-: So now let's talk about the underlying tech
of the bionic company.
Bionic companies must make several very important shifts
with regard to their technology strategy,
to make systems more modular
and make data more accessible.
Most companies today run on a mix of legacy systems,
not a handful but hundreds,
if not thousands, in large organizations.
These systems tend to be hardwired
into the current organizational model.
Their finance systems, their supply chain systems,
their human resource systems.
They often have multiple integration
and a complex landscape
that many refer to as spaghetti.
It's hard to test and maintain
and often what leads to long lead times for innovation.
Bionic companies will need to shift
to a next-generation technology stack,
which is more modular and more like, well,
ravioli, if we keep with the pasta analogy.
It's where the components are neatly packaged
and can be modified or replaced
without significantly affecting the other components,
making it easier to reuse
and decouple development in one part from another.
Data can be processed a bit at a time,
code can be changed a bit at a time,
and systems, in their entirety,
can be understood a bit at a time.
It's not a new thing actually,
it's actually a concept well known
in the automotive industry
as a radical shift in time to market,
which was pioneered by Volkswagen.
Components, such as chassis and tires and seats,
are all designed to work together
by adhering to certain parameters.
The platform and its associated interfaces
are well-defined to make them work together,
this is APIs.
This enables rapid innovation
as every component can be changed independently,
as long as the interface stays the same.
And that's what in technology world
is referred to as microservices.
Fully digital companies, such as Amazon,
Salesforce, and Uber, have common, fully decoupled,
next-generation technology platforms
that allow access to standardized operating processes
across their businesses.
They also tend to include capabilities
such as deep data, sophisticated analytics,
reporting, workflow management,
and easy linkage to internal and external consumers
of such processes and resources.
These modular technology platforms are easily leveraged
to create deliverables and outputs
for both internal and external processes and experiences.
As a result, innovation is rapid.
For example, the HR teams at Salesforce
are able to put out a new onboarding app
for new employees, tracking who's coming and who's going,
who will greet them, where they will meet
and what they will order for their computer
and so forth, in just a couple of weeks.
The challenge and the cost
of transforming the technology stack
and the technology function itself
shouldn't be underestimated.
It's a fundamentally different approach
in the bionic company.
Their real value is in tackling this
starting with the priority use cases,
essentially liberating data, using it,
and modernizing the core applications
alongside delivery of real business value.
Our experience is that this approach,
which focuses on using data,
in the highest value use cases,
yields significantly faster,
two X, three X, development and time to market,
and it avoids as much as 50% of the cost of development.
So, you will have heard that the bionic company
requires platform-based organization
and agile approaches.
I hope you'll take away from this session
that the technology strategy
also requires platform based approaches
and agile delivery,
and it's those things together,
the organization strategy and the technology strategy,
that delivers real impact with the bionic company.