FELIPE DAGUILA – Global Executive

When Cultures Collide: Leading Global Teams. My interview for the Business Innovators.

2015 MIT Sloan CIO Symposium: Leading Digital/ A Manifesto for IT and Bu...

FinTech Influence on Today’s Generation

The rise of FinTech and the social impact it implicates on Traditional Banking Institutions.

The rise of FinTech and how it took traditional banking institution by storm struck a strong chord of resemblance to the movie, “Desk Set”.  Much like the movie, “Desk Set”, technology became the cause and fear for many incumbents in traditional banking institutions.

Anxiety began to rise as study by Accenture reported that global investments in financial technology ventures tripled from US $928 million to US$2.97 billion, between 2008 to 2013.

This has led to a “jump on the bandwagon” reaction by a few traditional banking institutions. However can we really fault FinTech for its rapid successes in just a short amount of time?

Among one of FinTech trends that have caused a huge social impact on today’s generation is: Bitcoins.  Bitcoin's first emerged in the FinTech industry in 2008, as a part of an online payment system. Its peer-to-peer system has benefited a lot of people; particularly foreign workers who have to pay remittance fee for every transaction made, which could be costly.

Bit sparks, a Hong Kong based remittance start up company, shared its social impact success story that took the world by storm. Co-founder and CEO, George Harrap cites instances when the company made it possible for foreign workers to remit small amount of money to cover their family’s medical fee in just an hour’s time – free of excessive costs and restriction, which would be impossible via traditional remittance service.

Perhaps it’s time for incumbents in traditional banking institutions to ease the fear towards FinTech, and embrace the strong positive social impact that it radiates. Take a cue from Richard Sumner in “Desk Set” and let technology do its work.

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I have written and submitted this blog entry to FINTECH Book, which will be included in one of the chapter of the book, “FinTech Social Impact”. In order, to be selected for the final publication of the FinTech book, I would need you to help me to “like” and “share” my entry! You can do so, by clicking on this link:https://medium.com/the-fintech-book/fintech-influence-on-today-s-generation-e899639dbfd3

Editors' Notes: This entry has been submitted to the FINTECH Book, the world’s 1st globally crowd-sourced book on FINTECH. Readers can see over 187 abstracts on https://medium.com/the-fintech-book

Twelve Angry Leaders

What does it take to be a great leader?

Back in the day leadership was based on gender,  birth order and the socioeconomic status of a family as the determining factors of what it takes to be in charge; in modern times, its definition has shifted to one’s personal qualities and character. There seems to be a consensus that most leaders are a combination of both ‘born and made’: the former meaning they possess innate motivational characteristics and behavioural leadership drive and the latter meaning they are shaped by external experiences to become more effective at leading others.

In the classic movie, Twelve Angry Men, a juror is quoted saying: “it’s not easy to stand alone against the ridicule of others, so he gambled for support and I gave it to him.” Many leaders were often ridiculed when they were starting out. Take Apple Co-Founder Steve Jobs or Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg as prime examples. They have both independently exhibited a tendency to hold grudges and be cold in manner, just one of the several personal and unconventional managerial traits the two leaders have shared. Steve Jobs was unapologetic about his brusque management style and Facebook employees have described Mark Zuckerberg as robotic. Jobs was even quoted as saying: "If something sucks, I tell people to their face. It's my job to be honest. I know what I'm talking about, and I usually turn out to be right." Having confidence in one’s own vision and expertise in the workplace is great, but an awareness of the frustration this can cause is equally necessary, clearly this detachment can translate into great results as well as garnering slight animosity.

Great leaders need to be courageous. People will follow someone who can watch over the good of the group and make the difficult decisions. A leader needs to be someone who will stay the course when things get tough. Great leaders are those who do not just take care of themselves but like a captain will never abandon their sinking ship, as well as being open to adversity  as this often means you are doing something innovative!  Henry Fonda who played Juror No. 8 in cult classic Twelve Angry Men was the only one who was set against the rest of the group in their decision. He exhibits how elucidating the truth fact-by-fact in a pragmatic discussion could convince people to think in a different manner. He takes things slowly and allows time for internal differences to be ironed out. In the film, the team’s dynamic comes under a microscope and the power of personal motive and prejudice and their ability to inhibit a team’s performance and outcome is examined. Juror No. 8 does not simply steamroll over everyone else’s views with his own but rather manages to expertly talk them over to his side with an advocate-like logical precision and skill.

According to Forbes, leaders such as the late Nelson Mandela had so much influence because people knew that they could trust him. Employees want the same sentiment to be carried over to the workplace, where their leaders are trustworthy and transparent. Inspirational leaders metaphorically and often literally walk with purpose. They have a plan and excel at sharing that plan and motivation. The most detailed of visions will not be of any good without enlisting the help of one’s staff, an impactful idea like Facebook for example, often involves community. Furthermore, the workplace atmosphere plays a big role in how well everyone performs. A leader who encourages optimism or is themselves optimistic, will look for positive solutions to problems and face them head-on.

All things withstanding- watch out for toxic leaders. Merely being in a position of self-imposed power and authority does not make a great leader. A toxic leader is easy to spot, they are one who does not listen to others, support their employees’ rights or accept the nuance that other’s opinions can bring to the table. The last three jurors were dead-set in their decisions and nothing could sway them, similar to how a tyrannical leader is immobile in thought that can lead to unfair treatment, public humiliation in the workplace and other forms of threatening behaviour.  A toxic leader may produce results but usually at the highest cost to the business, one that doesn’t directly relate to money but instead a decrease in employees’ morale and engagement resulting in negative public relations; high turnover; a loss of customer loyalty and perhaps the eventual cost of replacing the appointed leader.

Overall, by definition the process of becoming a great leader does not mean that one must possess every positive trait from the get-go. Every incremental improvement will make for a more effective team. The more one puts these known traits into practice, the more instinctive they will become, eventually resulting in the  internalisation of a new and improved leadership style.  

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It is an enormous pleasure to have you read my post and provide some feedback. I regularly write about IT, Innovation, Leadership and Management with a personal touch. Please feel free to connect.

We aren't in Kansas Anymore;Scaling a Global Customer Service Business

Global challenges in reaching customers in emerging markets / emerging channels.

The world of customer service used to be a bit like Dorothy in Kansas in the Wizard of OZ.   It was a grey, boring, straightforward world of answering phones and questions.  The customer service world of today is like the colored world of OZ full wonder and innovation. If the 1-800 number of yesteryear is still your customer service approach you will not be in business much longer.

According to Wikipedia customer services is “the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.”  Traditionally this was done face to face at retail or via correspondence or the phone for non-retail purchases.   

Now and into the future it is all about interacting with customers via the media and channel of their choice.  The evolving world of technology requires customer service groups to be flexible not only on the type of information offered but also on how it is delivered.  There is still room for human interaction face to face or over the phone if requested but customers today demand choice.  That could mean FAQ’s on a website, predictable email answers message boards, social media pages or mobile apps to assist.  Businesses today need to address them all.  Achieving consistency across channels can be a big challenge according to a report by Zendesk in 2013 (http://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/new-report-examines-global-trends-in-customer-service-022999.php)

Another trend picking up speed is customers looking to help themselves.  This “customer self service” is a reflection of customers looking to answer the question or fix the problem themselves before calling a hotline.  Whether this is due to poor hotline service or a self service desire is hard to say.  But the impact on companies is clear.  Channels to offer this type of service need to be offered.  Use of mobile devices is also on the rise as more customers use their mobile to assess information and conduct transactions.  So being online today is not good enough, you also need be on mobile.

Scale is another new challenge as now businesses are global.  Ecommerce and global expansion makes it critical to be able to speak different languages and to reach customers in far flung places.  Culture can impact the media as well.  If you are big in the Philippines you better be on mobile.  If you are selling in Kenya you better be able to take mobile payments.  There are vast differences in what customers expect in different parts of the world and customer services groups today need to address these differences seamlessly.

A quality interaction will continue to be the gold standard for customer service no matter the channel in which it is delivered.  In designing the overall customer service structure companies need to be mindful of consistency across channels.  Just as customers expect sellers to “pick up the phone” they will also expect an email to be answered in a reasonable period of time.  Of course the information must be accurate, useful and helpful no matter the channel.  

Finally, here were the top 10 Customer Service Trends in 2014 according to Comm100 (http://www.comm100.com/blog/customer-service/10-customer-service-trends-watch-2014-infographic.html), expect these to continue in 2015:

1.  From Cost Center to Differentiator
2.  Moving into the Cloud
3.  Going Mobile
4.  Going Social
5.  Going Proactive
6.  Big Data
7.  Self-Service
8.  Crowdsourcing
9.  Omni-Channel Experience
10.  24/7/365

FinTech Influence on Today’s Generation

PLEASE share and like my entry submitted to the FINTECH Book, the world’s 1st globally crowd-sourced book on FINTECH. Readers that enjoyed this initial abstract are invited to share and like it so that it may be featured in a longer version that will published in the FINTECH Book due to be released November. 

Perhaps it’s time for incumbents in traditional banking institutions to ease the fear towards FinTech, and embrace the strong positive social impact that it radiates.

https://medium.com/the-fintech-book/fintech-influence-on-today-s-generation-e899639dbfd3

MIT CIO Symposium - INVENTING YOUR FUTURE: ACCELERATING SUCCESS THROUGH TECHNOLOGY

CIO Symposium Contributor
http://www.mitcio.com/felipe-daguila-everis-consulting-ntt-data-company

YI Incubator - The Spirit of Innovation

World-class executives contribute to the YI Incubator, mentoring companies and providing subject matter expertise, helping our companies bring products to market faster and position themselves for the next stage of growth.

http://interactive.yodlee.com/programs/yi-incubator/mentors-experts

Omni-Channel Strategies and Online-Offline Integration

Consumers are using multiple devices and channels to make their purchases, but you know this already.

“Tell me something I don't know”, you would say.

There was so much hoo-ha on the topic of ‘omni-channel’ in the retail world in 2014. Big word it is. The words social media and cross-device technology start to surface so often that everyone is talking about it – sounds like Citizen Kane!

Although we have seen fast growth in mobile, programmatic display and video ad spending, the quickest-growing category in digital advertising is actually social and we recognize this treasure trove of demographic data that social provides by leveraging it in our social marketing efforts and other channels as well. Did you notice who and what are we targeting? Target audience! We are hungry to find out consumer behaviour, consumer experience and consumer preferences. Indeed, audience is the name of the game and as we learn how to collect and act on audience data across channels, it opens up exciting new opportunities to test different strategies.

The famous US department store, Macy’s, has been experimenting with iBeacons which is a micro-location technology in mobile app that is transmitted using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Customers who enter Macy’s with the Shopkick app installed on their iPhones will be alerted about details of location-specific rewards, deals, discounts and how many products they have ‘liked’ in that store without them needing to open the app. When customers pass by any items they had ‘liked’ previously on the app, Shopkick app will remind them as well.

Customers are using mobile and tablets in a number of different ways to supplement and enhance their shopping behaviours whether they are for brand research, social validation prior to purchase or even for transactional purposes. However, the ultimate conversion more often than not happen in-store. Hence, retailers and marketers need to seize this opportunity and take advantage of the crucial moments to connect with customers as they are making decisions.

Another retail and ecommerce store that integrates online and offline is IKEA.

IKEA introduced an AR app to enhance its 2014 catalogue, all the customers need to do is place the 2014 catalogue in any space within their home, activate the app and they can see exactly how a virtual Billy bookcase or Ektorp sofa fits into the real-time environment.

It is crucial that marketers understand the factors or events that influence the consumers to decide on their purchase and to quantify the influence as well. Hence, the importance of attribution model in Marketing. However in the world of digitisation, marketers need to constantly improve their attribution model.

I have to admit improving attribution model is not an easy task and regardless of how sophisticated the model will be, it will never be able to keep pace with increasingly sophisticated customer behavior.

Yet, this step is essential. Algorithmic attribution modeling may or may not be worth the investment but even getting started with a basic version of multi-touch attribution modeling is better than continuing to rely on last-click attribution.

And that’s my 2c.

Delivering DIGITAL Business. Master before being dominated.

      

• How can I be agile and innovative yet maintain my corporate process?
• What about the risks, regulators and the compliance policies and procedures?    
• What about my competitive advantage and intellectual property? What if my competitors will steal my ideas?

In this post, we review how using world class project management frameworks can help you to adapt your business strategy to deliver better results for your digital business initiatives, independently of your company size or business sector – Keep in mind that the definition of digital business is fluid and in constant state of evolution.

We have an avalanche of information that demonstrates how the digital business is changing, creating and destroying some companies (in all sectors), and it is very clear that if you don’t adapt your traditional mindset, strategy, people, operations, process and methods, you may become that MBA case of how a company did not survive one more change in the new business ecosystem.

The digital transformation change can happen in the blink of an eye. Several years ago, the changes and innovations came from the inside to the outside (companies -> customer). When new products were created their movement into the market involved a slow process and the customer input was not considered to be important.

However, now changes and innovation come from the customer to the companies (customer -> companies) in a crowdsourcing is a customer driven model and from creation to launch happens in the blink of an eye.

According to Mr. Peter Sondergaard, Senior Vice President at Gartner and Global Head of Research: “Every Business Unit is a Technology Startup”.

 “38% of total IT spend is outside of IT already, with a disproportionate amount in digital. By 2017, it will be over 50%,” Mr. Sondergaard said. “Digital startups sit inside your own organization, in your marketing department, in HR, in logistics and in sales. Your business units are acting as technology startups.”

Gartner estimates that 50% of all technology sales people are actively selling directly to business units, not IT departments. Millions of sales people, and hundreds of thousands of resellers and channel partners are looking for new money flows in the fluid digital world, and they are finding eager buyers. Although most of the information that we read and receive from digital business is focused in two main areas:

1.       Strategy: The model below is one good example of how to drive and build a digital strategy plan by Forrester Research.

2.       Execution Level: Agile methods are not new and agile project management, lean product management and agile software development practices must be applied to drive innovation and constantly renew your business model. The image below represents one example.

From digital strategy to agile execution we must include one important piece; how to manage projects and programs for digital businesses. The key question is how to create the bridge between this TOP (Strategy) -> DOWN (Agile) and maintain the digital transformation initiatives running (projects and product development).

We work in a world of change and reinvention, more so than creation. As digital business demands that professionals and companies adapt quickly, we too should be able to transform our classic ideas and methodologies in order to deliver products and services that will delight our customers.

But how do we deliver digital business projects using the best practices of project management? How do we connect the pieces? STRATEGY -> PLANNING AND CONTROL -> EXECUTION.

Considering the main areas for any project, let’s evaluate some important points for digital business initiatives.

1.       Project Integration Management :

a.       Definition: Processes and activities needed to identify, define, combine, unify, and coordinate the various processes and project management activities within the Project Management Process Groups.

b.      Digital Business Nuances:  Digital business projects demand two key actors; customers and companies that engage in the delivery and provision of continuous feedback. Your integration process should exploit the boundaries of your company. The link between the internal company value chain, digital value chain and your ecosystem is crucial.

2.       Project Scope Management :

a.       Definition: Project Scope Management includes the processes required to ensure that the project includes all the work required, and only the work required, to complete the project successfully.

b.      Digital Business Nuances: The goal is to plan and design change continuously and in small cycles by using the adaptive project life cycle, also known as change-driven or agile methods. These concepts are intended to facilitate change, but require a high degree of ongoing stakeholder and customer involvement. The scope priority must be to use a mix of customer value added benefits (not product features), customer journeys, innovation and technology disruption.

3.       Project Time Management :

a.       Definition: Project Time Management includes the processes required to manage the timely completion of the project.

b.      Digital Business Nuances:  It is fundamental to establish small cycles for project completion. Most of the components of your project will not have a clear timeline or a deadline, so define a control mechanism that will identify the next customer interactions based on the feedback.

4.       Project Cost Management :

a.       Definition: Project Cost Management includes the processes involved in planning, estimating, budgeting, financing, funding, managing, and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the approved budget.

b.      Digital Business Nuances:  The cost is a complex aspect and must be considered in methods of pricing, buying integrated in your project / product. You can have SaaS platform to deliver your project (i.e. slack). On the other hand, PaaS platform is crucial to deliver your product / service. A mix of several pricing and purchasing models must be considered, such as: T&M, Value Added, Fixed Price, Pay Per Use, etc.

5.       Project Quality Management :

a.       Definition: Project Quality Management includes the processes and activities of the performing organization that determine quality policies, objectives, and responsibilities so that the project will satisfy the needs for which it was undertaken.

b.      Digital Business Nuances: Quality is the key pillar. Time is negotiable, but quality never is. It is fundamental to define quality with our final customer and expect continuous change in the quality criteria, as soon as your product begins to evolve. It is crucial to be outstanding in your user experience and customer journey in all channels.

6.       Project Human Resource Management :

a.       Definition: Project Human Resource Management includes the processes that organize, manage, and lead the project team.

b.      Digital Business Nuances: In the digital business world, the traditional organizational charts are not enough. Informal and social connections maps play a key role. You have to consider these connections as you develop your project.

7.       Project Communications Management :

a.       Definition: Project Communications Management includes the processes that are required to ensure timely and appropriate planning, collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval, management, control, monitoring, and the ultimate disposition of project information.

b.      Digital Business Nuances: Feedback and small cycles of communication should involve visual interactive material rather than e-mails, long presentations (be simple). Tools such as SLACK will help to consolidate all the tools that a digital team will demand for project.

8.       Project Risk Management :

a.       Definition: Project Risk Management includes the processes of conducting risk management planning, identification, analysis, response planning, and controlling risk on a project.

b.      Digital Business Nuances:  Risk must be evaluated from the perspective of an opportunity, lesson or at least a possibility. Create risk cycles to reevaluate the project, deliveries and products. You must integrate the risk of the customer expectations.

9.       Project Procurement Management :

a.       Definition: Project Procurement Management includes the processes necessary to purchase or acquire products, services, or results needed from outside the project team

b.      Digital Business Nuances: The procurement process must be incremental and defined in small cycles according to what you are planning to deliver. You could have mixed models such as: SAAS, premises, startup and revenue share.

10.   Project Stakeholders Management :

a.       Definition: Project Stakeholder Management includes the processes required to identify all people or organizations impacted by the project, analyzing stakeholder expectations and impact on the project, and developing appropriate management strategies for effectively engaging stakeholders in project decisions and execution.

b.      Digital Business Nuances:  Includes one-on-one interviews and focus groups with a company's external stakeholders, with a goal of understanding external stakeholders behaviors, needs, goals and perceptions of the company and their industry both in the broadest business context as well as specifically online. In addition to standard marketing strategy methodologies and questions, external stakeholder interviews for Digital Strategy may include usability testing, an analysis of how effectively external stakeholders can use the online assets developed by a company for their intended purposes. In digital strategy this is used to uncover usability barriers that may prevent the online vision being achieved.

In the past we created methods, procedures and control processes to govern and mitigate the risk of big company projects and operations. The digital business is not intended to crash these methods, but the companies and professionals will be challenged to adapt faster these models in increasingly smaller periods of time, so we must build new communication processes and frameworks that are tailored to change at a speed of a chameleon, not in speed of a snail.

Adapt or die? or Die fast and learn?

 "Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see."

 Rene Magritte.

I will enjoy hearing from the LinkedIn community about their digital business initiatives.

It is an enormous pleasure to have you read our post and provide some feedback. Please feel free to connect.

 [Photos and References: Forrester, Gartner, The Dictator, ThoughtWorks]