Thesis Exam - Presentation Flashcards
(20 cards)
Define Digital Transformation
Holistic and ongoing organizational change through digital technologies.
Implemented through a set of projects and driven by what and why (strategic goals)
It is continuous and requires strong leadership and a commitment to change.
Define Digital Business Design
Ongoing and holistic configuration of an organization’s people (roles, skills, structures), processes (workflows, routines), and technology (infrastructure, applications).
Aligning these to execute business strategy - succeed with Digital Transformation. The “how” of digital success
Enables rapid adaptation to evolving technologies and customer demands
Explain the dynamic relationship between the two
DT projects act as catalysts, affecting necessary changes in DBD and thereby the configuration of people, processes, and technology
This creates a continuous cycle of adaptation, innovation, and evolution, where project outcomes inform and refine subsequent initiatives.
Qualitative Methodology - Advantages (Silverman, 2015)
Allows for deeper understanding of how Digital Transformation initiatives contribute to Digital Business Design (How and Why questions).
Considers the relation to overall strategy and organizational dynamics.
Captures leadership perspectives in shaping and driving DBD configuration.
Offers valuable insight by revealing if DBD is considered holistically as part of broader strategy.
Suitable for investigating contemporary phenomena deeply embedded in a real-world context (case studies).
Methodology: Disadvantages (Silverman, 2015)
Focus on a single organization (Topdanmark) limits the generalizability of findings.
Reliance on self-reported data from interviews may introduce bias.
Tailored interview questions, while providing depth, limited direct comparability across all aspects of the initiatives.
Why did I narrow the scope of Building Blocks?
The selective focus is an initial step in data condensation helping to streamline the subsequent analysis (Miles,
Huberman, & Saldaña, 2020)
It also helped me manage time and making the interviews more relevant
What are the common elements of a framework-guided thematic analysis process (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2020)? And how did I implement it?
Familiarization, Framework Application, Coding Legend Implementation, Theme Development,
Interpretation and Verification (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2020)
I investigated background material, I applied my framework and build the coding legend (incl. selected the people). Then analysed the results and verified using the CIO interview.
Shared Customer Insights: Main Findings
Overall Contribution: Limited.
Localized learning occurred within projects (e.g., TopGPT’s reactive monitoring, Mobile App’s proactive interviews).
Lack of formalized knowledge sharing processes across the enterprise limited developing insights as an organizational asset. Which Hindered absorptive capacity.
Operational Backbone: Main Findings
Overall Contribution: Significant.
NYTLAND program: Primarily focused on strengthening this block by consolidating multiple legacy systems onto a single platform (Guidewire).
Established a “single source of truth” for policy data.
Challenges persist in achieving full agility and seamless integration with the Digital Platform.
Digital Platform: Main Findings
Overall Contribution: Expanding.
TopGPT and Mobile App showed expanding potential by building reusable components and fostering a reusability mindset.
TopGPT developed a scalable AI infrastructure and promoted reusable AI components.
Mobile App leveraged existing platform components and contributed back by refactoring shared services.
Integration with core legacy systems remains a challenge.
Accountability Framework: Main Findings
Overall Contribution: Limited / None.
Component ownership remained largely localized or absent, relying on individuals rather than formal structures.
NYTLAND’s waterfall approach and external project management limited its contribution to this framework.
Overall lack of formalized accountability structures impedes organizational agility and dynamic capabilities.
How have Digital Transformation projects contributed to Digital Business Design at Topdanmark?
Digital Transformation initiatives at Topdanmark A/S have primarily contributed by creating foundational technological infrastructure.
They have developed emergent digital capabilities.
They have fostered pockets of agile practices in people and processes.
However, these contributions were largely emergent and unplanned, predominantly project-driven rather than guided by a holistic, deliberate design.
An interesting finding is that there is always a contribution, good or bad.
Practical Recommendation: Deliberate & Phased Roadmap
Shift from the current reactive, project-driven approach to a proactive, holistic, and strategically aligned approach to Digital Business Design.
Senior leadership (not just IT) must take explicit ownership of designing the interactions between people, processes, and technology.
Plan and prioritize a clear roadmap for maturing and improving Digital Business Design capabilities, explicitly addressing interdependencies.
Goal: Ensure foundational investments translate into broader innovation capabilities.
Practical Recommendation: Dedicated Governance Model
Establish a dedicated governance model to overcome the current emergent and fragmented approach to Digital Business Design.
This model, led by senior cross-functional executives, must explicitly own and oversee the holistic evolution of the enterprise’s Digital Business Design.
Define roles and responsibilities, allocate resources, and foster enterprise-wide collaboration for building digital capabilities.
Goal: Ensure accountability for the overall design, not just individual project execution.
Practical Recommendation: Formalize Learning & Knowledge Sharing
Establish formal mechanisms for knowledge sharing and organizational learning to counter “isolated innovation” and leverage successes.
Include sharing exploratory practices and best practices from agile projects (e.g., “double diamond” process).
Potentially create communities of practice for building shared ways of working.
Goal: Strengthen organizational absorptive capacity, agility and enable continuous adaptation. (Lo & Leidner - Dynamic Capabilities)
Practical Recommendation: Proactive Socio-Technical Integration
Proactively manage the complex socio-technical integration of digital initiatives, recognizing that technology implementation alone is insufficient.
Requires active leadership in fostering continuous re-balancing between individual adaptation and collective technology use within the “unstable equilibrium”.
Implement robust organizational change management programs and continuously adapt structures to support new digital processes.
Goal: Enhance organizational agility and absorptive capacity, unlocking full enterprise-wide potential.
Practical Recommendation: Evolve Agile Ways of Working & Accountability
While individual projects should foster agile ways of working, the adoption of agile principles needs to be defined and matured at an enterprise level.
This is particularly relevant for the post-NYTLAND operational environment.
Lessons learned from the highly structured NYTLAND initiative should inform future large-scale transformations.
Goal: Define component ownership, and autonomy/alignment balance for sustainable digital success.
What is the future perspective/key takeaway?
The study highlights the critical need for established organizations to transition from a project-centric to a capability-centric mindset.
It underscores the importance of a clear roadmap, robust governance, formalized organizational learning, and proactive socio-technical integration for sustainable digital success.
Ultimately, Topdanmark’s journey illustrates that digital success is not a destination, but a continuous journey of thoughtful design and strategic adaptation.
What is the problem with Topdanmark reliance on “Heroes”
Success often relied on individual initiative and “heroes” taking personal risks.
Lack of formal, enterprise-wide accountability structures, particularly for component ownership, impedes broader organizational agility.
It is the wrong mindset from Leaders
How does Digital Business Design connect to Organizational Ambidexterity (March, 1991)
Topdanmark struggles with balancing exploration (new solutions like TopGPT/Mobile App) and exploitation (refining existing capabilities like NYTLAND).
This tension is a key challenge in shaping a cohesive DBD, particularly for organizational ambidexterity.
