and contribute
to business value) to drive revenue and efficiency. Examples: use of sensors, asset tracking,
smart machines, smart grids, 3D printing and robotics, smart cities and drone delivery.
A specific transient opportunity that launches people, business and the Internet of Things
interacting. A brief ordinary moment in time, a business moment is the catalyst that sets in
motion a series of events and actions involving a network of people, businesses, and things
that spans or crosses multiple industries and multiple ecosystems.
A set of techniques, enabled by technology (such as social, mobile, analytics and big
data), which allows businesses to engage in a dynamic conversation with people who are
influencers and buyers and ultimately target, acquire and retain customers.
ACRONYM KEY AND GLOSSARY TERMS
Digital
business
Digital
business
moment
Digital
marketing
• Government: A car slides off an icy street and
knocks down a utility pole. Smart switches on
the electric distribution network communicate
with one another and isolate the network fault.
The nearest available crew with suitable repair
equipment is redirected to the fault, while
customers and public safety agencies are notified
of predicted restoration times.
Source: Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00290103,
Jorge Lopez, Patrick Meehan, Don Scheibenreif, Michael Burkett, Jim Tully,
20 August 2015
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Riding The Emerging Wave Of Digital Business
What does digital success look like? It will be
achieved by recognising the capabilities of
emerging technologies, and understanding how
you can apply them to solve business problems.
Organisations seeking to embark on this journey
need to consider the three dimensions of digital
business.
Digital Discovery
The first step in any digital transformation
requires a full assessment of existing business
models and processes to identify opportunities
where digital technology could benefit the
organisation. It’s important to remember it is as
much about a shift in company culture as it is
about the tools you use to achieve it.
We work with our digital consulting partners to
deliver back to our customers’ businesses a full
assessment of where digital investments should
be made and a transition plan showing how to
get there.
Digital Core
Central to any digital business is the
infrastructure that it runs upon. Careful planning
and selection of the right backbone can often
be the difference between success and failure.
Organisations need to ensure they have a solid
platform and IT framework to best enable your
software selection:
Digital Applications
With this groundwork complete – businesses can
begin to digitise. Whether it’s to improve business
processes, redesign the customer experience or
empower employees to work more effectively,
applications are an integral part of any digital
business.
Through its strategic partnerships, Telstra has
curated a suite of applications which are packaged
and readily available to suit enterprise needs.
When these software offerings are combined
with Telstra’s global network and cloud services,
enterprises can make the shift to digital business
with the assurance of reliability and high
performance.
• Kony – an open mobility platform that enables
you to rapidly deliver great mobile apps. This
allows businesses to define, design, build and
integrate applications (e.g.: an airline customer
app that features flight booking, mobile check-
in and mobile boarding pass) just once and
it can be deployed easily across multiple
channels.
• Ooyala – a cloud based platform that enables
businesses to publish, measure and monetise
video content more efficiently, while capturing
data needed to maximise engagement and
growth. With deep insights from advanced
analytics, this enables businesses to extend
reach, earn more revenue and boost viewer
engagement with highly targeted video
content across all devices.
• DocuSign – a leading eSignature and Digital
Management solution that enables easy,
efficient and secure signing of electronic
documents from anywhere and on any device.
• TeleSign – a leading mobile identity solution
for account security, providing user verification,
authentication and risk assessment. Businesses
use TeleSign to prevent registration fraud,
stop account takeovers, authenticate and
verify legitimate end users using measures
such as SMS & Voice verification, two-factor
authentication, and assess risk levels via
behaviour patterns and reputation scoring of
mobile phone numbers.
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2
3
Connectivity: While many SaaS applications
use the public internet, enterprises are
increasingly looking at dedicated and hybrid
connectivity options. In addition the rise
of software-defined networking is ensuring
applications deliver an optimal experience
for end-users.
Cloud: The performance of your cloud, will
determine the performance of your app, with
latency, security and cost key considerations.
Each application or workload will have its
own profile which will best lend itself to
either a private, public or hybrid hosting
environment.
Control: Modern IT organisations must
balance security needs with user accessibility
and experience. A balance which protects,
without restricting, your employees is key.
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Source: Telstra
FIGURE 1 Telstra’s Digital Portfolio
• Box – a cloud-based enterprise content
collaboration platform that allows you to store all
your content in the cloud, enabling you to securely
access, manage and collaborate on documents
and files. Box makes it easy for employees across
business units and different geographical locations
to share and collaborate on content with each
other, as well as distribute content to contractors,
even in a mobile environment.
• Whispir – a cloud conversation and messaging
platform that allows rich conversations
with targeted stakeholders across multiple
communication channels including mobile,
email, voice and web. Using fully customisable
messaging templates and pre-defined distribution
lists, organisations can send targeted messages
or high volume communications simultaneously
via multiple channels to targeted stakeholders
including employees, customers or distributors.
• Panviva – an enterprise application that is
designed to combat the challenges of staff
productivity and human process errors by providing
specific moment-of-need, context sensitive
guidance to users. This allows organisations to
reduce task handling times, error rates as well as
increase employee engagement and process and
regulatory compliance.
• Mandoe Media – a digital in-store solution,
harnessing the power of Enterprise Digital
Signage and Instant Apps with smart data and
analytics to deliver better engagements and
interactions with customers. Tailored content
is delivered to digital screens in customer
spaces and customer smart devices based on
individual preferences and past behaviours.
Telstra’s continued investment in technology,
people and digital partnerships, creates new
opportunities for our customers and puts their
businesses at the forefront of the digital age.
Our roadmap is constantly evolving to keep pace
with market changes and includes offers from:
• Adnear Pty Ltd
• Bigcommerce Inc
• Enepath Pty Ltd
• Elastica Inc
• Gorilla Technology Group
• Matrixx Software Inc
• Nexmo Inc
• Zimperium Inc
Source: Telstra
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Telstra’s Own Digital Transformation
In 2013 the future way of work arrived at
Telstra. Telstra spent months mapping its
process workflows to identify opportunities to
achieve operational efficiency and collaborative
environments. Telstra engaged with digital
consulting partners to help articulate the overall
vision for the program and identify where digital
technology could make the most impact. In
2015, mobility, real time collaboration and
cloud products came to life in the first steps
towards Telstra becoming a true digital business.
Here’s a few examples of how Telstra
is using digital technology:
Using Kony, Telstra created the ‘HR App’
to improve staff interactions and increase
efficiency when completing payroll and
administrative tasks. By empowering staff to
take control HR has seen a significant reduction
in the amount of enquiries coming to their
department. This allows them to focus on
business critical issues as well as dramatically
improve the end user experience
Telstra actively uses Docusign for electronic
signature and digital content management
across 10 business units. The solution has
translated into a 90% reduction in document
turnaround time, $32 average savings per
document and a 50% uplift in customer
advocacy. Risk has also been reduced through
centralised and encrypted contract information
across our field teams, sales force, back office
and supply chain.
Telstra’s vehicle fleet operations and
compliance has improved significantly as a
result of implementing digital technology
with Telematics. Through the real time control
this solution brings, Telematics has improved
productivity of tasks completed per km by
13% as well as 7% fuel reduction through
smarter routing and scheduling and a reduction
in high risk accidents, stolen or damaged
vehicles, infringement notices and CO2
emissions.
Digitising existing assets has improved how
we operate internally and is also helping us
reach customers in new ways. With Whispir
we are simplifying and streamlining the
management of complex and mission critical
communications. We use the platform to
communicate with our customers on mass
and quickly. A recent emergency hostage
situation near one of the Telstra offices saw
us quickly mobilise to use the platform to
communicate with and locate all staff.
Source: Telstra
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Telstra in Action
Telstra is helping a range of customers across multiple industries transform their businesses through
digital technology.
Manufacturing
Customer challenge: how to protect the
integrity of a tier one beer product once
handed over to the retailer.
Telstra solution: installation of sensors
on each beer tap at publican premises to
monitor PH and temperature of delivery
lines running between the bar taps and
kegs. Real time data is then transmitted to
the customer when the temperature of the
beer goes above or below the set threshold.
Outcome: allows for proactive management
of the supply chain, significantly
improving product consistency and
customer satisfaction whilst protecting the
companies brand reputation.
Housing Association
Customer challenge: how to reduce
expensive administrative processes
associated with paper forms, reduce
manual handling errors and empower staff
to deliver better client experiences for a
prominent housing association.
Telstra solution: reduced six paper forms
into two digital processes and created a
24/7 environment for users to interact how
and when they want.
Outcome: less clients waiting at the
housing office, improved communication
with clients & cost/time savings in storage,
retrieval & referencing.
Source: Telstra
The Digital Age is upon us and those with digital business strategies are already widening the gap to
achieving competitive advantage. Some industries are definitely leading the way, but soon it will be do
or die. Here’s some examples that highlight the sheer size of the opportunity digital business presents:
Financial institutions
Customer challenge: how to protect against
fraudulent overseas credit card payments
Telstra solution: customers provide their
consent and their mobile number to their
bank or credit card firm to set up travel
alerts. The travel alert automatically
activates when a customer switches on
their mobile phone in a different country
with the information sent back to their
financial institution in real-time. In
essence, location-based information tells
the financial institution where a card is
going to be used, even before the customer
starts spending.
Outcome: reduce operational and fraud
management costs to financial institutions.
Stadiums
Customer challenge: how to reach more fans
and maximise guest experiences.
Telstra solution: Machine-to-machine
technologies enable stadiums to more
efficiently track and manage media location
assets such as machines, kiosks, consoles
and handheld devices. Through better
spectator data that maps footprints and
uncovers insights stadiums are creating
unique experiences for fans based on
their behaviours and preferences. Inside
the venue, living room and public spaces,
before, during, and after the event - digital
technology is mobilising stadiums.
Outcome: increased revenue from single
events and improved ROI on existing assets.
16
About Telstra
Telstra is a leading telecommunications company
offering a range of communications services
internationally. We work with a number of
partners to deliver innovative solutions both
internally and to our customers and continue to
expand our digital portfolio through investments
in Telstra Ventures and Telstra Software Groups.
The Telstra Ventures Group was designed
to improve our ability to identify and engage
with new solutions and market disruptors by
fostering collaboration between market leading
organisations and Telstra. Innovative companies
grow faster through our investment, expertise
and channels whilst we harness innovation and
learn from the companies that are creating future
markets.
By partnering with leaders in the field we can
offer our customers solutions they may otherwise
have not had access to with the added value of
Telstra’s managed services.
Our investment strategy is focussed on
companies that are tapped into market trends -
Digital, SaaS, Big Data, Machine Learning are all
part of their DNA. The growth of these companies
proves a change is happening, and while it
often starts in a specific segment of the market,
over time can change the way whole industries
operate. The process of change and innovation is
a continuous one and the companies closest to
their customers will be those that can innovate
quickly to take advantage of new opportunities
The Telstra Software Group is another area of
investment for the company and was established
in 2014 to create long-term, high-growth
businesses and capabilities around software. The
world is increasingly driven by software and it’s
important for Telstra to set up businesses that
enable us to learn from software organisations to
position Telstra for the future.
As software increasingly moves into the cloud,
this is an opportunity adjacent to our core
network business.
Three major pillars to the Telstra Software Group:
• Establishing high-growth software
businesses. The first area is Intelligent Video,
where we started executing on our strategy
by acquiring rich media organisations. The
objective is to help customers that have
premium video content, transition from
traditional linear broadcasting to online-
delivery. Our other two areas are Internet
of Things and Cloud Application. Internet of
Things is about utilising machine learning
and insights to unlock the potential of the
increasing amount of data being captured
from connected devices. Cloud Applications is
about moving computing off premises to on-
demand software-as-a-service model.
• Bolstering the Digital start-up ecosystems
through our accelerator Muru-D. We want
to make sure that global markets similar to
Silicon Valley provide a world class ecosystem
of start-ups, mentors, investors, universities
and government for digital ideas to flourish.
• Developing software capabilities within
Telstra. Telstra Software Group provides
an environment to develop software
competencies within Telstra for internal and
external use. Our API platform is an example,
where we take the learnings of software
companies and feed them back into Telstra.
Start now.
Get started with the
three dimensions
of digital business
to understand your
requirements and to
find out more about
how Telstra is helping
customers bring their
digital vision to life
contact:
Telstra Asia HQ
T: +852 2827 0066
Telstra Americas
T: +1 877 835 7872
Telstra EMEA
T: +44 20 7965 0000
Telstra Australia
T: +61 2 8202 5134
17
Unravelled — The Three Dimensions of Digital Business is published by Telstra. Editorial content supplied by Telstra is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research
is used with Gartner’s permission, and was originally published as part of Gartner’s syndicated research service available to all entitled Gartner clients. © 2015 Gartner,
Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. The use of Gartner research in this publication does not indicate Gartner’s endorsement of Telstra’s products and/or strategies.
Reproduction or distribution of this publication in any form without Gartner’s prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained
from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. The opinions expressed herein
are subject to change without notice. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its
research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a public company, and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities
covered in Gartner research. Gartner’s Board of Directors may include senior managers of these firms or funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research
organization without input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartner research, see
“Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity” on its website,http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/ombudsman/omb_guide2.jsp.
doc_156483202.pdf
In today's digital age, people expect to communicate and interact with each other in a myriad of different ways that best suit their needs. Behaviours are evolving, from the way we talk to each other through to our insatiable appetite for on-demand content.
Unravelled — The Three
Dimensions of Digital Business
Featuring Research from Gartner
A Message from Martijn Blanken
How Is Digital Business Transforming Industries?
Research from Gartner:
Gartner Survey Shows Digital Business Leaders Breaking From the Pack
Riding The Emerging Wave Of Digital Business
Telstra’s Own Digital Transformation
Telstra in Action
About Telstra
Issue 1
2
3
5
12
14
15
16
2
In today’s
digital age,
people expect to
communicate and
interact with each
other in a myriad
of different ways
that best suit their
needs. Behaviours
are evolving,
from the way
we talk to each
other through to
our insatiable appetite for on-demand content.
Professional and personal lines are blurring; our
customers want rich technology experiences
in their business environments, the same
way they get them at home - straightforward
and secure on every device, but with the
smartphone at the centre.
A Message from Martijn Blanken
Telstra is investing heavily to constantly re-invent
the boundaries of digital business at each new
technology horizon, helping customers facilitate the
strategic change required to be successful in this
digital era. Using 3 dimensions - Digital Discovery,
Digital Core and Digital Applications we provide
world-class solutions that are fundamental to the
operation of any digital business.
What follows, highlights our capabilities in this
space and showcases our broad partner ecosystem,
working with some of the brightest and most
innovative organisations across the globe. The
report features Telstra’s Chief Scientist Hugh
Bradlow and looks at how the power of digital is
disrupting industries, as well as taking you through
Telstra’s own digital transformation journey, which
helps us share real world experiences that can
help shape the future digital environments of our
customers’ organisations.
Martijn Blanken,
Group Managing Director & CCO
Telstra Global Enterprise & Services
3
1
How Is Digital Business Transforming Industries?
Disruption may
seem like today’s
buzz word but
we have been
witnessing it
for the past four
decades – the
emergence of the
personal computer,
the mobile phone
and of course the
world wide web to
name just a few.
These disruptive
foundations have created a base for the building
blocks we know today – harnessing core
functionality to enable a new way of doing things
– Airbnb and Uber of course stand out in their
respective industries.
The choice to embrace a digital business can
be driven by a number of factors, including
benefits to the user in terms of customer
experience and/or better utilisation of assets
or efficiency of operations. Thankfully, powerful
new technologies are enabling both an improved
customer experience across all industries as
well as improved efficiency and asset utilisation
through process automation.
Emerging technologies that will power
the next phase of digital business
To date, creating a digital business has been done
by using digital channels to interact with and
engage customers. The next phase will be driven
by insights derived from data to improve every
aspect of the business – customer interaction,
business operations and asset utilisation.
Many businesses may argue that they don’t
know what to do with the data they have, let
alone farming for more, however that would
be missing the point. Organisations must
ensure quality over quantity, only by retrieving,
managing and analysing relevant data will you
extract the required insights that lead to
business improvement.
The technology that makes this type of
analysis possible is generically referred to as
“The Internet of Things” or IoT. However, this
well-known term can be broken down into six
specific categories:
Measurement:
New sensor technology is an explosive
area of development, facilitating the
measurement of previously unmeasurable
(or too costly to measure) variables. The
measurement of location and movement
has become particularly cheap and
effective thanks to the sensors found
in billions of smartphones, but it is also
affordable to measure environmental
and biological parameters.
Data collection:
The data collected requires the power of
the cloud for processing, which requires
specific network capabilities: such as low
power for long battery life, high bit rate for
video feeds, fast movement for speeding
objects (like jet planes) and assured latency
for time critical measurements.
2
“Only by retrieving, managing and analysing
relevant data will you extract the required
insights that lead to business improvement.”
Hugh Bradlow
Chief Scientist
Telstra Global Enterprise & Services
4
Data aggregation:
The flood of data from both sensors and
human sources need to be managed. The
arrival of Big Data technologies in recent
years has led to the ability to store and
manipulate vast amounts of data. Generally
these are cloud-based services where data
can be aggregated.
Data analysis and decision making:
Data is now everywhere but to be
useful it requires algorithms that extract
intelligence from the data. Recent times
have seen a surge in Machine Learning
algorithms which mimic the workings of
the human brain. This has transformed, for
example, the field of speech recognition.
These advances mean you can draw
inference from data in a human-like
manner which makes it possible to
automate functions that previously required
human intervention. Effective application
of machine learning (and other statistical)
algorithms will be the basis for competition
in the coming decades.
6
5
4
Actuation:
Once meaning has been extracted from
the data, you still need to act upon it.
Today much of the actuation is done in
IT systems (for example, an insurance
company offering a policy tailored to the
requirements of an individual customer),
but increasingly machines will become
involved in the implementation (for
example, self-driving cars, autonomous
control of power grids, etc).
Security of the whole system:
As the influence of connected devices
becomes more pervasive, the security of
the system becomes more critical. Hacking
is rife across all industries, and when you
live in a world where hackers have shown
that they can take control of a car on the
road and disable its brakes security failure
is no longer an inconvenience – it is life
threatening. Security is a combination of
technology, people and processes and
organisations will need to ensure that they
have strength in all three or work with
partners who do.
Source: Telstra
3
5
Research from Gartner
Gartner Survey Shows Digital Business Leaders
Breaking From the Pack
Strategic Planning Assumption
By 2020, more than 7 billion people and
businesses, and close to 35 billion devices, will
be connected to the Internet.
Analysis
Digital business is the creation of new business
designs by blurring the digital and physical
worlds. It promises to usher in an unprecedented
convergence of people, business, and things that
disrupts existing business models and creates
new revenue opportunities. By 2020, more than
7 billion people and businesses, and at least 30
billion devices, will be connected to the Internet.
With people, business and things communicating,
transacting and even negotiating with one
another, a new world comes into being — the
world of digital business.
Internet-connected things will create new
dynamics in all facets of business. Take, for
example, the tire pressure monitoring system in
a vehicle that warns the motorist when a tire is
underinflated. In a digital business scenario, the
system would automatically alert an emergency
roadside service if the tire went flat, then order a
replacement tire and charge the transaction to a
credit card. In some cases, things can already act
on behalf of humans:
• HP’s Instant Ink service monitors ink levels
and automatically sends a new cartridge.
• LG’s smartThinQ appliances can be used to
diagnose and troubleshoot problems.
In fact, 32% of leaders at organizations with
$250 million or more in 2014 annual revenue say
they have a business that is a digital business,
according to Gartner’s Digital Business Survey
of IT, Business and Marketing Executives.
1
In
the same survey last year, 22% of organizations
said their business is a digital business when
we asked, “Which level best describes your
organization’s business today?”
Digital business leaders are widening their
first-mover advantage over others. Gartner’s
2015 Digital Business Survey of IT, Business and
Marketing Executives highlights the success
factors, priorities and changing leadership driving
successful initiatives.
Key Findings
• IT, business and marketing leaders concur on
the benefits of digital business, according to
a recent Gartner survey. However, a widening
gulf is forming between organizations already
undertaking digital business initiatives and
those only in the planning phase.
• Addressing security and risk of proliferating
device data is the No. 1 digital business
design requirement.
• CIOs lead digital business innovation,
according to our survey, and the title of
vice president of digital business gains
prominence.
Recommendations
• Companies in planning stages of digital
business: Choose if you will invest in building
your own unique business moments now or
are waiting to copy the success of others in
one or two years.
• Companies in the middle of digital business
activities: Sustain or build anew a “learning
culture” to rapidly convert your newly won
insights on digital business into actions and
revenues.
• Companies that have not yet considered
digital business: Consider the impact that a
world of intelligent things and sensors could
have on your customers and on your business.
Will you lose business to new competitors?
6
The 2015 survey results suggest that companies
are making investments in digital business.
Most are still in the early stages of investigating
and experimenting with the use of sensors,
asset tracking, smart machines, smart grids, 3D
printing, robotics, smart cities, drone delivery and
more. Leaders surveyed come from organizations
that use digital marketing techniques or have
implemented or plan to implement some digital
business activities. These findings suggest that
investment in digital business is growing, even if
respondents’ initiatives do not all meet Gartner’s
definition of “digital business.”
Now is the time to make serious decisions about
digital business. Our survey shows that the world
of digital business is starting to segment into
those organizations that are planning to become
a digital business and those that already are.
The latter organizations are starting to separate
themselves from the rest of the industries in their
business practices. In addition, organizations
that have implemented digital business activities
are more likely to make digital business an
integrated part of their business strategy.
Leaders focus increasingly on strategy.
Organizational leaders said that having a digital
business strategy would be essential to the
success of their digital business initiatives.
(Respondents in 2014 ranked leadership, talent
and culture as No. 1, followed by digital business
strategy.) The importance of strategy has grown
because digital business is not an end unto
itself. Instead, it is a means to an end. Business
objectives will vary by organization. Some
organizations, for example, are pursuing digital
business to grow revenue. Those in industrial
manufacturing are adopting digital business to
improve the efficiency of operations.
Other survey findings highlight the different
ways that IT, business and marketing leaders are
approaching digital business.
Finding: IT, Business and Marketing
Leaders Concur on Key Ways That
Digital Business Will Impact Their
Organizations
When asked to identify what would be the impact
of digital business — either positive or negative
— over the next five years, organizational leaders
overwhelmingly concurred on the upside:
• Customer experience and engagement (86%)
• IT organization (86%)
• Workforce productivity (84%)
• Sales organization (83%)
However, organizational leaders may leave
themselves vulnerable to unexpected problems
because they anticipate little downside to digital
business. Just slightly more than 5% project a
negative or significant negative impact in:
• Staff (7%)
• Mergers and acquisitions (6%)
The disruptive effects of digital business cannot
be underestimated. To date, a limited number of
product categories — music, books, photographs
and newspapers — have seen their business
models upended. Going forward, organizational
leaders in other product and service categories
will also need to adapt by restructuring the
workforce, eliminating obsolete roles, and
finding talent that can help design systems
and workflows that optimize the use of things
integrated with people and business to drive new
value for customers.
7
Finding: A Widening Gulf Is Forming
Between Organizations Already
Undertaking Digital Business
Initiatives Versus Those Only in the
Planning Phase
Digital business leaders are more likely than
others to focus on design and the creation of
new digital business moments (see Figure 1).
We asked respondents to rank the importance
of five success factors (see the right side of
Figure 1). We broke down the results according
to whether companies were using digital
marketing techniques (a precursor to digital
business), were planning digital business or
had already implemented digital business (see
the left side of Figure 1). Not surprisingly, the
last group accorded more importance to design
and moments, which are necessary to execute
digital business.
Digital business moments are catalysts that
set in motion a series of events and actions
involving a network of people, businesses and
things that spans or crosses multiple industries
and multiple ecosystems. Gartner defines
business moments as specific transient
opportunities that illustrate how people,
businesses and the Internet of Things interact.
These moments of untapped opportunity and
competition can rapidly change the dynamics
across industries. As such, the successful
design and development of business moments,
which the company can replicate, are the
most significant undertaking an organization
working to become a digital business can take.
Innovative companies are tailoring digital
business moments to complement their
existing products and services. Auto insurer
Progressive has a pay-as-you-drive program
called Snapshot, for example. The program
uses telematics via plug-in modules to track
a motorist’s driving habits. Motorists then
get a savings on their insurance premium for
following safe driving habits. Walt Disney
World created a new guest experience with
its wearable RFID-enabled, customizable
MagicBands, which function as a room key,
wallet, admission ticket and line skipper (see
Note 1 for more digital business scenarios).
n = 304
Q. How do the following competencies rank in terms of the impact they are expected to have
on the success of your organization’s digital business initiatives over the next two years?
Source: Gartner (August 2015)
FIGURE 1 Comparing Critical Success Factors in Digital Business
8
Gartner’s survey also reveals that most
companies undertaking digital business
initiatives don’t make a distinction between
digital business strategy and business strategy
— to this group, they are the same or integrated
with the main business strategy. Those in the
planning phase see the two as separate. In
practical terms, a company that is moving from
strategy to execution will have fewer steps to
reach its goals compared to one that has to insert
a separate planning process for digital business.
Over time, even if the faster team stumbles, it
can recover and get on the right track faster
than one that has more process for strategy. This
distance further increases when performing tasks
before and after the transition.
Executives already in digital business are
invested in piloting and deploying, while those
at companies planning initiatives are into
investigation and experimentation.
In addition, organizations in the planning
phase of digital business are more likely to be
focused on leadership, talent and culture. Why?
Digital business initiatives require business
transformation, such as building collaborative
and agile teams that can respond to rapidly
changing circumstances.
Q15. Which digital business and technology strategy actions, if any, has
your organization been taking or is likely to take by year-end 2016?
Source: Gartner (August 2015)
FIGURE 2 Comparing Initiatives in Digital Business Technology
9
Finding: Companies Implementing
Digital Business Initiatives Have
Different Priorities Than Those in the
Planning Phase
As Figure 2 shows, the top priorities for digital
business front-runners include adopting new
technology (70%). The next highest priorities
— creating a highly collaborative environment
(56%) and supporting customer-driven
technology change (53%) — represent responses
to an external stimulus and are characteristic of a
healthy digital business.
Companies planning to implement digital
business activities also make new technology
adoption their top priority, although the number
was 21 percentage points lower than those with
initiatives already underway. Renovating core IT
toward a digital business future was the No. 2
priority among those in the planning phase.
The transition to digital business comes as a
transformation first, then as continuous learning.
Companies need to move to organizational
structures that are more flexible and responsive
in order to move up the learning curve as quickly
as possible. This emphasis on learning becomes
more apparent when we look at which priorities
have grown the most compared to our 2014
survey (see Table 1).
Table 1. Investment Priorities Growing and
Shrinking Fastest From 2014 to 2015
GROWING SHRINKING
People and culture
development
Partnerships, alliances
and value networks
Risk management Staff
R&D and innovation Product enhancement
Source: Gartner (August 2015)
Finding: Addressing Security and
Risk of Proliferating Device Data Is
the No. 1 Digital Business Design
Requirement
Securing business and customer data is the
leading requirement for digital business design,
according to 22% of survey respondents — the
same as in 2014. Tied for No. 2 was digital
marketing capabilities to reach new customers,
and a new category, the system integration of
people, business and things.
In fact, IT security is one of the top three
digital business-technology-related challenges.
The other two are data management and IT
leadership. In light of the new risks of digital
business, Gartner projects that spending on IT
security and risk will at least double over the
next five years.
The introduction of system integration of people,
business and things at such a high priority
highlights a key element of major advances in
technology: the initial offerings generally start to
become components of much larger systems as
the markets mature. We expect this to happen
in digital business in a manner that will spawn
significant opportunities for services and products
yet to be designed.
Finding: CIOs Lead Digital Business
Innovation, and Vice President of
Digital Business Gains Prominence
We asked what three roles are responsible
for leading digital business innovation in the
organization. The top answers depend on who you
ask, reflecting the inherent bias of an individual
based on his or her particular role:
• CIO or IT director was among the top three
responses given by 57% of the IT executives.
• Chief marketing officer (CMO) was among the
top three responses from 38% of marketing
executives.
• Business unit executive or managing director
was one of the top three responses for 35% of
the business unit executives.
10
Given human nature, the partisan views should
not be a surprise. More interesting, however, is
that the second highest of the top three ranked
roles cited across the different constituencies
were either of the following:
• CTO (40% by IT leaders; 33% by business
leaders)
• CIO (35% by marketing leaders)
A comparison of the 2014 versus 2015 survey
also reveals a noteworthy trend: the rise of
the vice president of digital business. In 2015,
22% of survey respondents said the role of VP
for digital business was one of the top three
involved in digital business, compared to only
11% in 2014. The chief data officer also rose in
prominence, ranked in the top three by 22% of
the respondents in 2015 compared to 10% in the
prior year.
Other findings:
• While 34% said digital business leadership
is an IT department push, 26% said their
leadership is executive-team-driven with
core value creation. Another 27% saw digital
business driven by a business requirements
lead.
• Only 13% said they’ve identified the
next major digital business technology/
technologies and are planning the
investment. Whereas 63% said they really
don’t know what the possibilities are for the
next-generation digital business technology.
• A total of 64% said they expect to have their
digital transformation completed within
the next two years, suggesting that many
organizational leaders may not yet understand
the complexities they are about to encounter.
• Enterprises expect to spend, on average, 10% of
their revenue on digital business in 2015.
Evidence
Gartner fielded 304 surveys in a research study
(2015 Digital Business Survey of IT, Business and
Marketing Executives) between May and June
2015, in order to understand how businesses and
institutions understand, identify and exploit the
new opportunities that digital business represents.
Surveys were conducted online among organizations
that use digital marketing techniques or have
implemented/currently plan implementation of
some digital business activities.
A total of 304 surveys were distributed in the U.S.
(n = 150), the U.K. (n = 53), Germany (n = 51)
and Australia (n = 50). Respondents were screened
for involvement in their organization’s digital
business activities.
Companies were required to have $250 million
or more in 2014 annual revenue, and operate in
one of the following industries: manufacturing,
retail, government, healthcare providers, banking,
insurance or communications, media and services.
The survey was developed collaboratively by a
team of Gartner analysts who follow the executive
leadership market and was reviewed, tested
and administered by Gartner’s Research Data
Analytics (RDA) team. The results of this study are
representative of the respondent base and not
necessarily the market as a whole.
1
In the 2015 Digital Business Survey of IT, Business
and Marketing Executives, we asked, “Your
organization may have more than one business.
Thinking about your organization’s business that is
most advanced toward digital business, which level
best describes your organization’s business today?”
11
Note 1
Digital Business Scenarios
• Manufacturing: A shipment of parts for a
construction site is stopped at the border
between the U.S. and Mexico. The shipping
container detects the delay and communicates
with the construction site project management
system and the project manager, and makes
recommendations on what needs to be done to
keep the project on schedule.
• Banking: A financial advisor leverages her
virtual personal assistant and autonomous car
to help her navigate a series of meetings and
phone calls to quickly help her clients after
the U.S. government imposes sanctions on
several countries.
The creation of new business designs that not only connect people and business, but
connect people, business and things (physical objects that are active players and contribute
to business value) to drive revenue and efficiency. Examples: use of sensors, asset tracking,
smart machines, smart grids, 3D printing and robotics, smart cities and drone delivery.
A specific transient opportunity that launches people, business and the Internet of Things
interacting. A brief ordinary moment in time, a business moment is the catalyst that sets in
motion a series of events and actions involving a network of people, businesses, and things
that spans or crosses multiple industries and multiple ecosystems.
A set of techniques, enabled by technology (such as social, mobile, analytics and big
data), which allows businesses to engage in a dynamic conversation with people who are
influencers and buyers and ultimately target, acquire and retain customers.
ACRONYM KEY AND GLOSSARY TERMS
Digital
business
Digital
business
moment
Digital
marketing
• Government: A car slides off an icy street and
knocks down a utility pole. Smart switches on
the electric distribution network communicate
with one another and isolate the network fault.
The nearest available crew with suitable repair
equipment is redirected to the fault, while
customers and public safety agencies are notified
of predicted restoration times.
Source: Gartner RAS Core Research Note G00290103,
Jorge Lopez, Patrick Meehan, Don Scheibenreif, Michael Burkett, Jim Tully,
20 August 2015
12
Riding The Emerging Wave Of Digital Business
What does digital success look like? It will be
achieved by recognising the capabilities of
emerging technologies, and understanding how
you can apply them to solve business problems.
Organisations seeking to embark on this journey
need to consider the three dimensions of digital
business.
Digital Discovery
The first step in any digital transformation
requires a full assessment of existing business
models and processes to identify opportunities
where digital technology could benefit the
organisation. It’s important to remember it is as
much about a shift in company culture as it is
about the tools you use to achieve it.
We work with our digital consulting partners to
deliver back to our customers’ businesses a full
assessment of where digital investments should
be made and a transition plan showing how to
get there.
Digital Core
Central to any digital business is the
infrastructure that it runs upon. Careful planning
and selection of the right backbone can often
be the difference between success and failure.
Organisations need to ensure they have a solid
platform and IT framework to best enable your
software selection:
Digital Applications
With this groundwork complete – businesses can
begin to digitise. Whether it’s to improve business
processes, redesign the customer experience or
empower employees to work more effectively,
applications are an integral part of any digital
business.
Through its strategic partnerships, Telstra has
curated a suite of applications which are packaged
and readily available to suit enterprise needs.
When these software offerings are combined
with Telstra’s global network and cloud services,
enterprises can make the shift to digital business
with the assurance of reliability and high
performance.
• Kony – an open mobility platform that enables
you to rapidly deliver great mobile apps. This
allows businesses to define, design, build and
integrate applications (e.g.: an airline customer
app that features flight booking, mobile check-
in and mobile boarding pass) just once and
it can be deployed easily across multiple
channels.
• Ooyala – a cloud based platform that enables
businesses to publish, measure and monetise
video content more efficiently, while capturing
data needed to maximise engagement and
growth. With deep insights from advanced
analytics, this enables businesses to extend
reach, earn more revenue and boost viewer
engagement with highly targeted video
content across all devices.
• DocuSign – a leading eSignature and Digital
Management solution that enables easy,
efficient and secure signing of electronic
documents from anywhere and on any device.
• TeleSign – a leading mobile identity solution
for account security, providing user verification,
authentication and risk assessment. Businesses
use TeleSign to prevent registration fraud,
stop account takeovers, authenticate and
verify legitimate end users using measures
such as SMS & Voice verification, two-factor
authentication, and assess risk levels via
behaviour patterns and reputation scoring of
mobile phone numbers.
1
2
3
Connectivity: While many SaaS applications
use the public internet, enterprises are
increasingly looking at dedicated and hybrid
connectivity options. In addition the rise
of software-defined networking is ensuring
applications deliver an optimal experience
for end-users.
Cloud: The performance of your cloud, will
determine the performance of your app, with
latency, security and cost key considerations.
Each application or workload will have its
own profile which will best lend itself to
either a private, public or hybrid hosting
environment.
Control: Modern IT organisations must
balance security needs with user accessibility
and experience. A balance which protects,
without restricting, your employees is key.
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Source: Telstra
FIGURE 1 Telstra’s Digital Portfolio
• Box – a cloud-based enterprise content
collaboration platform that allows you to store all
your content in the cloud, enabling you to securely
access, manage and collaborate on documents
and files. Box makes it easy for employees across
business units and different geographical locations
to share and collaborate on content with each
other, as well as distribute content to contractors,
even in a mobile environment.
• Whispir – a cloud conversation and messaging
platform that allows rich conversations
with targeted stakeholders across multiple
communication channels including mobile,
email, voice and web. Using fully customisable
messaging templates and pre-defined distribution
lists, organisations can send targeted messages
or high volume communications simultaneously
via multiple channels to targeted stakeholders
including employees, customers or distributors.
• Panviva – an enterprise application that is
designed to combat the challenges of staff
productivity and human process errors by providing
specific moment-of-need, context sensitive
guidance to users. This allows organisations to
reduce task handling times, error rates as well as
increase employee engagement and process and
regulatory compliance.
• Mandoe Media – a digital in-store solution,
harnessing the power of Enterprise Digital
Signage and Instant Apps with smart data and
analytics to deliver better engagements and
interactions with customers. Tailored content
is delivered to digital screens in customer
spaces and customer smart devices based on
individual preferences and past behaviours.
Telstra’s continued investment in technology,
people and digital partnerships, creates new
opportunities for our customers and puts their
businesses at the forefront of the digital age.
Our roadmap is constantly evolving to keep pace
with market changes and includes offers from:
• Adnear Pty Ltd
• Bigcommerce Inc
• Enepath Pty Ltd
• Elastica Inc
• Gorilla Technology Group
• Matrixx Software Inc
• Nexmo Inc
• Zimperium Inc
Source: Telstra
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Telstra’s Own Digital Transformation
In 2013 the future way of work arrived at
Telstra. Telstra spent months mapping its
process workflows to identify opportunities to
achieve operational efficiency and collaborative
environments. Telstra engaged with digital
consulting partners to help articulate the overall
vision for the program and identify where digital
technology could make the most impact. In
2015, mobility, real time collaboration and
cloud products came to life in the first steps
towards Telstra becoming a true digital business.
Here’s a few examples of how Telstra
is using digital technology:
Using Kony, Telstra created the ‘HR App’
to improve staff interactions and increase
efficiency when completing payroll and
administrative tasks. By empowering staff to
take control HR has seen a significant reduction
in the amount of enquiries coming to their
department. This allows them to focus on
business critical issues as well as dramatically
improve the end user experience
Telstra actively uses Docusign for electronic
signature and digital content management
across 10 business units. The solution has
translated into a 90% reduction in document
turnaround time, $32 average savings per
document and a 50% uplift in customer
advocacy. Risk has also been reduced through
centralised and encrypted contract information
across our field teams, sales force, back office
and supply chain.
Telstra’s vehicle fleet operations and
compliance has improved significantly as a
result of implementing digital technology
with Telematics. Through the real time control
this solution brings, Telematics has improved
productivity of tasks completed per km by
13% as well as 7% fuel reduction through
smarter routing and scheduling and a reduction
in high risk accidents, stolen or damaged
vehicles, infringement notices and CO2
emissions.
Digitising existing assets has improved how
we operate internally and is also helping us
reach customers in new ways. With Whispir
we are simplifying and streamlining the
management of complex and mission critical
communications. We use the platform to
communicate with our customers on mass
and quickly. A recent emergency hostage
situation near one of the Telstra offices saw
us quickly mobilise to use the platform to
communicate with and locate all staff.
Source: Telstra
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Telstra in Action
Telstra is helping a range of customers across multiple industries transform their businesses through
digital technology.
Manufacturing
Customer challenge: how to protect the
integrity of a tier one beer product once
handed over to the retailer.
Telstra solution: installation of sensors
on each beer tap at publican premises to
monitor PH and temperature of delivery
lines running between the bar taps and
kegs. Real time data is then transmitted to
the customer when the temperature of the
beer goes above or below the set threshold.
Outcome: allows for proactive management
of the supply chain, significantly
improving product consistency and
customer satisfaction whilst protecting the
companies brand reputation.
Housing Association
Customer challenge: how to reduce
expensive administrative processes
associated with paper forms, reduce
manual handling errors and empower staff
to deliver better client experiences for a
prominent housing association.
Telstra solution: reduced six paper forms
into two digital processes and created a
24/7 environment for users to interact how
and when they want.
Outcome: less clients waiting at the
housing office, improved communication
with clients & cost/time savings in storage,
retrieval & referencing.
Source: Telstra
The Digital Age is upon us and those with digital business strategies are already widening the gap to
achieving competitive advantage. Some industries are definitely leading the way, but soon it will be do
or die. Here’s some examples that highlight the sheer size of the opportunity digital business presents:
Financial institutions
Customer challenge: how to protect against
fraudulent overseas credit card payments
Telstra solution: customers provide their
consent and their mobile number to their
bank or credit card firm to set up travel
alerts. The travel alert automatically
activates when a customer switches on
their mobile phone in a different country
with the information sent back to their
financial institution in real-time. In
essence, location-based information tells
the financial institution where a card is
going to be used, even before the customer
starts spending.
Outcome: reduce operational and fraud
management costs to financial institutions.
Stadiums
Customer challenge: how to reach more fans
and maximise guest experiences.
Telstra solution: Machine-to-machine
technologies enable stadiums to more
efficiently track and manage media location
assets such as machines, kiosks, consoles
and handheld devices. Through better
spectator data that maps footprints and
uncovers insights stadiums are creating
unique experiences for fans based on
their behaviours and preferences. Inside
the venue, living room and public spaces,
before, during, and after the event - digital
technology is mobilising stadiums.
Outcome: increased revenue from single
events and improved ROI on existing assets.
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About Telstra
Telstra is a leading telecommunications company
offering a range of communications services
internationally. We work with a number of
partners to deliver innovative solutions both
internally and to our customers and continue to
expand our digital portfolio through investments
in Telstra Ventures and Telstra Software Groups.
The Telstra Ventures Group was designed
to improve our ability to identify and engage
with new solutions and market disruptors by
fostering collaboration between market leading
organisations and Telstra. Innovative companies
grow faster through our investment, expertise
and channels whilst we harness innovation and
learn from the companies that are creating future
markets.
By partnering with leaders in the field we can
offer our customers solutions they may otherwise
have not had access to with the added value of
Telstra’s managed services.
Our investment strategy is focussed on
companies that are tapped into market trends -
Digital, SaaS, Big Data, Machine Learning are all
part of their DNA. The growth of these companies
proves a change is happening, and while it
often starts in a specific segment of the market,
over time can change the way whole industries
operate. The process of change and innovation is
a continuous one and the companies closest to
their customers will be those that can innovate
quickly to take advantage of new opportunities
The Telstra Software Group is another area of
investment for the company and was established
in 2014 to create long-term, high-growth
businesses and capabilities around software. The
world is increasingly driven by software and it’s
important for Telstra to set up businesses that
enable us to learn from software organisations to
position Telstra for the future.
As software increasingly moves into the cloud,
this is an opportunity adjacent to our core
network business.
Three major pillars to the Telstra Software Group:
• Establishing high-growth software
businesses. The first area is Intelligent Video,
where we started executing on our strategy
by acquiring rich media organisations. The
objective is to help customers that have
premium video content, transition from
traditional linear broadcasting to online-
delivery. Our other two areas are Internet
of Things and Cloud Application. Internet of
Things is about utilising machine learning
and insights to unlock the potential of the
increasing amount of data being captured
from connected devices. Cloud Applications is
about moving computing off premises to on-
demand software-as-a-service model.
• Bolstering the Digital start-up ecosystems
through our accelerator Muru-D. We want
to make sure that global markets similar to
Silicon Valley provide a world class ecosystem
of start-ups, mentors, investors, universities
and government for digital ideas to flourish.
• Developing software capabilities within
Telstra. Telstra Software Group provides
an environment to develop software
competencies within Telstra for internal and
external use. Our API platform is an example,
where we take the learnings of software
companies and feed them back into Telstra.
Start now.
Get started with the
three dimensions
of digital business
to understand your
requirements and to
find out more about
how Telstra is helping
customers bring their
digital vision to life
contact:
Telstra Asia HQ
T: +852 2827 0066
Telstra Americas
T: +1 877 835 7872
Telstra EMEA
T: +44 20 7965 0000
Telstra Australia
T: +61 2 8202 5134
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Unravelled — The Three Dimensions of Digital Business is published by Telstra. Editorial content supplied by Telstra is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research
is used with Gartner’s permission, and was originally published as part of Gartner’s syndicated research service available to all entitled Gartner clients. © 2015 Gartner,
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