DIGITAL VALUE STREAMS ©
The new paradigm – rethinking processes to create true digital value
Vision:
The Intelligent Enterprise
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Multiple digital value streams running on a business platform
Introduction
Digital value streams are ubiquitous
in private and business life.
Through digital value streams we receive most of the information for all business and private matters.
It is through digital value streams that companies connect to customers (B2C/ B2B).
The quality of digital value streams define the quality of the user experience and hence the competitive strength of most companies.
Designing digital value streams to
meet customers’ demand is key
to success in the digital age.
The concept of digital value streams fosters a new approach to process analysis and design that focuses on and combines three important strategic imperatives:
Customer & Data
Centricity
&
Digital Transformation
What is a digital value stream?
The concept of Digital Value Streams consists of three elements out of which the 3rd element results the digital value stream:
- Input Management: the gathering and processing of information about the customers’ demand.
- Supply Generation: the generation of the information or the product to be supplied according to the identified demand.
- Output Management: the actual provision of the supply to the customer via the most appropriate channel(s), i.e. a digital stream of information tailored to the customer’s demand in terms of content, delivery time and channel.
A positive side effect in terms of lean principles is that only process activities that contribute to any of these three elements will remain. All other activities are no longer needed and will be removed – this is true value creation.
The paradigm shift
This concept of a digital value stream represents a paradigm shift away from classical
process analysis and design. It focuses analysis and design on true value creation –
that is to match demand with supply. This is the basis for competitive advantage,
disruptive change and/or new business models.
If you want to make disruptive changes to UX, take the digital value stream
perspective instead of the classical process-oriented perspective.
Rethink. Design. Disrupt.
PROCESS-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE
- Focus on efficiency through lean and automated processes
- Incremental change – moderate benefits.
- One process flow from start to end.
- Suited for transactional processes
- Limited focus on the information flow in both directions.
- Tendency to stick to current flow including the preservation of non-value adding information.
- Focus on automation of existing activities without challenging their contribution to matching supply and demand.
DIGITAL VALUE STREAM PERSPECTIVE
- Focus on value through matching demand with supply
- Transformational change – disruptive benefits.
- Distinction between input and output flow.
- Focus on customer-centric and strategic core processes where the UX is vital.
- Input flow designed to obtain information about demand.
- Output flow to supply the customer with digital information matching his/her demand.
- Automation technologies are leveraged to ensure demand-driven supply of data.
The impact on process analysis & design
The object of discussion and analysis will be how to design and implement digital value streams rather then redesigning existing processes or workflows for efficiency. Both processes and workflows will, of course, continue to play an important role as enabler for digital value streams. However, the focus is on transforming them into intelligent processes to enable the digital value streams matching accurately and fast demand with supply.
Looking at the different questions that stem from both perspectives the increased focus on customer centricity and on the value creation through providing information in digital format becomes apparent.
PROCESS-ORIENTED PERSPECTIVE
- What are the individual process steps?
- Note: the object of analysis is the process end-to-end, i.e. no distinction is made between the input flow of information about the demand and the output flow.
- To what extent are the manual?
- How can they be automated?
- What is the input information for each process step in terms of format and content?
DIGITAL VALUE STREAM PERSPECTIVE
- What is the customer’s demand?
- How can information about the demand be obtained?
- Is it possible to predict demand and if so, how?
- How can the input management be automated?
- How can the needed output related to the demand be generated (automatically)?
- How can the generated output be supplied in the appropriate format, time and channel?
The concept of digital value streams applies can be applied to almost all processes, because any process is about supply and demand.