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Avanade Technology Vision 2016


Time to relearn: Four ways to win in the digital economy
Enter

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INTRODUCTION
The illiterate of
the 21st century
will not be those
who cannot
read and write,
but those who
cannot learn,
unlearn and
relearn.
Alvin Toffler

Relearning is what brought the Apollo 11 astronauts home. Its what gave us the Ford automobile
instead of the faster horse. And its what will help your business thrive, as the coming years witness
the explosion of cognitive computing, immersive experiences, and a digital mesh that connects
people, things and various entities.
The value of unlearning, and learning again
As we experience the greatest shift in human productivity since the First Industrial Revolution
one that demands speed, agility and innovation businesses must relearn much of what they know
in order to succeed in the long term.
Why? Because the pace of change will never be slower than it is today. As counterintuitive as that
sounds, the nature of technology is such that if you havent started on your path today, you will
already be further behind tomorrow.
Its this sense of urgency we hope adds a little paranoia to business leaders reading this that if you
arent doing everything you can to advance your business, someone else will steal your customers.
Although, as they say, its not paranoia if what you fear is actually happening.
For Avanades Technology Vision 2016, we have identified the following themes that are
instrumental in fostering this transformation as you rewire your organization:
Mind the ethical fault line: Building trust in a digital world
Embrace the digital mesh: Leveraging the power of borderless platforms
Data is dead: Long live data currency
Be the maestro: Orchestrating an augmented workforce
Also included are two sidebars, one focused on design thinking and the other on
modern engineering.

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Dual velocity is key


At the heart of each theme breathes the concept of the dual-velocity enterprise. Gartner calls it
bi-modal, others have called it two speed. Whatever term you use, the point is always the same.
To survive in the digital world, organizations need to take two distinct approaches: They must invest
resources to drive change and unleash transformational technologies to achieve new outcomes,
while simultaneously optimizing core operations.
The new economics of IT that enables a digital business to maximize efficiency, increase agility
and have the freedom to innovate is possible only when there is a deep connection between
the two approaches. These connections are complementary, and not competitive for time,
resources and focus.

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From unlearning to relearning


In last years Technology Vision, we presented a world where business leaders had to unlearn the
habits of the past to move forward. In 2016 its time to take the next step. Today you must become
an active participant in your future. You must start to get your hands dirty if you want to take part
in the spoils of the digital business era. To win in the future, you must relearn now or fade away.

TechVision 2015
Shifty to Individual
Centricity

Borderless
Platforms

Data Currency

The New Workplace:


Battle for Brains

TechVision 2016

Mind the Ethical


Fault Line

Embrace the
Digital Mesh

Data is Dead

Orchestrating an
Augmented Workforce

INTRO

MIND THE ETHICAL


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TechVision 2016

Mind the Ethical


Fault Line

Embrace the
Digital Mesh

Data is Dead

Orchestrating an
Augmented Workforce

EMBRACE THE
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At first glance, many of the themes overlap. Borderless platforms continues to be the stance of
the future. Though, one year later, the stakes are far greater and the success stories more plentiful.
The need to scrutinize our big data habits still exists. Businesses all know, almost intuitively now,
that data in and of itself is not the value insight is. But its time we pushed harder for substantial
change in how we get to those insightful moments or we risk sitting on a landfill of dead data.
The artificial intelligence (AI) revolution continues to transform the workplace behind the scenes,
alongside ever greater and accessible automation, ranging from process automation on one
end, to cognitive computing on the other. But the alarmism surrounding cognitive technologies
is getting old and we are losing sight of what counts: You must put people at the center of a
machine-augmented superhuman workforce. Smart machines clearly offer benefits to the
enterprise, including the opportunity to increase revenues, optimize efficiencies and better serve
customers in a digital world. AI still has a long way to go and enhancing, rather than replacing
humans, is going to deliver the greatest value.
Last year we talked about the shift to individual centricity based on personalization; this year we
emphasize the importance of recognizing that personalization should be transparent and handled
in an ethical way. In fact, this year we lead with the theme of digital ethics and the need to actively
foster it as a central building block for everything you do.
Ethics has always been on the radar of enterprise leaders, whether it be in protecting privacy or
ensuring compliancy. But this year we stress the new level of importance this topic is taking on,
and how intimately ethics is tied into a successful, long-term digital strategy.

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MIND THE ETHICAL FAULT LINE

Building trust in a digital world

As we are about to endow millions of vehicles with autonomy, taking algorithmic morality
seriously has never been more urgent.
So says a team of researchers, working on a problem that could only exist in the last few years.1
As self-driving cars enter the market, how do we handle the ethical dilemma of programming an
algorithm to save lives in the event of an unavoidable car accident? Should the car protect its owner
at all costs, or do its best to minimize the total death toll? Should the car do the smallest amount of
damage based on the insurance company coverage or rules? Should the car have allegiance to the
manufacturer and try to limit the damage if the other car is from the same manufacturer? Could
one of these latter scenarios actually prevent future self-driving car sales, and hence cause even
more damage by keeping dangerous human-driven cars on the road?
In the case of self-driving cars, trust is obviously a critical factor. Who is making sure each
manufacturers platform adheres to the same standards and that the platforms interact with each
other in the same way? And how do these platforms interact with the surrounding environment
roads, traffic signals, bicycles, etc., as well as the driving laws and accepted norms of the particular
city, region, state and country?
With dual velocity being increasingly adopted and computing being more adaptable, responsive
and embedded in all aspects of our daily life the intended and unintended consequences of
technology require a new and different approach. Our digital behaviors, intent and movement
leave footprints across sensors, applications, workplace tools, social platforms and more. With
such an expanded surface area, spanning work and personal lives, the corresponding risk increases.
It cuts across technology, regulatory and legal issues, and cultural and social norms. This increased
risk must be accepted and managed. Which is why ethics needs to be the cornerstone in the new
digital economy.
1 Why Self-Driving Cars Must Be Programmed to Kill, MIT Technology Review, October 22, 2015

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The potential impact of unintended consequences is becoming apparent with new applications
such as familial DNA searching by law enforcement. The technology enables authorities to search
in DNA databases for genetic information indicating a relative of a person they seek to identify.2
However, that information may have been included in the database for entirely different purposes
for example, searching for relatives as part of a genealogy project or on a website. The current
state of the science is such that false positives are common, which can result in consequences that
include false arrests.3
From personal data and privacy, to compliance, trust and responsibility, ethics has never been so
important to the entire operation, success and longevity of any business. In this environment, a
deeply humanistic approach needs to be hardwired into businesses DNA everything must start
and end with people. Digital businesses that adopt an inherently humanistic and ethical point of
view and offer mechanisms that build and maintain trust will be the winners.
This fact has not gone unnoticed. In recent Avanade research, 92 percent of executives say they
believe companies will need to establish and adhere to digital ethics guidelines to be successful in
the future.4 But far fewer have started to address the issue. Only 43 percent of executives in our
survey say they are developing new roles that focus specifically on digital ethics.
Why now: 78 percent of executives not ready for digital ethics
Fundamentally, digital ethics is a concern about transparency, security, privacy and trust. As the
dual-velocity enterprise enables the business to reach new heights, and connect more intimately
and rapidly with customers and workers, fostering these different aspects of digital ethics is no
longer optional. It is mandatory!
And there is no time to waste. We found that 78 percent of executives say their organization has
not given enough thought to the workplace ethical dilemmas created by developments such as
smart technologies, yet those technologies are already here and growing rapidly.
2 Familial DNA Searches, FindLaw
3 Your relatives DNA could turn you into a suspect, Wired, October 13, 2015
4 Navigating ethics a new priority in a digital world, Avanade, March 2016

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The bottom line: Digital ethics is more than a nice to have


Businesses that do nothing to rewire their approach to ethics in the digital context risk losing
customer faith and trust, without which the fruits of a dual-velocity enterprise cannot possibly
be enjoyed.
Enterprises need to adopt and implement an ethical programming approach where responsibility
is shared by all players the user, the provider and the designer. Consider the example of VTech,
which makes educational toys, among other products. Following a data breach last year, the
company issued new terms and conditions stating that parents must assume responsibility for
future breaches. This gave the impression that the company was not taking responsibility and led to
calls for parents to boycott the companys toys, potentially impacting sales.5
To get started on your digital ethics journey, the conversation needs to happen at all levels of the
business from the top down. Our research indicates that C-level executives are already grappling
with ethical issues stemming from the use of smart technologies more than anyone else in their
organizations, with 42 percent experiencing a digital ethics issue at work more than once. This
compares with only 28 percent of IT decision makers encountering a digital ethics issue at work.
Business leaders understand that ethics guidelines should be put in place: 84 percent say they are
likely to invest in digital ethics in the next five years and a majority will target up to 10 percent of
their IT budgets to address this emerging issue.
In short, ethics is not a nice to have. It needs to be an essential element of your long-term
digital strategy and part of your organizations DNA.

5 Parents urged to boycott VTech toys after hack, BBC, February 10, 2016

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Leveraging the power of borderless platforms


An evolving digital mesh of smart machines will connect billions of things into a
continuous digital experience.6
Teamwork is something every business knows they need. But what about collaborating with other
businesses, services and even your customers in order to thrive? This idea of breaking down the
borders that contain your organization is new for many traditional businesses.
In fact, enterprises that adopt an open ecosystem today will become the next digital leaders,
increase market share and tap into new growth opportunities. The reason is simple: Digital
ecosystems and borderless platforms create opportunities for multiple, meaningful engagements
with customers, and enable businesses to take advantage of a mesh of interactions. This mesh
is dynamic and pervasive and connects people, things, algorithms, digital personal assistants,
automated agents and other entities. It generates even more value than the sum of its parts,
advancing entire industries and ecosystems, not just individual companies.
The digital mesh will increasingly lead businesses to relearn how they partner and collaborate.
Take, for example, GEs open innovation approach, which involves crowdsourcing innovation both
internally and externally. This approach has helped the company solve problems by going beyond its
own borders to benefit from the knowledge of people with whom it would not ordinarily interact.7

6 Top 10 Technology Trends Signal the Digital Mesh, Gartner, October 7, 2015
7 How GE plans to act like a startup and crowdsource breakthrough ideas, Wired, April 11, 2014

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Borderless platforms and new digital ecosystems benefit large and small businesses alike. Ford,
for example, is looking beyond its traditional boundaries, exploring multimodal transportation,
which includes all manner of transportation that doesnt involve driving yourself in a car from
ride sharing to bike rentals.8 At the other end of the spectrum, farmers in India are using WhatsApp
not only as a marketing tool to connect to customers, but also as a support network to share
agricultural advice, interact with experts and learn new farming practices bridging regions,
languages and socio-economic issues.9
Why now: From data to dashboards, success is all about connections
The importance of borderless platforms and digital ecosystems will grow in the coming years as
massive movements such as the internet of things, big data and analytics evolve. As that happens,
the ability of businesses to plug into those connections through open standards and collaboration
will be an important factor in succeeding in the digital economy.
An example is Freeport-McMoRan, which is one of the largest natural resource companies in the
world. The company is creating an industrial IoT platform to help supervisors take actions based
on real-time information. This information is captured, connected and generated from trucks, drills
and other equipment and is used in conjunction with the companys legacy data investment to help
drive mine productivity and, as a result, revenue.10

8 The Commute of the Future? Ford Is Working on It, The New York Times, February 13, 2016
9 WhatsApp is changing how people grow and buy food in India, Mashable, February 11, 2016
10 Embracing digital transformation when digging for gold or coal or , Microsoft, September 14, 2015

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The bottom line: Go beyond your borders


Businesses in all industries have started to realize the need to open up their borders, but where
to begin? To get the most from a collaborative-centric business, you need to put the individual
(customer, employee, client) front and center. What connections and interactions can you make
to enhance and delight the individual at every moment? Think of it as capturing the business
moments. At the same time, enterprises must also consider what is truly unique about their own
business and how they fit into the broader collaborative context.
Importantly, these connections must be seamless, invisible, natural and intuitive not requiring
the user to do anything more than simply enjoy. Spotify has made it possible to like a song you
hear when picking up your morning coffee in Starbucks, and listen to it again later as you travel to
work in a taxi, or when relaxing in the evening in your connected living room. And by opening up
its loyalty program to a third party in this way, Starbucks stands to boost customer loyalty and its
reputation for being in the tech vanguard.11
What connections and interactions can you make to go beyond your borders, to enhance and
delight the individual at every moment?

11 Spotify is turning Starbucks baristas into coffee shop DJs, Wired, May 18, 2015

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The importance of a design thinking approach


At the heart of all this change is a profound adaptation to the way technology interacts, engages,
enhances and empowers the people it is designed for. This requires a design thinking approach.
This approach visualizes the end experience first and then synthesizes the pieces together to
achieve, augment and build toward that vision. Design thinking must be human-centric and
iterative. It must also be possibility-driven in that it looks at various different perspectives for the
problem at hand, as well as options-focused with a fail-early-and-often mindset.
A design thinking approach can result in a fundamental shift in user experiences, interface and
design, moving from todays graphical and natural interfaces to perceptual user interfaces. In this
new world, typing and tapping are no longer the de facto interactions. Instead, the digital language
is focused on more immersive experiences, covering gestures, haptics, voice, gaze and so on
engagements between users and machines.
A design-centric approach can refine and perfect these user experiences and take into consideration
how technology fits into the broader picture. This can create better, more effective, more enjoyable
productivity for both customers and employees. As always, the design approach should be
centered on people, and how the technology is used in the real world. It should evolve and change as
observations and validations are made at each new stage. And it needs to extend beyond individual
centricity to incorporate more holistic experiences happening via the digital mesh.
With these principles in mind, even our modern mobile world will be completely changed in
just a few years. The dominance of apps and siloed user experiences will fall victim to the rise of
connected, immersive and gesture-driven experiences.

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Its already started with examples such as BMWs Gesture Control, which enables drivers to operate
selected functions with defined hand movements. Another example is the Supermarket of the
Future, developed by Avanade in partnership with Coop Italia, an Italian grocery retailer. Digital
solutions, such as smart shelves and interactive food display tables, are operated by gestures and
interact with consumers, providing intelligent labels that include supply chain details and promote
healthy consumption.
The new IT reality: Security in the digital world
A design-centric approach is needed not only for creating better experiences and better business
outcomes. As we engage with technology in new ways, the surface area for attack expands. In this
new age of digital and immersive UX, a more security-minded design is crucial. A recent article in
Information Age noted: A more holistic approach to cyber security will be needed to protect and
make the most of our widely connected world.12
Thus, our definitions for security also need to be relearned. The idea of the perimeter is dead,
harkening back to a time where borderless platforms did not reign supreme. Gone, too, is the idea
of keeping your business safe from a breach. A more fluid, effective and accurate perspective is that
of the proactive, predictive security design. This notion takes the stance that experiencing a security
breach is a certainty and focuses on recognizing a breach and developing algorithms to flag risks
as they arise. This will lead the way to the notion of self-healing apps and Security-as-a-Service,
the latter a significant step as the dual-velocity enterprise continues on the path of optimizing its
capacity to innovate quickly and at lower cost.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A
DESIGN THINKING APPROACH

12 The connected world: the black swan of the global economy, Information Age, February 3, 2016

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DATA IS DEAD

Long live data currency


Less than 1 percent of customer data is analyzed by businesses today.
Last year our Technology Vision advocated that businesses forget about data itself, and instead
focus on the value it potentially contains. One year later, the notion of data as currency a resource
that can be applied in various ways, though valueless on its own is already clich. But does that
mean businesses have heeded this lesson? Not even close: Only 0.5 percent of the worlds data is
being leveraged, analyzed or used.13
Its time that organizations finally start to invest in practical, concrete actions to put this perspective
into play. From AI to analytics, the way you use data will be more important than how much of
it you can amass. Consider how a utility company can gain insight into the supply and demand
for energy by using the integration of customers smart thermostats to assess their behavior and
usage patterns. This helps the utility gather enough data and run predictions about energy usage
patterns via machine learning, allowing them to proactively bring power stations online and offline.
These kinds of capabilities will only increase in the coming years, with the AI market estimated
to experience a CAGR of more than 50 percent to 2020 on the back of diversified use cases and
application areas, improved productivity and increased customer satisfaction.14
An example is Woodside Energy, Australias largest publicly traded oil and gas company and one of
the worlds largest liquid natural gas companies. The firm is building a new community called the
Woodside Innovation and Technology Hub (WITH) to unlock growth opportunities. Among other
work streams, WITH will feature a blend of physical and virtual capabilities across both technical and
non-technical parts of the business based on AI, data analytics, sensors and control systems. This
will provide the chance to control or automate high-cost, high-risk or error-prone tasks.15
13 Less than 1% of Worlds Information is Being Analyzed IDC Report, CloudTimes, December 27, 2016
14 Artificial Intelligence Market Growing at 53.65% CAGR to 2022, MarketWatch, February 9, 2016
15 Woodside Innovation and Technology Hub, Woodside, May 2015

LONG L
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Since data truly is the currency that drives new business models, what shapes and applications will
it take? We need to start tackling this essential question. We must rewire our organizational view
to recognize that data, on its own, is nothing, and that its true value lies solely in the information
potential it possesses. Its time to bring data back from the dead in a new form where it can be
analyzed and then spent in a manner where it delivers value.
Why now: The mess will only get worse
The internet of things is exploding, and the mesh of interconnected interactions is only getting
denser as devices proliferate across home, work, cars, recreation and more. The industrial IoT is
set to deliver over $15 trillion to the global GDP by 2030.16 And as the sensor-connected world
expands, so too will the amount of data and ambient information that is created, most of it coming
from the edge and in real time.
In other words: The mess will only get worse if you dont make sense of and find value in the data
flowing in. Businesses that fail to do so will find themselves sitting on a massive landfill of dead data.
The bottom line: Use data to create new value
A dual-velocity enterprise is armed with a concrete plan to get the most insight and information
from the data it collects in order to support both approaches. But where do you start? An iterative
approach to finding new ways to use data as a currency gives you learnings that can chip away at
the data landfill. Your ability to find new and innovative ways to connect data to insight can help
drive your digital business transformation.
To get there, businesses are pursuing a number of approaches. Many of them put the consumers
needs and experience in focus to see how data can be used to solve a problem or create new
value. GE, for example, has unlocked smart algorithms that let users charge electric cars only during
off-peak hours, saving them money without effort. The company expects to extend this area of
research to other applications that depend heavily on energy usage, such as data centers, lighting
and HVAC controls.17
16 Industrial Internet Insights Report, GE and Accenture, 2015
17 GE Uses AI to Charge Electric Cars Without Running Up the Bill, Wired, December 15, 2014

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Another example is SoFi, the social finance giant that is making banks think twice about the way
they underwrite loans.18 Rather than using traditional data like credit scores, SoFi leverages the
community close to its borrowers (called members, not customers) in order to unlock funds
at rock-bottom rates. Transactions that might have seemed too risky to traditional lenders are
approved, based on the underlying data and mesh density that reflects the trust and strong sense
of community SoFi fosters with its members.
The more trusted a brand is, the more willing users are to share their data. This can transcend
into programmable business models, allowing an organization to be opportunistic, dynamic and
predictive, and enabling it to capture the business moments.

18 So far, so good, The Economist, January 16, 2016

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Modern engineering: Blueprint for the


dual-velocity enterprise
The dual-velocity enterprise is the winning approach in todays context of digital disruption. But
success demands that businesses relearn and adopt new ways of getting work done and solving
problems; it demands flexibility, experimentation and learning as you go. Which is why modern
engineering, and the paradigm shift it entails, is so crucial to unlocking the dual-velocity business.
Culture shock
The deep cultural shift required from todays traditional enterprises and power structures to make
modern engineering concepts a success should not be underestimated. No longer are decisions
based purely on seniority or who has the biggest salary in the room. Instead, businesses must
relate directly to the user, giving users the control and final say. Businesses must also do away with
the traditional delivery cycle, moving toward a fast, iterative approach, delivering minimal viable
products while continually learning, adapting and redelivering.
Three pillars comprise modern engineering Agile, DevOps and Design Thinking. Importantly,
these principles must apply to the entire business, not just IT, if they are to be successful.
Agile and DevOps: efficient processes, providing faster, more effective and higher accountability
for end-to-end engineering in the enterprise.
Design Thinking: a human- and outcome-centric approach that is iterative and leads to more
delightful, effective and desirable experiences (see sidebar on design thinking).

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Microsoft is a good example of modern engineering in action as it works to turn around its core
engineering and product teams. Windows is one of the largest code bases on the planet, and in
the past a typical release was multiple years in the making with all aspects of the operating system
debated at length. With 20-plus years of backward compatibility, and hundreds of millions of users
and machines, each small decision had a potential far-reaching impact. But this also meant that
Windows was challenged in keeping up in some areas in terms of technology, security and agility.
Today Windows releases average two per year, with Microsoft expecting to speed things up to
one a quarter. This has huge implications on the enterprises that use Windows and requires that
they start thinking more near term when it comes to adoption and installation. Take the example
of the U.S. Department of Defense, which recently announced it was adopting Windows 10 across
4 million computers over a period of 12 to 24 months. This represents a significant shift for the
department and shows how they are adopting dual velocity; previously the military was likely to
upgrade long after the general public.19
For a business, these pillars of modern engineering form the foundation on which they can build
higher-order functions and areas such as predictive security, mesh architectures, IoT platforms
and more, which can help them identify, capture and exploit the business moments.

MODERN ENGINEERING: BLUEPRINT FOR


THE DUAL-VELOCITY ENTERPRISE
19 U.S. Department of Defense will bring Windows 10 to 4M computers in a year, GeekWire, February 17, 2016

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Orchestrating an augmented workforce


91 percent of executives believe that by 2020 their organizations workforce will need to
change substantially as smart technologies become more widely used.
The finding above,20 from our recent research, puts into focus an ever-growing quandary for
leaders everywhere. How will we manage a digital workforce that includes a new generation of
smart technologies, in the form of intelligent software, sensors, digital personal assistants, robots,
and automated remote hardware, tools and machines?
For leaders hoping to straddle this intelligence revolution, we want you to consider the metaphor
of the symphony. Envision a superhuman augmented workforce that is complemented by smart
technologies, improved by their presence, making for a beautiful, symphonic delivery of services.
Its this augmented workforce with a blending of intelligent systems, things and people that will
create magic.
Why now: An enormous deficit of understanding
Its clear that automated, intelligent machines can add enormous value to businesses across all
industries. Novartis is just one example. The healthcare company, in collaboration with Microsoft,
is using Kinect technology to better quantify whether the treatments it is developing for multiple
sclerosis are working. What you dont want to do with these systems is replace the expert. You
want to bolster the expert, said Abigail Sellen, a principal researcher in the Human Experience and
Design group at Microsofts Cambridge, UK, lab.21
On the consumer side, Microsofts Cortana, Amazon Echo and Xiaoice in China22 are all proving
that weve only just begun to reveal the potential wonderful user experiences made possible by
intelligent machines. But we have an enormous deficit of understanding of how this applies to
20 Smart technologies are delivering benefits to the enterprise is your business one of them? Avanade, March 2016
21 From gaming system to medical breakthrough: How Microsoft and Novartis created Assess MS, Microsoft.com, February 8, 2016
22 For Sympathetic Ear, More Chinese Turn to Smartphone Program, The New York Times, July 31, 2015

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the enterprise. In our research, a significant number of executives say they are ill prepared to deal
with the onset of smart technologies in the workforce. Staying ahead of the curve wont be easy for
any IT department.
The bottom line: Keep people front and center
Our advice for business leaders is to change the conversation from what if machines enter the
workforce, to how to use these technologies to enhance humans and human judgment and
action in the physical world. Its all about orchestrating the new superhuman augmented workforce.
The human workforce will need to learn new skills (such as natural language processing and
machine learning), which not only complement smart machines but also extract and enhance the
efficiencies from the machines. Even a large and seemingly traditional business like AT&T, with $147
billion in revenue, $400 billion in assets and 280,000 employees, sees the need to retool itself in
order to survive against new competitors like Amazon and Google. This recognition has led the
company to embark on a corporate-wide training and education program to modernize skills.23
Keeping people front and center will be a key to success. Humans not machines will need to
apply compassion, empathy and sheer common sense as smart technologies take on a bigger role
in the workplace.
The changing workforce encompasses more than just smart machines, however. Businesses also
need to consider the emergence of a new digital-enabled workforce that includes a growing
number of millennials, who expect different interactions and ways of working.

23 Gearing Up for the Cloud, AT&T Tells Its Workers: Adapt, or Else, The New York Times, February 13, 2016

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CONCLUSION

Time to relearn your way to digital success


The modern digital leaders have already unlearned the biases of the past to secure the position
they are in today. However, dropping outdated ways of thinking is only part of the puzzle. You must
also relearn, in short, everything about your customers, your colleagues and your services. Its time
to put that new mindset into practice.
Weve shared four approaches where this action of relearning is more critical than ever.
Digital ethics must be embraced, and it must be central to every decision and service your
business undertakes. The old assumptions and value systems cannot apply in the new world.
Those businesses that adopt a digital humanistic and ethical point of view and offer mechanisms
that build and maintain trust will be the winners.
Borders must be torn down, or at the very least redrawn, in order to deliver collaborative
services. Doing so is the only way to benefit from an ever-denser mesh of interactive
connections, creating surprising, delightful and valuable experiences for your users, your industry
and a wider ecosystem.
As big data, analytics and the IoT become increasingly important in the coming years,
organizations will need to place more value on the information that data contains and the
insight they can gain from it. This notion may be well understood, but in practice has not been
widely applied. Going forward, it will be more critical than ever because today you have the least
amount of data you will ever have.
Finally, smart machines of all sizes, shapes and purposes are entering the workforce and
eventually will be our cognitive equals. Do not fret: This is good news for the modern digital
business, which will orchestrate a superhuman augmented workforce in the same way a
symphony leverages a group of uniquely valuable individuals to create a magical collective.

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INTRO

MIND THE ETHICAL


FAULT LINE

EMBRACE THE
DIGITAL MESH

DATA I S DEAD

BE THE MAESTRO

To win in the modern digital economy, businesses must start now to relearn in order to create
better, more sustainable and flexible outcome-based approaches. Those that embrace the cultural
and business process changes while implementing a dual-velocity strategy and building on the
concepts of modern engineering will thrive in the coming years. With business life and death at
stake, organizations that unlearn and then relearn will create a massive uptick for their company,
drive customer loyalty and differentiate their brand.
For more on Avanades Technology Vision 2016, please visit:
www.avanade.com/techvision.

About Avanade
Avanade leads in providing innovative digital services,
business solutions and design-led experiences for its
clients, delivered through the power of people and
the Microsoft ecosystem. Our professionals combine
technology, business and industry expertise to build
and deploy solutions to realize results for clients and
their customers. Avanade has 27,000 digitally connected
people across 23 countries, bringing clients the best
thinking through a collaborative culture that honors
diversity and reflects the communities in which we
operate. Majority owned by Accenture, Avanade was
founded in 2000 by Accenture LLP and Microsoft
Corporation. Learn more at www.avanade.com

North America
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Phone +1 206 239 5600
America@avanade.com

Asia-Pacic
Singapore
Phone +65 6592 2133
AsiaPac@avanade.com

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Phone +55 (11) 5188 3000
LatinAmerica@avanade.com

Europe
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Phone +44 (0) 20 7025 1000
Europe@avanade.com

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Phone +27 12 622 4400
SouthAfrica@avanade.com
2016 Avanade Inc. All rights reserved. The Avanade
name and logo are registered trademarks in the U.S.
and other countries. Other brand and product names
are trademarks of their respective owners.
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