Accenture Strategy Digital ForumEvent Summary

Event Summary 3

How digital technology has reset the fundamentals of competition 4

Major trends and the new rules for digital 5

Seven “no-regret” capabilities to win in the digital economy 7

Managing business transformation for the digital economy 9

Investing for European competitiveness and growth 11

Contents

3 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Event SummaryThe inaugural Accenture Strategy Digital Forum took place on 6 May 2015 at the Palais d’Egmont, Brussels. With contributions from business leaders and industry experts alongside real-world examples of how digital is creating fundamental change, the event offered an opportunity to discuss ways in which organisations can embrace digital disruption to improve competitive edge and generate new growth.

Palais d’Egmont, Brussels.6 May 2015

4 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

How digital technology has reset the fundamentals of competitionThe digital revolution continues apace, and is now entering an even more exciting second phase. The first wave occurred in technology- and information-intensive industries; the new phase is impacting industries largely unaffected the first time around, such as manufacturing, retailing and government.

Speaker: Larry Downes, Author

It is the combination of new rules and different skill sets that is determining competitive advantage in the digital world.

Every business is now a digital business and it is up to the individual whether this is seen as a threat or an opportunity. Technology is neutral and will have an impact on the value chain irrespective of whether organisations choose to take advantage of it.

Digital technologies are having a dramatic impact on the lifecycle of new products and services. Businesses must learn to contend with innovative products and services entering the market that are both better and cheaper—a phenomenon referred to as “big bang disruption” (see “Big Bang Disruption: Strategy in the Age of Devastating Disruption.”)

Frequently, the disruption is caused by competitors outside a particular industry, perhaps by offering a free version of a product for which the industry charges as a means to drive advertising revenue or draw attention to new products. Where new goods and services have in the past followed a lengthy bell curve, from early adopters to early and late mainstream users, big bang disruptors adopt a very different model.

Their new model, termed the “shark fin,” is shorter, steeper and mostly asymmetrical, following three stages: “singularity” —innovators figuring out new technologies and business models; “big bang”—a winning combination adopted all at once by nearly all customer segments; and “the big crunch”—where users anticipate the next set of disruptors and prepare to exit.

New curve of market adoptionBig-bang markets segments

The Shark FinTrial Users

Innovators (2.5%)

Early Adopters (13.5%)

Early Majority (34%)

Late Majority (34%)

Laggards (14%)

Everybody Else

5 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Major trends and the new rules for digital Technology trends that will reshape business include the rapid emergence of the Internet of Things and the emergence of “digital ecosystems,” the “glue” of the platform revolution.

Moderator: Robert Wollan, Global Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, Sales & Customer Service

Panellists: Jan Vorstermans, General Partner, VentureWise; Daniel Benton, Global Managing Director—Accenture Strategy, Technology Strategy; Marc Carrel-Billiard, Managing Director, Accenture Technology, Emerging Technology

6 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Digital technology enables the selling of outcomes, rather than products and services—leading to the intelligent enterprise. In the future, there will be far more interaction between humans and machines.

Digital customer expectations have evolved and companies need to adapt to better understand their customers. Companies have made significant investments to enhance their digital capabilities but these investments are not delivering the expected results. Many companies are using an outdated customer model which does not take account of the expectations of the digital customer and their behaviours. Organisations are investing in digital initiatives without understanding the “digital intensity” of their customers—and they cannot be truly customer-centric without a clear view of what their customers notice and value.

The next level of customer experience will see a reintegration of people; the ‘customer’ will be put back into customer service. There will be a greater focus on filling the experience gaps between devices, due to handovers where bandwidth gaps exist and customer data is out-of-date. To make life simpler, specialisation will be simplified with re-aggregation. As digital businesses mature, they need to create digital personalities to connect on an emotional level with the customer. Data-driven services will be prolific as conversations and commerce come together. Eventually, there may be a move away from smart devices being pivotal to digital life to a set of connected services.

Five trends are driving the new rules for digital:

The Internet of meThe opportunity to personalise on an individual basis becomes possible as everyday objects and experiences become more digital.

Outcome economyIntelligent hardware and digital technology are helping businesses deliver real world and meaningful results, promising opportunities for transformation for everyone.

Platform (r)evolutionLeading enterprises are carving out new playing fields as rapid advances in cloud and mobility technology drive platform-based ecosystems.

Intelligent enterpriseSoftware that learns and adapts is part of all-encompassing effort that propels innovation throughout the business and helps deliver an enhanced customer experience.

Workforce reimaginedAs the digital revolution gains momentum, humans and machines must do more together. Successful businesses will embrace both as critical team members.

Organisations will gain a better understanding of what customers want through data.

7 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Seven “no-regret” capabilities to win in the digital economyThis is a great time to be an “incumbent business.” These established companies have many capabilities and strengths that can be leveraged—but business leaders are questioning what new capabilities to invest in to be digital today.

Moderator: Narry Singh, Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, Digital Strategy, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, Africa

Panelists: Joachim Goyvaerts, Head of Belgium and Luxembourg, PayPal; Lorenzo Franzi, Global Venture Managing Director, Rocket Internet; Mark Pearson, Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, Operations; Céline Laurenceau, Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, Talent & Organization

8 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Seven capabilities have been identified as key to digital success: sense and interpret disruption; organize for speed; design a delightful customer experience; fully understand and leverage data; experiment to develop and launch new ideas, faster; build and maintain a high digital quotient team; and partner and invest for all non-core activities.

Sense and interpret disruptionHuman survival depends on our ability to sense and respond to change; organisations are no different. Sensing change, though, is not enough—the trick is to interpret what these changes mean to a business and, more importantly, when they will have an impact. If business leaders are unable to interpret the change signals, they are no better placed than those who did not see the change coming.

Organise for speedMost organisations are designed to withstand change, but two elements are essential to organise a business for speed. The first is CEO-level support and the presence of a dedicated central team to drive new digital growth. The second is a team of “fixers”—resources at the centre of operations who are independent and respected and can draw on the right skills at the right time.

Design a delightful customer experienceThe quality of the customer experience is a customer’s primary motivation for repeat business. However, digital technologies have reset expectations; for example, a banking customer using a mobile app does not compare it with apps from other banks, but against the best mobile user experiences for usability or functionality, irrespective of the industry.

Fully understand and leverage dataBusinesses hold massive amounts of data and are grappling with how to use it to develop new products and services that bring new value to their customers. Fundamental to how businesses run in the future is mastering the art of exploiting data, not only by turning it into useful information, but also by finding new ways to monetise it.

Experiment to develop and launch new ideas, fasterMany entrepreneurs, if questioned about how they innovate, would look nonplussed; they do not see themselves as “innovating” per se. In the mind of the digital disruptor they are solving a specific customer problem the best way they know how; as such innovation is a consequence not a goal. Two actions are required for solving customer problems: experimenting and learning to self-disrupt.

Build and maintain a high digital quotient teamIQ and EQ measure intellectual and emotional intelligence, respectively. Now it is the time for “DQ”—a measure of the digital quotient, or digital savviness, of organisations. Organisations need to measure and rapidly build the DQ of their teams as they evolve their digital capabilities.

Partner and invest for all non-core activitiesEffective digital leaders have one common characteristic— their intuitive understanding that the journey ahead should not be taken alone. Aligning with an ecosystem of partners is critical to digital progress, whether seeking out corporate development, business development partners or application programming interfaces.

Once an organization understands how it measures up against its required capabilities and the competition, it can make the right strategic choices to realize its digital goals.

9 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Managing business transformation for the digital economyCreating new growth options for the future of organisations by executing strategies at multiple speeds, across multiple layers, requires meeting the dual challenges of operating and evolving a large business. Organisations need to consider the issues of scaling an enterprise to become a “global player.”

Moderator: Bruno Berthon, Global Managing Director, Accenture Strategy, Digital Strategy

Panellists: Dominique Leroy, CEO, Proximus; Gianpiero Lotito, CEO, FacilityLive; Peter Jungen, Founder, Peter Jungen Holding GmbH; Michał Boni, Member of the European Parliament; Mauro Macchi, Senior Managing Director, Europe, Africa, Latin America, Accenture Strategy

10 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Research conducted jointly by Accenture and Oxford Economics shows how digital technologies can be harnessed to unlock faster economic growth, adding as much as US$1.36 trillion to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the world’s top 10 economies by 2020—2.3 percent more in real terms than currently forecast.1

The majority of business leaders believe that governments and policy makers have a vital role to play in creating the right environment to accelerate the transition to a digital economy. Decision makers need to determine how shifting or emphasising different indicators can boost economic performance. This is a key first step for governments looking to take a broader view in fostering digital transformation and for businesses seeking to use digital technologies to drive growth.

Four broad areas of economic activity are required to help businesses think differently about digital technology and capitalise on new growth opportunities:

• Understand and support new business models and markets

• Transform how you operate

• Think forward to the Industrial Internet of Things

• Look beyond digital infrastructure.

1 Digital Density Index: Guiding Digital Transformation, Accenture, March 2015

Governments and policy makers need to create the right environment for digital business through focused investment and nurturing entrepreneurship and innovation.$

11 Accenture Strategy Digital Forum - Event Summary

Investing for European competitiveness and growthGoing forward, a key priority is to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and stimulate investment as a means to encourage job creation.

Smarter investment, more focus, less regulation and more flexibility is required when it comes to public funds at a European Union level. This should enable mobilisation of up to €300 billion in additional public and private investment in the real economy over the next three years.

Additional investment should be focused on the areas of infrastructure, particularly broadband and energy networks, as well as the transport infrastructure in industrial centres; education, research and innovation; and renewable energy and energy efficiency. A significant amount should be channelled toward projects that can help the younger generation get back to work.

Europe urgently requires an investment plan based on three mutually reinforcing strands. First, the mobilisation of at least EUR 315 billion in additional investment over the next three years, maximising the impact of public resources and unlocking private investment. Second, targeted initiatives to ensure this extra investment meets the needs of the real economy. And third, measures to provide greater regulatory predictability and to remove barriers to investment, making Europe more attractive and thereby multiplying the impact of the overall plan. In turn, these three strands can help by:

Mobilising at least EUR 315 billion additional investments at European Union level by setting up the European Fund for Strategic Investments. The new fund will support long-term investment projects and also investment by small- medium-enterprises (SMEs) and mid-cap companies as well as boost the impact of the European Structural and Investment Funds.

Making investment finance reach the real economy by establishing a pipeline of projects at the European Union level. This involves setting up a single-entry investment advisory “hub” to bring together sources of expertise and strengthen technical assistance at all levels. There is also a need to engage with stakeholders at European, national and regional level.

Improving the investment environment, with simpler, better and more predictable regulation at all levels. Improvements involve creating new sources for long-term financing, including steps towards a Capital Markets Union. Also, there is a need to reinforce the level-playing field and eliminate barriers to investment in the Single Market.

Speaker: Jyrki Katainen, European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness

The investment plan is not a one-off measure, but an investment offensive that will unfold over the next three years. It is a plan that will fundamentally change public policy and the financing tools underpinning investment in Europe, to achieve the highest economic and societal return for every euro spent.

The views and opinions expressed in this document are meant to stimulate thought and discussion. As each business has unique requirements and objectives, these ideas should not be viewed as professional advice with respect to your business.

This document makes descriptive reference to trademarks that may be owned by others. The use of such trademarks herein is not an assertion of ownership of such trademarks by Accenture and is not intended to represent or imply the existence of an association between Accenture and the lawful owners of such trademarks.

About AccentureAccenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with approximately 323,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com

Accenture StrategyAccenture Strategy operates at the intersection of business and technology. We bring together our capabilities in business, technology, operations and function strategy to help our clients envision and execute industry-specific strategies that support enterprise wide transformation. Our focus on issues related to digital disruption, competitiveness, global operating models, talent and leadership help drive both efficiencies and growth. For more information, follow @AccentureStrat or visit www.accenture.com/strategy

Stay ConnectedJoin Us–Facebook www.facebook.com/accenturestrategy

Follow Us–Twitter www.twitter.com/AccentureStrat

Watch Us–YouTube www.youtube.com/accenture

Connect With Us–LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/accenture-strategy

Join the conversation @AccentureStrat

Copyright © 2015 Accenture All rights reserved.

Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.