Digital Trends Report 2017

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Supporting Partner
DIGITAL TRENDS
REPORT 2017
THE FORCES DRIVING TRANSFORMATION
IN THE YEAR AHEAD
The independent community for disruptive business and technology leaders
Nimbus Ninety
Nimbus Ninety
Nimbus Ninety
Nimbus Ninety

For many of us, the beginning of the
year is a time to reflect, take stock and
set plans for the months ahead. In a
world where technology is developing
at hyperspeed, reviewing priorities is a
good deal more challenging. So each
year, we survey members and take the
pulse of digital transformation across
a broad range of sectors, combining it
with commentary from thought leaders,
to help you define your own plans for
2017.
Over the course of 2016, we’ve been
privileged to welcome innovators from
all types of organisations. We’ve heard
from established enterprises who are
undertaking ambitious transformation
and have the battle scars to prove it.
We’ve learnt from Airbnb, Deliveroo
and Uber - leading digital disruptors
who are changing how entire industries
think and how consumers behave. As
technology continues to astonish and
amaze, I’m excited at what 2017 will
bring for our members.
Bringing together an inquisitive and
diverse community is at the very
heart of what we do. With a shortage
of skills cited as a critical challenge
in this report, this is a crucial time to
learn from each other, and harness
the Nimbus Ninety community to
make the connections which will
drive projects forward. To facilitate
this, we’ve planned a stimulating
programme of activities for 2017 to
reflect many of the themes outlined
in this report. Despite the sense of
uncertainty taking root in 2016, digital
transformation is more crucial than
ever. Although there is much work
to do, 52% of members rated their
organisation’s progress in achieving
its digital ambitions as adequate or
poor. Increased connectivity and
automation are bringing about another
wave of development and disruption,
so gathering insights from different
sectors will play a key role in ensuring
2017 is one of progress rather than
stagnation. We hope that by bringing
together those who are driving
transformation, we can equip you with
the tools you need to navigate the year
ahead successfully and smoothly.
I would like to thank all the contributors
to this report, especially members,
research partners and particular thanks
to our thought leaders David Rowan,
Debbie Hulme and Dr Will Venters
for sharing their insights into where
technology will transport us in 2017.
Emma Taylor
Founder and Managing Director
Nimbus Ninety
Digital Trends Report 2017 | ContentsForeword | Digital Trends Report 2017
32
FOREWORD
We live in a time where disruption is the new normal,
and technology is accelerating the pace of change to
an unprecedented degree
SURVEY RESULTS & ANALYSIS
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IN A HYPERCONNECTED ERA
THE INVESTMENT LANDSCAPE FOR DIGITAL IN 2017
ACHIEVING SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
WHAT LIES AHEAD?
SUPPORTING PARTNER INSIGHT
INTRODUCTION & DEMOGRAPHIC
INTERVIEWS
SUPPORTING PARTNER: CASE STUDY
FOREWORD
PAGE 6 - 17
PAGE 6
PAGE 8
PAGE 12
PAGE 16
PAGE 4 - 5
PAGE 18
PAGE 2
PAGE 20- 37
PAGE 38
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
WIRED UK, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
VIRGIN ATLANTIC, VP CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS, ASSISTANT
PROFESSOR OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS
PAGE 20
PAGE 26
PAGE 32

£0- £25m
16%
£25m- £100m
10%
£100m-£500m
18%
£500m- £2bn
15%
£2bn- £10bn
18%
£10bn- £25bn
6%
£25bn-£50bn
8%
£50bn+
9%
At the start of 2017, a year where the
Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence,
and Augmented Reality are widely
expected to have a significant impact,
it’s worthwhile pausing to reflect
on how, in this dynamic landscape,
organisations can carve out a
successful path to growth.
For the Nimbus Ninety community
the top business challenge for 2017 is
keeping pace with the speed of change.
In 2016, connectivity increased, data
exploded and the pace of progress
accelerated once again. Companies,
even those that have previously
seemed resilient to disruption, are
increasingly adopting the view that
thinking like a digital enterprise is
simply essential to reap the benefits
of another wave of technological
progress. Indeed, with increased
competition from digitally-driven
companies viewed as the second
biggest challenge, time is running out
to develop robust digital strategies that
can weather the disruptive times ahead.
This of course is easily said. ‘Digital
transformation’, has become a popular,
catch-all term to describe the range of
projects and programmes undertaken
to digitise aspects of an organisation’s
operations. These projects vary hugely
in scope and complexity. When we
asked members to define their role in
digital strategy, a multi-layered picture
emerged. For some, digital is confined
to marketing, for others it’s about data
strategy or innovation. At the other
end of the scale, it’s all-encompassing:
including self-disruption, organisational
change and constant horizon-scanning
to capture the opportunities emerging
in the so-called digital economy. What
is clear, is that members are often
introducing brand new ways of working
into their organisations, which in turn,
require new approaches to planning,
communication and leadership.
Much progress has been made.
However, organisations need to aim
ever higher in their digital ambitions,
just to keep up with consumers’
expectations and drive forward the
operational efficiency that is within
reach. The results in this report
highlight the progress that has been
made, and outline the themes shaping
another transformational year across
the Nimbus Ninety community.
Jessica Thorpe
Senior Research Analyst
Nimbus Ninety
Digital
Marketing/PR
Management
RD/Innovation
Operations
Finance HR
Communications
Standards
BIM
Risk Compliance
BusinessChange
Service Delivery
Executive Board
Education Training
Internal Audit
Tax and HR
Content Strategy
Global Transaction Banking
GlobalIT
RiskManagement
Supporter Engagement
Crossfunctional
IT & Finance
Tax & Technology
Security
Compliance
Strategy Planning
IT Technology
1-10
4% 11-100
5%
101 - 500
16%
501 -1,000
7%
1,001 -5,000
22%
5,001-10,000
11%
10,001 - 20,000
7%
20,000+
28%
Organisation
size
Job function
Automotive
1% Banking
7%
Charity/Not for proﬁt
7%
Construction/Engineering
3%
Consultancy
1%
Consumer packaged
goods 3%
Education/Arts
3%
Energy/Mining
2%
Gaming/Gambling
1%
Healthcare
1%
Hospitality & Leisure
3%
Insurance
9%IT 3%
Manufacturing
1%
Media, Broadcasting
& Entertainment
12%
Other
4%
Other
Financial Services
5%
Pharmaceutical
2%
Professional Services
3%
Public Sector
7%
Retail
6%
Technology
3%
Telecommunications
3%
Transport/Logistics
5%
Utilities
3%
Industry
Sector
Annual
turnover
Digital Trends Report 2017 | Survey Demographic
5
Introduction | Digital Trends Report 2017
4
INTRODUCTION
TO THE DIGITAL
TRENDS SURVEY
The world’s economy is in transition, as technologies
progressively underpin growth and reshape
operational models throughout industries across the
world.
SURVEY
DEMOGRAPHIC
251 senior stakeholders responsible for driving
digital transformation initiatives across business and
technology functions

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%
39%
We are developing
a digital strategy
29%
We have a clear digital
strategy that is communicated
across the business
27%
Separate departments/teams/
business lines have their
own digital strategies
5%
We do not have
a clear digital strategy
Figure 1 - Which statement best describes your digital strategy?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Digital
transformation
not required
Other
To comply with
regulation/legislation
To attract new
talent and develop
existing employees
To enter
new markets
To reduce costs
To create new
products or services
To reinvent business/
operating model
To improve
operational
efficiency
To meet
changing customer
expectations
80%
52%
47%
41%
18%
15%
8%
5%
2%
1%
10%
17%
19%
20%
22%
34%
43%
52%
63%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Higher margins
Higher revenue
per customer
Improved
productivity/staff
engagement
Greater market
penetration
Improved customer
loyalty
Improved levels
of innovation
Greater agility
Better use of data
in decision-making
Improved customer
engagement
Figure 2 - Why in general does your organisation need to undertake digital transformation?
Figure 3 - What are the main benefits of your digital transformation?
Digital Trends Report 2017 | Survey Results & AnalysisSurvey Results & Analysis | Digital Trends Report 2017
76
DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION IN A
HYPERCONNECTED ERA
30% are not well equipped to seize the opportunities
presented by digital. With 60% feeling a lukewarm
quite well equipped.
Accepting that we live in a disruptive
era, the quality and execution of
organisations’ digital strategy is
crucial if they are to grow, and for
some, to survive. 39% of members
are developing a digital strategy - and
for those, time is surely running out
(Figure 1). The remaining two thirds of
members divided almost equally into
two groups - 29% have a clear digital
strategy communicated across the
business versus 27% where separate
departments/teams/business lines have
their own digital strategies.
Without a coherent digital strategy,
customers are apt to lose interest and
are mopped up by digitally-driven
competitors who are providing
seamless and frictionless experiences.
Whilst on one hand it makes sense
for teams and business lines to have
their own digital strategies, does this
approach lead to pockets of digital
success that are isolated from the rest
of the organisation?
Reflecting on the results from previous
surveys, digital transformation is driven
overwhelmingly by the need to meet
changing customer expectations (80%)
(Figure 2). This goes beyond simply
improving ‘the customer experience’.
Many organisations recognise that
they need to change fundamentally in
order to serve clients and customers
who are increasingly connected. Whilst
improving operational efficiency is
clearly important (52%) and there is
much excitement about the power of
automation, Internet of Things and
Artificial Intelligence in this regard,
it’s exciting that for 47% digital
transformation is to reinvent business/
operating models. This marks a contrast
with the results of our Digital Leaders
Insight Report in March 2016, where
just 6% members chose ‘reinvent’ to
best describe how business models
needed to change¹ in light of disruption.
The top response, ‘evolve’ selected by
33%, now seems too glacial in its nature
to aptly reflect the speed at which
technology is really driving change.
Drilling into the benefits of digital
transformation (Figure 3), improved
customer engagement topped the
table with 63%, consistent with the
top ranking objective in the previous
question. Throughout 2016 we have
regularly returned to the theme of data
at IGNITE Summits. Harnessing the
growing mass of data is critical, and sits
at the core of successful transformation,
and better use of data in decision-
making takes second place with 52%.
Greater agility (43%), often but not
always driven by agile development
practices, steals third place ahead of
improved levels of innovation (34%).
These results underline the significance
of digital transformation and the scale
of the challenge ahead. Yet 30%
are not well equipped to seize the
opportunities presented by digital.
With 60% feeling a lukewarm quite
well equipped, the following sections
explore the many and varied obstacles
facing organisations in this highly
connected and dynamic period of
change.

57%
24%
10% 9%
54%
30%
9% 7%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
Increase Stay the same Decrease Don't know
2016
2017
Figure 4 - In 2016, how did your spend on technology change? &
How do you expect your spend on technology to change in 2017?
1%
2%
3%
3%
4%
6%
9%
10%
11%
12%
14%
18%
18%
23%
25%
34%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
No one
Don’t know
Chief Data Officer
Analytics/Insight
Communications
Dedicated transformation
unit/role
Innovation
Chief Operating Officer
Other (please specify)
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Digital Officer
Chief Marketing Officer
Separate business units
Chief Technology Officer
Chief Information Officer
Chief Executive Officer
Figure 5 - Who is the budget holder for your digital strategy?
35%
25%
55%
26%
33%
35%
33%
36%
32%
41%
29% 29%
45%
28%
39%
35%
39%
19%
29%
31%
24%
43%
24%
26%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
We are developing a
digital strategy
Separate departments/
teams/business lines have
their own digital strategies
We have a clear digital
strategy that is communicated
across the business
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Information Officer
Chief Technology Officer
Chief Marketing Officer
Chief Digital Officer
Chief Data Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Operating Officer
Figure 6 - Who is the budget
holder for your digital strategy?
vs Which statement best
describes your digital strategy?
In focus: The employee
experience
Digitisation is reshaping the workplace
- 49% agree their company culture
has in fact changed as a direct result
of technology. These changes are
fundamental, and yet with the focus
primarily on improving the customer
experience, investing in the employee
experience often ends up far down the
list of priorities. Communication between
teams/departments is most likely to
derail digital projects (Figure 12). And
yet, improving employee engagement/
knowledge sharing and attracting new
talent/developing staff rank as the lowest
priorities in terms of drivers of investment
(Figure 7). Indeed, with only 8% focusing
spend on the worker experience (Figure
9), and with skills in short supply,
are organisations missing a major
opportunity? Or perhaps this is seen as
the preserve of the HR department, given
that improved employee satisfaction/
effectiveness is a KPI of digital projects
for just 32% (Figure 13). Freeing up staff
time to focus on more valuable tasks
through greater automation may be part
of the solution, although this alone cannot
tackle the entirely human error of poor
communication. What is clear, is that
digital is propelling new thinking on how
human capital is employed and deployed
- and we expect to see more innovation
on this front throughout 2017.
98
An emphatic 84% feel more investment
is needed if digital objectives are to be
achieved. For the majority, technology
spend is growing, with 54% expecting
an increase in 2017 whilst 30% expect it
to remain roughly the same (Figure 4).
Digital is now fundamental to any
organisation’s success and with
more funds channelled into projects,
support is required at the highest
level. Although the CEO holds the
project purse strings for the majority
of members, at 34%, (Figure 5),
budgets are still largely the domain of
technology and IT, with a combined
total of 48% choosing CIO or CTO.
With the majority of spend directed at
the customer relationship, the CMO
is just behind IT and technology with
18%. The diversity of digital projects
is reflected by the high percentage of
those choosing the category ‘Other’.
Here commercial and product roles
feature heavily as budget holders, as
do combined IT and digital director-
level roles.
Those organisations which have a
clear digital strategy communicated
business-wide are most likely to have
the CEO as a budget holder (39%), and
those where digital strategies are the
domain of individual business units are
the least likely to find the CEO holding
the purse strings (25%) (Figure 6).
THE INVESTMENT
LANDSCAPE
FOR DIGITAL IN 2017
84% feel more investment is needed if digital
objectives are to be achieved
38% of members say they have the
right skills in place to achieve their
digital objectives

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Cutting costs
Improve operational efficiency
Improve customer experience
Employee engagement/knowledge sharing
Increase competitive advantage
Launch new products/businesses
Replace legacy systems
Increase productivity
Increase automation
Attract new talent/develop staff
High Medium Low
22%
28%
28%
40%
42%
45%
46%
68%
72%
85%
50%
52%
47%
47%
45%
40%
47%
28%
27%
13%
28%
20%
25%
13%
13%
15%
7%
4%
1%
2%
Figure 7 - How important are the following drivers for investment in digital?
2%
11%
30%
39%
11%
7%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Within
3 months
3-6
months
6-12
months
1-2
years
More than
2 years
ROI is not
an objective
Figure 8 - Thinking about your digital spend in 2016, in what time frame do you
typically expect to see a return on investment from digital technologies?
6%
8%
8%
16%
17%
21%
29%
30%
32%
35%
35%
43%
44%
46%
67%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Other
Worker Experience
Storage
Artiﬁcial Intelligence
Internet of Things
Social Media
Security
Automation
CRM
APIs
Agile transformation
Infrastructure
Cloud
Mobile
Data & Analytics
Figure 9 - Where will your digital/technology spend be mainly focused in 2017?
1110
79% say that to achieve digital objectives, investment in
different areas or technologies is necessary
Improving customer experience,
operational efficiency, and increasing
competitive advantage are considered
the most important drivers of
investment in digital (Figure 7). Whilst
cutting costs, launching new products,
increasing productivity and increasing
automation occupy the middle ground,
the ‘people’ issues, attracting new
talent/developing staff and improving
employee engagement/knowledge
sharing are the lowest priorities. A
shortage of digital skills plagues
projects and, later in this report, is
identified as a one of the top three
business challenges of 2017. Just 35%
of members say they have the right
skills in place to achieve their digital
objectives, so investing in internal
capabilities or rethinking current
approaches to managing human capital
is essential.
Where will spend be directed to
support these objectives? On average
respondents selected four areas for
investment, with the breadth of choice
underscoring the diverse nature of
today’s technology landscape (Figure
9). For the majority, 67%, data &
analytics will enable organisations
to deepen customer relationships,
discover internal efficiencies, and
visualise operations by harnessing a
primary yet underexploited and ever-
expanding asset - data.
Cloud (44%) and APIs (35%) continue
to receive significant attention, as
innovative new partnerships between
organisations emerge, in line with
the growing importance of business
models based on a digital ecosystem.
Agile transformation also selected
by 35%, highlights the challenge for
many organisations wishing to embed
agile across the business as a whole.
Interestingly, spend on Internet of
Things and Artificial Intelligence is
significantly less than their perceived
disruptive potential (Figure 16).
With the majority expecting a return on
investment from digital technologies
within either 1-2 years (39%) or 6-12
months (30%), the pressure is on
(Figure 8). A note of caution though,
79% say that to achieve digital
objectives, investment in different
areas or technologies is necessary,
suggesting the technology landscape
will remain highly complex over the
next 12-24 months.
Against this backdrop, we explored the
common stumbling blocks to success in
the following section.

46% say their organisation has
significantly transformed its digital
operations over the past year, so some
excellent progress has been made.
Despite this, when drilling deeper into
barriers to successful transformation,
some usual suspects emerged.
Dealing with legacy is the most
common obstacle to digital progress,
and this was reflected in both 2015
and 2014 Market Trends Reports. This
trend continues with 50% selecting this
option (Figure 10) and although this is
a reduction of 5% from 2015, it’s clear
legacy systems still absorb a significant
amount of time and attention despite
efforts to overcome them. (See page 13
In focus: Legacy Systems for more).
38% felt organisational structure
was a major barrier, highlighting one
of the thorniest challenges facing
enterprises, which, despite investing
heavily in new technology often find
they must realign teams, capabilities,
people and processes, to truly capture
the value of their investment. Digital
transformation cuts across traditional
company boundaries and structures
in ways that can be painful to manage,
as established ways of working and
hierarchies become harder to justify.
Perhaps unsurprisingly then, a lack
of agile IT was chosen by a quarter
of respondents as a major barrier
to success, with agile practices also
requiring significant cultural shifts to be
successful.
Figure 10 - What are the greatest barriers to the success of your
organisation’s digital strategy as a whole?
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%
5%Poor internal training
8%
Lack of developer
experience/skills
9%Security
13%Employee buy-in
14%
Working with the right
suppliers/partners
17%Time
26%Lack of agile IT
26%Cost
27%
Recruiting the right
skills and talent
33%
Lack of collaboration
between different teams
38%Organisational structure
50%Legacy systems
Regulation/compliance 11%
Naturally, leadership and culture
are easy targets when determining
why digital projects fail (Figure 11).
Technology is significantly changing
the culture within organisations, and
leaders are having to adapt rapidly
too. A resounding 60% felt that the
biggest cultural barrier to digital was
that business as usual diverts attention
from digital transformation, highlighting
the gulf between ‘normal’ operations
and the perception of what constitutes
a truly digital organisation. ‘Vision’ itself
formed the basis of the second and
third barriers. It is either too short-term
in nature (26%) or not cohesive enough
(22%). Both responses underline the
complexity of the communication
challenge around digital transformation
for leaders.
9%
17%
17%
19%
20%
20%
22%
22%
26%
60%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%
Not applicable
Organisation/leadership does not
embrace innovation
Leadership does not understand
the beneﬁts of digital
Fear of change
Lack of clear boundaries between
IT/Technology and Business
Communication of
digital strategy/vision is poor
Leadership is risk averse
Lack of shared vision
Vision is too short term
Business as usual diverts
attention from digital transformation
Figure 11 - Thinking specifically about leadership and culture,
what are the main challenges with respect to successful digital transformation?
In focus: Legacy Systems
Legacy systems, occasionally referred
to as ‘heritage’ systems, are often
characterised as the millstones grinding
digital transformation projects to a halt.
Replacing legacy systems may not be
the biggest driver of investment; only
28% rating it as highly important (Figure
7). Yet 50% of members cite them as
the greatest obstacle to successful
digital strategy (Figure 10), down from
58% in 2015 and 56% in 2014. Progress
is slow, and there is no doubt that many
enterprises competing with nimble and
digitally-driven new entrants feel the
pain of legacy acutely.
Perhaps the tide is turning. Of those
50% for whom legacy impedes
implementation of digital strategy,
51% felt that they had made good
progress during 2016 to overcome the
challenges posed by old systems and
processes.
1312
ACHIEVING
SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL
TRANSFORMATION
Only 28% feel established measures of success are
becoming less relevant in today’s digital world

Figure 12 - Thinking about a recent digital project, what were the main pain points?
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%
2%
Nega�ve impact on the
customer rela�onship
16%Which metrics to track
17%Communica�ng expecta�ons
17%
Buy-in from
company/staff
18%
Unexpected cost
increases
21%
Buy-in from
leadership
23%
Informa�on security risks
and challenges
23%
Poor data quality or
data privacy concerns
28%Lack of coordinated digital strategy
30%Project direc�on and focus
44%
Communica�on between
teams/departments
Exploring members’ experiences
from recent projects (Figure 12), poor
communication between teams/
departments, is the most common
cause of frustration in organisations as
evidenced by 44%, regardless of their
size or sector. (See Page 9 In focus: The
employee experience). The results also
underline the importance of having a
clear business-wide digital strategy -
something only 29% members admitted
to (Figure 1) - given that project
direction and focus (30%), and lack
of coordinated digital strategy (28%)
took the second and third places. Poor
data quality or data privacy concerns
(23%) and information security risks
(23%) in the top five, reflect the growing
attention on data more generally.
The subject of KPIs has been much
discussed throughout 2016, as
companies grapple with the right
measures of success. Only 28% feel
established measures of success are
becoming less relevant in today’s
digital world, suggesting current KPIs
are adequate. The relatively close
spread of results (Figure 13) highlights
the variety of objectives that projects
are seeking to address. As the top
drivers for investing in technology are
improving the customer experience and
greater operational efficiency (Figure
7), it is fitting that the top indicators
of success are improved customer
satisfaction (72%), increased revenue
(51%), and new products/services
launched (42%) (Figure 13).
Looking more closely at the market, a
variety of organisations are contributing
to members’ digital strategies
(Figure 14). Competition for skills is
as fervent as ever, and 39% mostly
use in-house resources to deliver
digital transformation. It’s a good time
for digital agencies (37%) and small
consultancies (36%) which make the top
five, implying a need for more specialist
skills, whilst it’s exciting to see 26%
collaborating with customers/clients
who remain, for many, an untapped
resource.
16%
20%
24%
32%
33%
39%
39%
42%
51%
72%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
New markets entered
Reduction in churn
Reduction in time/downtime
Improved employee
satisfaction/effectiveness
Improved time to market
Increased profitability
Reduction in costs
New products/services launched
Increased revenue
Improved customer satisfaction
Figure 13 - How do you measure the success of your digital objectives?
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
2%Other
4%Crowdsourcing
11%Academia
16%Research analysts
21%Management consultancy firm
23%Independent consultant
23%Global Systems Integrator
26%Customers/Clients
31%Temp/Contract workers
36%Small consultancies
37%Digital agencies
39%We mostly use in-house resources
41%Solutions vendor
Figure 14 - Which external organisations are contributing to your digital strategy?
Digital Trends Report 2017 | Survey Results & Analysis
15
Survey Results & Analysis | Digital Trends Report 2017
14

Technology is changing society
rapidly. Artificial Intelligence, Virtual
and Augmented Reality, Internet
of Things and Blockchain, are all
contributing to the emergence of
a world which, at times, resembles
that of a science fiction novel. It is,
despite the uncertainties, an exciting
time for organisations and a truly
transformational time to be in IT. For
49% of members, digitally-driven
businesses represent the biggest threat
to their organisations, underlining how
crucial a differentiator technology is.
From our Market Trends Report in
2014, 80% told us they were already
experiencing the pain of disruption.
Today, the fashion among the most
forward-looking organisations is to
self-disrupt, often by creating a new
digital business which competes with
the established operating model,
and technology teams are at the very
forefront of this experimentation. 57%
are rethinking business models as a
result of technology, a bold measure
necessary in today’s fast-moving
world. Whilst customer experience and
operational efficiency are common
drivers of investment regardless of size
or sector, the majority understand that
existing revenue and organisational
structures are changing fundamentally,
with just under half of members
agreeing their company culture has
in fact changed as a direct result of
technology.
Much progress has been made,
although there is inevitably, more to do.
41% told us their organisations are
not embracing the opportunities that
digital transformation offers. Projects
may be numerous, but simply keeping
pace with the speed of change is,
for 43%, the number one business
challenge for the year ahead (Figure
15). Despite spend increasing for the
majority in 2017, there is a sense that
things are still not progressing quickly
enough. This represents a challenging
environment for leadership, particularly
as a shortage of staff skilled in digital
is the third highest concern (35%).
Information security too has been a
growing blot on the horizon, following a
year of high profile breaches, with 22%
selecting this as a major challenge in
2017. Just 12%, perhaps optimistically,
fear the impact of Brexit.
So what will be the disruptive forces
shaping the year ahead? Some familiar
technologies will, members believe,
continue to disrupt in 2017 (Figure 16),
with platform technologies ranking top
and cloud computing fifth. According
to our Digital Leaders Insight Report
June 2016, 56% of members were
increasing their investment in platform
technologies over the next 18 months³.
32% expect digital ecosystems to be
most disruptive. As we explored in
September 2016⁴, digital ecosystems,
a direct consequence of platform-
driven business models are powering
many of the world’s high growth
companies already. To see more
enterprises evaluating this way of
working is exciting, and will no doubt
further contribute to the reshaping
of commercial and organisational
structures currently taking place across
many sectors.
Augmented Reality (17%) ranked
ahead of Virtual Reality (9%) in terms
of disruptive potential in the coming
year. With VR now into the mainstream,
all eyes are on the emerging practical
applications of AR to enhance the
consumer experience. Despite much
excitement in 2016 around blockchain
technology, only a fifth of members
expected this to be most disruptive in
2017.
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
3%Other
6%Wearable technologies
8%Robotics
9%Virtual Reality
17%Augmented Reality
19%Social Media
19%Blockchain technology
22%Automation
29%Cloud computing
32%Digital ecosystems
32%Internet of Things
35%Artiﬁcial Intelligence
38%Platform technologies
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
11%Low proﬁtability
12%Impact of Brexit
12%Higher costs
14%
Customer ownership of
data/data consent
15%Regulation
15%Low growth
22%
Information security/
cyber attack
27%
Meeting customer
expectations
32%Budget cuts/constraints
35%
Shortage of staff
skilled in digital
36%
Increased competition from
digitally-driven companies
43%
Keeping pace with the
speed of change
Figure 16 - Which
of the following
will be the most
disruptive in the
next 12 months?
Figure 15 - What
do you think the
main challenges
facing your
organisation as
a whole will be in
2017?
Digital Trends Report 2017 | Survey Results & Analysis
17
Survey Results & Analysis | Digital Trends Report 2017
16
WHAT LIES
AHEAD?
57% are rethinking business models as a result of
technology
41% told us their organisations are
not embracing the opportunities
that digital transformation offers

SUPPORTING
PARTNER INSIGHT
Digital transformation is only truly effective when an
organisation embraces it completely and reshapes the
way it thinks and acts
Technology alone does not drive
digital transformation. IT alone is not
responsible for digital transformation.
Digital transformation is only truly
effective when an organisation
embraces it completely and re-shapes
the way it thinks and acts. There is a
belief that technology changes culture,
but the harsh reality is that technology
only enables cultural change. The
desire to change, and the support
necessary to enable change, must
come from within an organisation. IT
alone cannot engender this change
and must reach out across boundaries
and establish a unified strategy with the
leadership of HR, operations, and sales.
IT must not only be prepared to fail,
but to embrace failure and use it to
evolve more rapidly. For IT to reach
out successfully, it must understand
Simon Ratcliffe
Principal Consultant – Advisory
Ensono
the needs of these other functions
and adapt their engagement. For
IT to create digital transformation
momentum it must break out and
communicate clearly and loudly in
simple business terms, and define
clearly focused projects that can deliver
rapid, iterative value.
The era of digital transformation is
the opportunity for IT to step up and
take control of the strategic agenda
for the organisation but for it to work,
it must also engage people across
the business first. People, process,
technology. In that order.
Technology alone does not drive digital transformation. To be truly effective it requires
the integration of people, process and technology. Whether leveraging the power of the
cloud, or optimising legacy technologies, Ensono is your partner for succeeding in the
Digital Transformation era.
ensono.com
Driving Business Change
and Innovation
Supporting Partner Insight | Digital Trends Report 2017
18

Digital Trends Report 2017 | WIRED UKWIRED UK | Digital Trends Report 2017
2120
DAVID
ROWAN
INTERVIEW
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF
WIRED UK
INTRODUCTION
The term technology is derived from
the Greek techne - meaning “art, skill,
craft, or the way, manner, or means by
which a thing is gained”. Though our
modern perception of what technology
is may be separated from the origins of
the word by several millennia, for David
Rowan, it seems that the central theme
remains the same.
As the Editor-in-Chief of WIRED
UK, David knows all about the
unconventional and avant-garde
players in the tech field, spanning
from Beijing to Brighton. However,
he is also acutely aware of the quiet
undercurrents in tech - and it is these
that will engross our lives in ways that
can only be foreseen by the few.
With David always being at the forefront
of the latest digital developments, he
shared his thoughts with our members
on what the future has to offer for
businesses, consumers, and the world
as a whole.
WIRED was born in 1993 out of the
counter-culture influence that still
permeates Silicon Valley to this day,
setting its tone from the outset as not
just another tech magazine.
“A lot of the ideas that shape today’s
business and consumer culture
came from that American west coast,
anarchic-idealism and utopianism,”
David explains. “Influencers from
the Whole Earth Catalogue, from the
Californian counter-culture, Burning
Man Festival, and experimental
communities. The idea around the use
of technology to solve problems - that
is what helped shape WIRED’s editorial
ethos.”
I’m not interested in technology
- I’m interested in how people
use whatever tools that are
available to reach people at
scale, to understand what
people want, and to discover
opportunities...Nobody wants
technology - they want the fluid
problem solving that it offers
Source: ehang 184, Consumer Electronics Show
2016, Las Vegas - Ben Smith, 6 January 2016

What trends, patterns and
emerging markets do you
see as new sources of value
for organisations in 2017?
Once you network the world, you
open the door to significant disruption
coming from everywhere. A threat to
your company could come from a lab in
Shanghai, or a teenager’s bedroom in
Dhaka - so you have to be open to what
is happening globally.
I travel a lot - I’ve taken 125 flights in the
last year alone. I do this because India
is just waking up to the internet. China
has scale and centralised planning
which means they can try some huge
experiments. Istanbul is growing
ecommerce start-ups for a market of
80 million people. All of this can teach
Western Europe new things, and you
have to read widely and see things
first-hand.
I am also seeing an acceleration of
development cycles and new products.
These new products may seem odd
and laughable at first, but they are
becoming mainstream products in ever-
shorter cycles. For instance, I thought
I knew what drones were all about;
then in January, a Chinese company
called Ehang revealed a drone at CES,
designed to carry a person. You just
touch the screen and it navigates you
to where you want to go. Flying cars
were a science fiction joke until Larry
Page invested $100m in two flying
car companies; and Aeromobil is also
coming to market pretty soon with its
own flying car.
What do you view as the
most important elements
of globalisation, scalability
and innovation for 2017?
Within the next year, all of those
businesses that
were desperate to say they were big
data businesses will start saying they
are machine learning businesses. This
is because Artificial Intelligence (AI)
is accelerating at such a pace that it
is increasingly able to be adopted by
all sorts of businesses. Kevin Kelly,
the founding editor of WIRED US, has
a book called The Inevitable, which
says that it’s easy to see what the next
10,000 business plans are going to
be; just take industry X, and add AI. As
these machines get smarter, they are
going to do a lot of things better than
humans; things that humans don’t really
like to do anyway.
There is an upside and a downside to
all of this. The downside is that there
are not going to be as many truck
drivers, or lawyers and all sorts of other
people in the next few years, because
a machine can automate a lot of those
tasks. For instance, Uber has bought a
company called Otto which just had its
first demonstration of an autonomous
truck on the American highways, a truck
which delivered 50,000 cans of beer.
This solves one particular problem, but
it’s just the start.
The upside is that if you are having a
conversation with a customer, you will
be able to have a much more real-time
and personalised conversation through
bots. With bots, the customer won’t
go to your website or ring you up; they
will instead go to a conversational
bot. If you are selling clothes, they can
ask the bot if their size is in stock, or
have the bot arrange delivery, send a
receipt, and deal with other aspects
of customer service. Or, if you want
to book a flight, or book a hospital
appointment, you will be able to do it
increasingly via a bot in the near future.
You don’t need to understand all of
the complexities of computer vision,
machine learning and neural networks;
but you do need to understand that
these technologies are being made
accessible to SMEs as well as the
giants. As people are now just starting
to get used to talking to the Amazon
Alexa at home, that is passively
listening to everything, this raises all
sorts of other privacy questions. It
changes behaviour more quickly than
we realise.
What do you think will
be the most disruptive
business technology of 2017
and beyond and why?
As machines begin to run more and
more of the economy, not just robotics,
but also AI, what happens to the
traditional deal that we make with
governments? The deal that we work
a certain number of hours and pay our
tax, and in return we get the right to
educate, feed and raise our family?
That’s going to have to change, as a
few companies dominate industries,
and as more and more people realise
there is no such thing as a ‘job’
anymore. In many parts of the world,
pretty soon it’s going to be rather hard
for people to obtain the income that
they are accustomed to.
How can the workforce adapt
to this new era of automation?
The way we educate people for the
economy is very Victorian. It relies on
passively learning to perform particular
tasks. The challenge now is that if
you have a 16 or 17-year-old, by the
time they have finished their
education,
the job they will do has not yet been
invented. The university system and
work training system are going to have
to change their focus to teaching the
ability to keep learning and constantly
adapting. The skill set it takes for
you to produce a magazine article is
reproducible by a machine, as is the
skill set that the truck driver has.
So, you have to work out where the
human can add value. Humans are
still pretty good at certain things that
a machines have not yet mastered.
Humans are great about getting excited
about certain things, spotting patterns
at an emotional level and telling stories
in a compelling way.
So for a lot of businesses, it is about
how you reframe those businesses to
differentiate them in a commodified
economy. For instance, if you have a
consumer products company, well, now
anyone can get access to a factory. So,
how do you turn your product into a
story? GoPro did that brilliantly - it’s a
commodified HD camera, but their story
is, “We are the place you share your
extraordinary lifestyle adventures”.
What is gamification’s place
in the marketplace of the
future? Will it ever evolve into
being a solid business tool?
Until the robots decide they don’t
need humans anymore, humans are
complex, nuanced and interesting - and
quite liable to be manipulated. The
advertising world of the 20th century
proved that. And today, behavioural
psychology is playing an increasingly
interesting role in how companies can
encourage behavioural change.
Game dynamics and design can lead
people to do some really irrational
things. For instance, Kim Kardashian
gave away a free iOS and Android game
two years ago; within five months, that
‘free’ game had earned her $43m in
in-game purchases. I don’t think that
is an entirely rational set of economic
decisions.
Gamification can persuade people to
consume less energy in their house by
giving them a visual dashboard. You
can test people’s work and suitability as
an employee by giving them a game to
play and monitoring their responses in-
game. We are still at the early stages of
learning where you can design systems
to optimise people’s engagement to
optimise customer retention, and to
make customers feel satisfied with the
experience.
2322
PREDICTIONS
You don’t need to understand all of the complexities
of computer vision, machine learning and neural
networks; but you do need to understand that these
technologies are being made accessible to SMEs as
well as the giants
AUTOMATION,
VIRTUAL REALITY,
AUGMENTED REALITY
AND DISRUPTIVE TECH
OF THE FUTURE

2524
What are the greatest
digital obstacles or pain
points facing organisations
today? What issues are
about to blindside them?
The biggest issue facing organisations
is being successful and profitable. It’s
very hard to tell your shareholders or
your internal teams, “OK, in the next
quarter, we are going to do something
to imperil our revenue stream by
reinventing what kind of business we
are, in order to save ourselves.”
It’s the classic Clayton Christensen
'Innovator’s Dilemma'. If you are top
of the tree, the psychology is, “Well,
we’ve made it.” You buy your lavish
corporate headquarters, and everyone
gets bonuses. However, it’s often
at that moment when you are most
vulnerable to being killed. The most
enlightened CEOs I meet are those that
are constantly thinking, “How do we
become the business that is going to
kill our business?”
There once was a paper company,
that became a rubber company, that
became an electronics company, that
became a mobile phone company - and
it became the best, most successful
mobile phone company in the world.
Its feature phones were used by
everybody, and they thought, “We’ve
arrived.”
But, then they decided that
smartphones weren’t going to be that
important - why would people need
them? And that company was Nokia.
FEARS & HOPES
OF TOMORROW
And that’s the same story you could
tell for Kodak, and for a whole bunch
of other companies. So, what are you
doing as a boss to trample on today’s
business model? To see what could be
tomorrow’s?
What does the workplace
of the future look like? What
business traditions are you
tired of? What do you want
to see replace them?
The physical workspace of tomorrow
needs to be designed around
collaboration and collisions. It’s no
longer enough to think, “We have all
the talent within our organisation”,
because innovation comes when
hybrid minds collide, when people with
different expertise, geographies, and
skill sets discuss things, and challenge
each other, and that is often enabled by
physical architecture and space.
There is a growth in demand for shared
workspaces, where you will have your
own space, but also encounter other
people from different industries and get
to know one another.
What are you doing as a boss to
trample on today’s business model?
To see what could be tomorrow's?
The most enlightened CEOs I meet are those that are
constantly thinking, “How do we become the business
that is going to kill our business?”
Who or what is your favourite
digital leader for 2017?
What person or company
are you keeping an eye on?
As editor of WIRED, you’re inherently
armed with a very short concentration
span, because there is always
something new happening. I tend to
get obsessed with organisations and
locations where they are doing mind-
blowing things.
I’ve been spending a lot of time
in China, because the scale of the
opportunity there is propelling some
entrepreneurs who are doing things
in very ambitious ways. We did a
cover story a few months ago which
featured Lei Ju who runs Xiaomi, a
phone company that makes high-
quality phones and tablets. However,
they don’t call it a phone company,
they call it an internet company. This is
because they make all of their money
from selling accessories and services.
They don’t produce the accessories;
they have a business model in which
they invested £100k in 60 accessories
companies. They let them stay as start-
ups, and they brand their products,
and then make most of the margin
...innovation comes when hybrid minds collide, when
people with different expertise, geographies, and skill
sets discuss things, and challenge each other
from their products through 160 million
phone customers. Xiaomi makes no
margin on the phones; they make
the margin on the accessories. The
start-ups they associate with will sink
or swim according to whether they can
provide what the market wants today;
and Xiaomi gets the benefit of start-up
adaptability and agility.
Also, we’re just putting on the cover
of our magazine the Swiss adventurer,
Bertrand Piccard. He set the record for
being the first to fly around the world
non-stop in a balloon around a decade
ago. I met him in 2009, and he had an
idea of taking an aeroplane around the
world and not using any fuel. It sounded
a bit silly, yet in July he landed in Abu
Dhabi having completed his solar-
powered around the world flight on the
Solar Impulse. What he did wasn’t just
proving an idea; it was starting a debate
about what our assumptions are.
People like him are game changers,
and will have an impact beyond any
individual venture in terms of starting
conversations.
In which ways do businesses
need to evolve the most to
meet changing customer
expectations, and build
engagement and loyalty?
Firstly, don’t assume that in six months
you will still be the same business,
because somebody out there is trying
to eat your business.
Secondly, your customers' behaviour is
changing very quickly. Just look at how
much time your customer is transfixed
Don’t assume that in six months you will still be the
same business - because somebody out there is
trying to eat your business
by their notifications on their devices.
You have to be aware of that behaviour.
Thirdly, you’re going to have to work
out where the purpose and mission are
in your business because, increasingly
to attract talent, paying salaries is not
going to be enough. You’re going to
have to show that you have a bigger
purpose, that is going to attract people
who are really driven to have an impact
on the world.
In two words, describe the
keys to innovation for 2017.
Openness and experimentation.
What is the ideal technology
toolkit for success in
2017 and beyond? What
is mobile’s role in it?
I’m not interested in technology. I’m
interested in how people use whatever
tools are available to reach people
at scale, to understand what people
want, and to discover opportunities.
If I am sending you a message, am
I using technology, or am I actually
communicating with you?
If you have a department that is running
your technology, you’re doing it wrong.
You need a board-level or CEO-level
approach to how you are taking friction
away from people’s lives, how you are
connecting your customers in a way
that they want now. It’s about asking
how you are monitoring where the
world is going, and serving those needs
as they arise. That’s not a problem for
your technology team - that’s a human
behavioural challenge. That’s a market
data in real-time challenge.
Nobody wants technology. They want
the fluid problem-solving that it offers.

Digital Trends Report 2017 | Virgin AtlanticVirgin Atlantic | Digital Trends Report 2017
2726
DEBBIE
HULME
INTERVIEW
VP CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE OF
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
INTO THE RED
Think of a colour associated with a
brand. Blue may evoke in your mind the
logo of Facebook. Orange and yellow
- perhaps McDonald’s. And red? For
many, the first thing that comes to mind
is Virgin. The colour is in itself a symbol
of one of the most successful brand
stories in the world.
The colour red is not the only thing
that veils everything Virgin Atlantic
does - more importantly, the company
is famously encompassed in levels
of customer attentiveness and
engagement that are emulated and
envied throughout the business world.
Their ethos of creative customer-
centricity is echoed across all of the
Virgin brands, as propelled forward by
their famous founder:
“The key is to set realistic customer
expectations, and then not to just meet
them, but to exceed them — preferably
in unexpected and helpful ways” – Sir
Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin
Virgin is also famous for how they
value their employees’ contributions
towards accelerating the brand. One
of them is VP Customer Experience,
Debbie Hulme. With 26 years in
the aviation industry (7 of them at
Virgin), Debbie has been at the helm
of creating one of the top customer
experience methodologies in the world.
She explains, “In my role, I am the
custodian of the customer on behalf of
the business - because everybody here
looks after the customer, not just me."
For this report, Debbie shared a unique
level of insight on what is needed to
deliver the highest levels of customer
experience.
The days of customers just buying a brand are
gone - customers now seek to engage more
deeply with that brand, and that is a wonderful
opportunity, having the customer co-creating
what your future should be

Digital Trends Report 2017 | Virgin AtlanticVirgin Atlantic | Digital Trends Report 2017
2928
Virgin Atlantic has long been
famous for their customer
experience, as well as for
their worker experience.
Along these lines, what is the
best way to adapt a workforce
to deliver the best customer
experience possible?
Virgin Atlantic is in kind of a unique
position - since the very beginning,
we’ve been known as a challenger
brand. We don’t just challenge the
competition, but we also continuously
challenge ourselves to deliver what’s
right for the customer.
For that to be successful, you need
the right people. Customer-centricity
is in our DNA, and it has been from the
very beginning. It’s not about simply
adapting; that has been the philosophy
of Virgin from day one, and still is
today, that the customer is at the heart
of everything that we do - we are a
customer-centric, customer service
organisation.
User expectations are higher
than ever today, and are
ever-increasing. In what
new ways can organisations
not only meet these
demands, but anticipate the
demands of the future?
Over the years since I’ve been in the
industry, customer expectations have
increased, and they will forever more -
as they rightly should.
However, I think what has changed is
a company’s ability to get the insight
and understanding that is required in
order to meet those needs. One of the
things we do, and have always done,
is understand the wants and needs of
the customers when they are engaging
with us, both in a tangible sense, in
terms of the physical journey they
are going through and
the emotional journey that they go
through.
You need to use the innovation
and creativity that you have in the
organisation to meet both the known
needs of a customer, and tap into some
of the unknown needs. You need to
take the seams out of the customer
journey, so that their experience is as
frictionless as possible.
However, you still need to make
sure you listen to and understand
your customer, in addition to those
richer sources of data. Here at Virgin,
we are very lucky about the level
of engagement we get from our
customers to help us along with this
process. We do traditional surveying,
but we also have a “plane talk”
community - which is around 5,500
customers who tell us about their
journeys, give their feedback, talk to
each other, and share with us what they
want to tell us about their travels.
The customers lead the way in telling
us about how they feel as they go
along their customer journey. We, in
turn, can enrich their travels and check
in as things are developing, allowing
us to co-create with our customers to
generate the journeys of the future.
What advice would you give
to any business considering
a move towards developing
a heightened customer
experience? What would be
the most essential first step?
Customer, Customer, Customer. Start
with the customer.
It’s about walking a mile in your
customer’s shoes rather than the
organisation’s shoes. It’s really difficult
to think outside of your business
role, and to start thinking like the
customer. It’s about being alongside
your customers, and really listening not
only to the experience they're having
- so not just the journey mapping that
everybody now does - but to think
emotionally, what their interaction
with your company actually feels
like them. Get to the heart of that
emotional journey for the customer,
not just the physical one. We must
remember that the customer’s view
of organisations from the outside is
ELEVATING CUSTOMER
EXPERIENCE TO
NEW HEIGHTS
You need to use the innovation and creativity that you
have in the organisation to meet both the known needs
of a customer, and tap into some of those unknown
needs
often getting more complex, due to the
multi-channel approach that customers
now experience - so we must view our
organisation as they view it from their
perspective.
When it comes to customer
engagement and data
curation, what should
organisations seek out to
gain the most value?
Many organisations, including Virgin,
are lucky with the level and richness
of data that we can collect now
towards getting that single view of
the customer. However, I never think
you can get to the point that you have
gathered so much data that you are
sick of gathering data. Data possesses
no value unless you can use it in a way
that enriches your customers’ lives. It’s
not really about the chase of data for
me - it’s about what that data does to
empower you, and how it enables you.
It’s not really about chasing data for
me - it’s about what that data does
to empower you, and how it enables
you. It’s about providing that data to
the people who can make a difference
within your organisation, and who can
deliver their services more effectively.
What elements of Virgin
Atlantic’s business
model do you believe
define your approach as
radically different?
We’re very lucky
with the founder that we had, who has
instilled within us an innovative and
customer-centric culture. We have a
culture of “try it”, and I think that is
really important in terms of technology.
We are all about new concepts pushing
things, and being innovative - which
means not everything is going to work
every time. Our founder’s mantra of
“screw it, just do it” is very much alive in
the business. You have to take the risk,
and learn from that, and move on.
A quote I will use here is “The best way
to predict the future is to create it”.
And it’s about having that bravery and
a culture that is about trying, learning,
and not fearing risk or failure.
In which ways do businesses
need to evolve the most to
meet changing customer
expectations, and build
engagement and loyalty?
I don’t think expectations are
necessarily changing - customers
have long held the belief of “You can
do more, you can do it faster, you can
make the product or service more
relevant to me”. I think it is about
ensuring that you build the sort of
engagement with your customers that
leads to brand loyalty and advocacy,
and having the sort of culture that can
work well with an accelerated speed of
change.
How has Virgin Atlantic
found success in enhancing
customer experience
with partnerships?
We have worked quite closely in
partnership with a supplier to develop
a number of things. One particular
standout is for the last couple of
Christmases, we’ve developed an
on-board 4D Christmas experience
experiment with them on one of our
Boston to London flights.
As customers boarded the flight, they
were given a tablet that tracked the
position of Santa in relation to the
aircraft, and that also gave them live
chat access to Santa. We also had
some magical cameras mounted on the
outside of the plane, which projected
the night sky on to the top of the
aircraft’s interior.
With the captain’s permission, Santa
then used “magic” to enter the aircraft,
where he greeted everybody on board,
and distributed gifts. We made it
festive and focused on the details - for
instance, Santa’s hands were, of course,
ice-cold as he shook the hands of the
children. Customers naturally took
pictures and videos and shared the
experience that they had on board.
Data possesses no value unless you can use it in a way
that enriches your customers’ lives. It’s not really about
the chase of data for me - it’s about what that data
does to empower you, and how it enables you.

Digital Trends Report 2017 | Upcoming Events
31
Virgin Atlantic | Digital Trends Report 2017
30
The development of this experience
taught us a lot - it was fascinating
for us to observe the role between
our people and crew on-board and
how they delivered the shared digital
experience, along with how and where
the customers interacted with us.
It was also interesting to develop and
create a community from a shared and
enhanced experience. It taught us a lot
in terms of thinking, “what should that
service of the future look like?".service
of the future look like?”
How important is getting the
technology aspect right as
opposed to say the business
model, management or
cultural aspect?
They’re all so interlinked - one supports
the other. I don't think you could do one
There’s no such thing as an “IT project” - they are
business projects, delivering for the business and the
customer, in a way that technology enables
Innovation is a word that is bandied
around and lots of people use
it, in the sense of, “We have an
innovation budget” and “We
innovate and bring new products
to market”. But, you also need to
celebrate small sorts of innovation
that people do.
without the others. Technology really
is an enabler to the business to me,
and to the people within that business,
and to the customers that you serve.
There’s no such thing as an “IT project”
- they are business projects, delivering
for the business and the customer, in a
way that technology enables.
In which ways can
organisations most
effectively cultivate an
innovation culture?
Get Richard Branson to start them - but
we don't all have that luxury!
Innovation is a word that is bandied
around and lots of people use it, in
the sense of, “We have an innovation
budget” and “We innovate and bring
new products to market”. But, you
also need to celebrate small sorts of
innovation that people do.
For instance, a couple of years ago, we
were looking at the boarding process,
and the frustrations and anxieties our
customers have when going through it.
We sought to challenge the tradition of
endless waiting and staring at screens
that finally tell you, “go to this gate”, and
then when you get there, you find a big
queue crowding the gate.
So we challenged ourselves towards
changing this frustrating experience.
We asked, why do’t we instead, as soon
as the aircraft is on stand, allow people
to board it? We “trickle board” them,
taking away their “I’m waiting” anxiety.
Or, perhaps if they prefer to get to the
gate later, they can choose to do it that
way around.
By implementing the innovation of
trickle boarding, we found there was
no queue or crowding at the gate, and
the whole experience just became a
lot better, shaking up the traditional
way that airlines had done it for many
years. Taking on the challenge of that
tradition also enhanced our operations
and processes.
It’s important to celebrate and
recognise the people who want to think
differently - even in their day-to-day
jobs.
What other trends do you
see as new sources of value
for organisations in 2017?
The days of customers just buying a
brand are gone - customers now seek
to engage more deeply with that brand,
and that is a wonderful opportunity,
having the customer co-creating what
your future should be. And there is
lots of untapped potential in using the
communities that you’ve got out there
from people who are more engaged
and want to help evolve your brand.
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Digital Trends Report 2017 | London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics | Digital Trends Report 2017
3332
DR WILL
VENTERS
INTERVIEW
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
OF INFORMATION
SYSTEMS, LONDON
SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
INTRODUCTION
Artificial Intelligence may seem like
the latest thing on the horizon, and
is without doubt one of the most
talked about things in tech right
now. However, the aim for robotic
intelligence goes all the way back to
the 8th Century BC. In Homer’s The
Iliad, robotic servants are given the
celestial task of delivering wine back
and forth to the gods.
Today, nearly 30 centuries later, AI has
flowed down from the heavens, landing
on Earth - and is no longer viewed
with the glowing anticipation that it
was in antiquity. Instead, the media is
consumed with stories that veer from
“fear our future robot overlords” to
debate about mankind losing its very
humanity in the face of AI. This may at
first glance seem sensationalist, but it
cannot be ignored that AI has become
a real factor in the way our businesses
and lives are run. Only 5 days into 2017,
news broke of a Japanese Insurance
firm replacing nearly all of its workforce
with AI, which is said to “Increase
productivity by 30%...and save about
140m yen (£1m) a year”, but will also
result in the loss of 34 jobs.
It is clear at this point that AI is going
to be a part of our lives, like it or not.
But what does this mean for us in the
next year, or the next 10, or even 50? Is
AI’s role in business far more friendly
for both senior leadership, and for
employees than we realise?
“AI is at the top of the hype curve -
which I always think is interesting,
because it’s the hype that is
performative. The conversation around
it makes it happen. Just as much as
it happening makes the conversation
happen - the two entwine,” says Dr
Will Venters, an Assistant Professor
of Information Systems for the
Department of Management at The
London School of Economics.
I think we’ve become overly
concerned about the “Big
impact of AI”, to the point we
are perhaps missing the small
impact

3534
“What do we do with algorithms? What
are the challenges they present?” Dr
Venters asks. He continues, “My work is
around how we build those distribution
systems or ecosystems, those digital
infrastructures at the core of it - and
that is what led me to AI”.
In interviewing Dr Venters, one could
compare his viewpoint to that of The
Iliad. A view that just perhaps, AI will be
not so much an encroachment upon our
humanity, but rather a tool for creating
a world that is easier to live in. I asked
Dr Venters to share his thoughts on AI,
and what it means for you and me.
Let's talk about the job
market in the face of AI. The
mainstream media tends
to highlight the negatives
of the situation - but how
much in your opinion do
we have to fear? What
are the positives and the
negatives of AI becoming an
element of the workforce?
Technology has always changed jobs
as we know it - how many people are
working in agriculture in the modern
day? Very few.
The big challenge here - which a lot of
people are forgetting at this point - is
that with technology we are seeing a
transition. We are going to see lots of
jobs change significantly. I think we’ve
become overly concerned about the
“Big impact of AI”, to the point we are
perhaps missing the small impact.
Basic, simple jobs such as data entry
will change significantly in the face of
AI, and many will be lost. And maybe
that’s not a bad thing. Things like data
entry were phenomenally boring and
inefficient things for people to do in
the first place, and AI is much better at
doing these things than humans are.
We need to talk about activities, not
jobs. When we talk about job losses,
people see a wholesale hollowing out
of industries; such as the self-driving
car will be the end of all taxi drivers.
I think that overplays and underplays
at the same time. It overplays the
dramaticness of this change. What’s
more likely is that in the short term, we
will see fewer farmers driving tractors
around; or that the tractor driver will be
driving two tractors at the same time
instead of one.
Also, we must ask - who does one
activity today anyway? There is no
farmer that just drives tractors all
day, every day. So, the majority of his
work may remain unchanged with the
introduction of AI. He still chooses the
seed, he still checks the weather, and
makes decisions on what to grow. It’s
just a single activity of his job - driving
tractors up and down the field, that
would be eroded. This isn’t completely
new - we can also look at the airline
industry. We are at the point now where
we slowly went from lots of staff at
check-in kiosks, to very few. It was the
activity of the employee that changed,
and now they do other things in their
roles - and that point is crucial.
The big concern though is that nearly
10% of jobs in the States are predicted
to be replaced by AI within the next 10
years. The question is if AI is going to
strip away or take some much more
intelligent activities and skilled jobs
that we didn’t think were vulnerable.
The question of “What exactly is an
intelligent action?” constantly changes
and shifts. But it isn’t a zero-sum game
in the economy. A loss of jobs in a
certain role doesn’t mean that there
will be loads of people sitting around
doing nothing, just as the loss of jobs
in agriculture didn’t lead to 30% of the
population sitting around unemployed.
We will create new things.
If you go back to 15 years ago,
nobody expected that we would need
professional people to make us coffee
- yet baristas exist today. We will create
a new economy, and new jobs we didn’t
imagine we would need. They will be
much more service-oriented, much
more interactive. That is a shift in the
economy that requires a significant
change in education and attitude, and
not just seeing education in a closed
AUTHENTICITY
FROM ARTIFICE
We overly represent the idea that machines can
handle knowledge, and then we downplay significantly
the humanity in that
way, but in an open way. How do we
continually evolve and capitalise on
what we are really good at? It is easy
sometimes to discount the human
element of an interaction - a face, a
level of engagement, but there are
huge advantages that come with all of
that.
All of this isn’t just about education, it’s
also going to be about political change.
We need to ask, how do you drive
communities on in the face of all of this?
With news of AI "writing"
screenplays, and even being
hired as the Creative Director
of McCann Erickson in Japan,
it begs the question, "Do
you think AI can ever be
truly capable of creative
thought, or replicate it
to a usable degree?"
I think this question asks much more
about humanity than it does about
machines. Sociologists speak about
representational ideas of knowledge.
We overly represent the idea that
machines can handle knowledge, and
then we downplay significantly the
humanity in that. I’ve watched the film
that you are referring to⁵, and if you
close your eyes, and just listen to the
text...well, it’s complete gibberish.
However what made it compelling
is that we are looking for meaning
from the AI written script. In human
communication, the human is
looking for some
meaning, so that we can represent
different images to ourselves.
This AI script isn’t about representation
or truth - it’s about us constructing a
truth and then examining it.
The way that we shoot video has
a language to it. The lighting has a
language to it. The costume has a
language to it. The majority of the film
was constructed by humans - it was that
which was the human artefact.
It’s not necessarily about AI being
highly creative, therefore “being
human”. It’s actually an algorithm - an
impressive algorithm - that does some
very specialised things very well, and
can learn in a very bounded way. The
idea that it is going to come up with
cinematography or creativity that is
original, that is something I am more
sceptical of.
How can AI benefit
organisations in terms
of decision-making?
To me, the challenge is how do we put
the required data into the algorithms?
It’s back to that ecosystem problem -
it’s where the data is, and where we
can find the cheap bits that we can turn
into expensive bytes. So, where do
we find data, and how do we turn that
data into some value? AI is within this
ecosystem.
We don’t want to put AI in charge of
highly strategic decisions, unless we
understand the failure. And one of the
significant problems with AI is the lack
of transparency. There needs to be an
understanding of the decision making.
If a person were to make a decision,
normally they would need to justify
that decision, and the rationale behind
it - and that can be as important as what
the decision was. AI cannot provide
that transparency, and without that, it
is difficult to see it making decisions,
especially life-changing ones.
The question of “What exactly is an intelligent action?”
constantly changes and shifts. But it isn’t a zero-sum
game in the economy. A loss of jobs in a certain
role doesn’t mean that there will be loads of people
sitting around doing nothing, just as the loss of jobs in
agriculture didn’t lead to 30% of the population sitting
around unemployed. We will create new things.

3736
What are your expectations
for AI in the future
beyond 2017?
AI is just a single element of the
many tendrils that make up our digital
economy. We’re talking about APIs,
we’re talking about data feeds, which
will allow us to see new and unusual
things, and allow us to build ideas of
the world from this. This is all around
the connection of businesses to data.
When you start plugging those data
streams together, and start taking
pictures of what the world is, whether
it is Facebook looking at Facebook
data; or you are walking through a
building and looking at the building
management system looking at how
you’re working; or the shops observing
how you’re moving around by looking at
your Wi-Fi data; or your home keeping
track of it - it’s the plugging together of
those that’s going to lead to the really
interesting and possibly frightening
examples.
The quality of the data out there in
the world is far less than everyone
pretends. This means that when you
stop thinking hypothetically, and
actually hit real-world businesses, they
are receiving data with incomplete bias
and other issues, along with all of the
problems associated with it.
Data bias is inherent. If you were
an alien who just found Earth, and
analysed Facebook, you would think
everyone in the world smiles all the
time, and is always happy. Food is
always beautifully photogenic. No one
takes a photo of the leftovers that they
ate on a Wednesday afternoon when
there was hardly anything left in the
house. With all of this, you are seeing a
partial account. Data is always a partial
account and it’s always a past account.
The other problem with data, is that we
often think things are sub-par when
we begin using them. Take Siri for,
example. One day in January, you ask
Siri, ‘Can you tell me what the weather's
like next week?’. She replies, ‘It’s going
to be 50 degrees, sunny, and baking
hot’. And you think to yourself - there
must be something wrong with Siri! This
is London in January!
But what if we can’t tell how Siri has
used that problematic data? Or if we
don’t look at the figures and analyse
them? What if they are inherent
in decision-making that is done
automatically? Then the only way
we can make sure they work is by
analysing the quality of the data going
in. And we don’t do that very well.
There is an inherent problem to be
fixed, and where human intelligence
has been very good, is to pick out the
bad data that has been produced in the
output. But we’re not brilliant when it
comes to analysing the quality of the
data coming in. We’re not really great in
identifying selection biases in that, and
we need to be.
What is AI's role in developing
the "smart" future - smart
cities, cars, etc.?
In terms of IoT, we’re really early days
on this. However, where everyone
sees IoT growing is in a city-wide
management system - in the plugging
together of systems, so that the road
maintenance system reports to the
lighting system, which says ‘this is a
really busy road, let’s put the lighting up
a little’, or ‘This road is empty, let’s turn
the lighting down’.
Or perhaps the lighting could be used
to power electric cars? Why can’t we
just add a plug socket to the lamp-
posts...well, all of this would need
The quality of the data out there in the world is far less
than everyone pretends. This means that when you
stop thinking hypothetically, and actually hit real-world
businesses, they are receiving data with incomplete
bias and other issues, along with all of the problems
associated with it.
to involve the plugging in of lots of
organisations.
Berlin for example, had a prototype
for electric car-sharing. It involved a
number of parties - which produced
a lot of challenges. Car companies
required access to data to see the state
of the battery life, so that when a car
was rented, the battery had sufficient
power to get to where it was needed, or
to a charging point. This also required
integration with parking companies, to
avoid constantly having to pick up cars
with flat batteries.
Again, to be successful, these are
political questions. Things like the
smart thermostat, or the self-driving car
- they are all the same - single products.
They may sell you a self-driving car,
but to be truly successful, it would be
great if the self-driving cars talked to
all of the other self-driving cars, and to
the streets, and the traffic management
system. Achieving all of that is the
harder challenge - the building of
standards, and it all takes time towards
negotiating control, and negotiating
political, cultural and financial changes,
and even insurance. All of these are
things that are perhaps not as hard
as getting a car to drive itself, but do
present their own set of challenges.
We must remember that being 90%
there is not good enough. A self-driving
car that can drive well most of the time,
in California, on particular streets, in
sunny and ideal conditions is slightly
different to driving on icy roads in
Finland in the middle of a snowstorm.
There is the implication out there that
we are really close to being there. In
truth, we are very close to having the
sunny California version of the self-
driving car that works on a particular
street. But we may very well be a long
way away from the genuine kind of
driving challenges.

With revenues in excess of £475 million, and with 4.6 million members, the National
Trust is a unique charity. It is one of the largest land owners and charities within the UK,
with the largest UK membership subscription. Since its incorporation in 1895, the sole
purpose of the National Trust has been to care for places of beauty and significance for
ever, for everyone, throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In 2013, The National Trust embarked upon its most ambitious and transformative
programme, ever to be undertaken. The System Simplification Programme (SSP) is a
£40 million programme of works, which was conceived by Sarah Flannigan, former CIO.
The SSP is about business processes and cultural transformation, with IT as an enabler.
It has completely changed how the National Trust interacts with its customers, with
predicted benefits of £100 million.
A PARTNER FOR THE TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY
To enable the Trust to undertake this transformational journey it appointed Ensono as its
chosen IT Managed Services Provider, to operate and manage the IT infrastructure and
application estate for the SSP; and additionally, to provide consulting services to help to
evolve and deliver its IT transformation strategy.
The National Trust Case Study
Highlights
A trusted IT Partnership driving £100 million
of benefit through transformation
CLIENT
One of the largest land owners
and charities within the UK
CHALLENGE
The most ambitious and
transformative programme ever
undertaken
ENSONO SOLUTION
Managed services and
consultancy for IT infrastructure
and applications estate
RESULT
£100m benefits case
outperforming initial estimates
“We are delivering the
single biggest change
programme of its type
that the Trust has ever
taken on, and Ensono is
helping us to achieve that.”
Sarah Flannigan, former CIO,
National Trust
“Ensono is always there,
able to step up the pace
and deliver for us. The
Ensono people are the sort
of individuals that I like to
hire myself, professional,
with high integrity and get
the job done.”
National Trust
“Ensono has provided a
first class professional
engagement with the
Trust, building a strong
relationship from the
outset. It is exactly how
you wish all new supplier
relationships to start and
continue.
National Trust
DELIVERING NEW AND ENHANCED CAPABILITIES
The SSP comprised a number of major projects delivering new and enhanced capabilities to the
Trust. Deliverables included a single customer view and state of the art marketing tools, a new
finance solution, new EPOS tills and ERP for use across the Trust, to provide much more granular
sales information and the ability to restock as required; and new Digital solutions to support the Trust
websites and mobile offerings.
The Trust looked to Ensono as a long-term strategic partner, with the right skill set, people and
capabilities to accompany the National Trust on its journey.
ADOPTING A HYBRID IT APPROACH
Ensono is providing the Trust with scalable, secure and cost effective basic infrastructure and managed
hosting services. Ensono’s platform and location independent Hybrid IT approach meant that it could
offer the Trust services for Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud platform, as well as Ensono’s own
private cloud platform; ensuring that applications were placed in the most appropriate location.
Through Ensono the Trust has the processes, people and knowledge in designing, building and
maintaining infrastructures services, so the Trust does not need to significantly change the size of its
internal IT department.
The new National Trust public website was launched on AWS, managed by Ensono, providing an
extremely flexible solution to meet the changing peaks in business demand. The finance system
application and the new EPOS system back office applications reside in Ensono’s private cloud
platform, with other applications located within on-premises data centres.
ADVICE AND GUIDANCE FOR THE TRANSITION PLAN
Ensono Consulting Services were engaged on a number of aspects of the project, in particular
programme and project management of the transition, to plan and manage implementation and cut-
over to the live environment. It also reviewed the existing service management processes to ensure
that National Trust customers experienced a seamless service during the transition period of SSP.
Additionally, the Ensono Consulting team worked closely with the SSP application providers to ensure
that the technology requirements aligned with National Trust’s business objectives; including platform
design that aligned with the National Trust’s budget and service requirements, whilst minimising the
migration risk.
REALISING THE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
The SSP has transformed the National Trust, with its two main objectives being realised. The £100
million benefit case is already outperforming initial estimates, with customers buying membership
online in even greater numbers than predicted, procurement savings performing especially well, and
very strong membership renewals at the new EPOS points of sale. It has also significantly improved
management information, getting the best possible information to decision makers at all levels of the
Trust, using common tools and with one version of the truth.
The National Trust believes that it is the cultural fit, capability and open engagement style that makes
its relationship with Ensono so successful. Ensono has earned the position of strategic IT partner
to the Trust, and will continue to work collaboratively in ongoing initiatives to simplify the Trust’s IT
architecture and optimise service delivery.
Ensono, formerly Attenda, collaborates with clients to deliver progressive IT solutions to operate their infrastructure for
today and optimise it for tomorrow. To learn more, visit ensono.com
Digital Trends Report 2017 | Supporting Partner Case StudySupporting Partner Case Study | Digital Trends Report 2017
3938

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References
1 Nimbus Ninety March 2016, Digital business model reinvention
2 Nimbus Ninety 2014, Market Trends Report
3 Nimbus Ninety June 2016, Examining the impact and implications of the
platform economy
4 Nimbus Ninety September 2016, Exploring the role of innovation ecosystems
5 Sharp, O. et al. 2016. Sunspring | A Sci-Fi Short Film Starring Thomas
Middleditch [Online]. Available at: https://youtu.be/LY7x2Ihqjmc [Accessed: 7
January 2017].
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