Digital leaders are able to satisfy 24/7 customer demand through integrated systems that provide insights from collected data. Leaders in different industries like Amazon, Revolut, and Drybar have used digital technologies to improve customer experiences and gain significant market share. The document outlines nine actions businesses can take to become digital leaders in 2019, such as migrating applications to the cloud, increasing automation, and drawing insights from data to improve customer experiences through optimized processes and technologies.

1. A world of
difference
How Digital Leaders operate in the 24x7 marketplace
(Plus, nine points to set your IT on fire in 2019)

2. Digital disruption
has moved from buzzword to reality
and businesses across Europe are using
technology and data to improve internal
and external operations.
See how Digital Leaders are pushing
the boundaries to satisfy their customers’
individual needs… any time and any place.

3. We spoke to 750 business
leaders across Europe.
For the best in class, identifying
and satisfying customer demand
permeates through everything
they do.

4. Here are a few things we learned:
85% 86%91% 85%
can draw
valuable insights
from the data
they collect
can satisfy
24x7 customer
demand
have integrated
previously
fragmented IT
systems
have built
mobile-friendly
applications

5. Leadership
in action
Every industry is under
disruption – here are
three to watch

6. They are part of all of our
lives at home, but in 2003
this pure-play Internet
retailer realised their
custom in-house Cloud
computing platform could
be scaled infinitely. In
2006, Amazon launched
their first Cloud service
for business customers.

7. The result:
Amazon are now
the largest Cloud
infrastructure
provider in the
world, with 40%+
market share.
40%+

8. This pre-paid FX provider
allows travellers to exchange
currency at the interbank
rate absolutely free.
Run entirely from a mobile
app, Revolut cuts out the
middleman to keep costs
low, undercutting established
banks and FX players.

9. The result:
Revolut’s 1 million
customers have completed
50m+ transaction worth
$7billion since June 2014 –
saving $160million in bank
and FX fees.
$7bn

10. This US hair salon chain
offers nothing but blowouts
(a wash-n-blow dry on this
side of the pond). The key to
Drybar’s success has been
using customer data to finely
tune messaging and offer
personalisation at every
possible opportunity. The
instore and online experience
is tightly integrated to create
a seamless experience.

11. The result:
Just nine years after
foundation, Drybar
now have 70+ salons
in operation across
the US and Canada.
70+

12. We are constantly
analyzing what we
know about our client
base and how we
can better refine our
marketing and overall
experience to be
more relevant to each
specific customer.”
– John Heffner, CEO
“

13. CHECKLIST:
Nine ways to become
a digital leader in 2019
Digital transformation cannot be
completed overnight. Indeed, true digital
transformation is an ongoing process of
continuous improvement. Make a healthy
start by putting these 9 tips into action.

14. ACTION 1:
Migrate applications to a better place:
Build best-of-breed processes using multiple
Cloud services.

15. ACTION 2:
Increased automation:
Automate your processes to give you more
time to focus on strategic projects.

16. ACTION 3:
Application containerisation:
Slim down your virtual operating environment
with application containerisation, reducing
your Cloud bill in the process.

17. ACTION 4:
Internal monitoring:
Constantly monitor data growth and IT running
costs, to strip out low value management activity
and focus on ways to improve customer experience.

18. ACTION 5:
Web performance optimisation:
Increase web and app performance to satisfy
impatient customers (and your users).

19. ACTION 6:
Increased app development speed:
Develop and change applications faster
by embracing powerful DevOps automation
tools in the Public Cloud.

20. ACTION 7:
Draw insights from your data:
Constantly monitor the value of every project and use
those insights to direct future development efforts.

21. ACTION 8:
People and skills:
Use flexible resourcing models and strategic partnerships
to access the employees, experience, and skills you need
on a project-by-project basis.

22. ACTION 9:
Embrace failure:
Encourage IT experimentation and use analytics
to accurately assess outcomes.

23. SUMMARY:
Successful attempts to digitise the
business is a combination of people,
processes and technology - and
industry leaders are quickly learning
how to combine them effectively.
Winners know the value of speed
and how to achieve it for internal and
customer-facing processes.

24. KEY TAKEAWAYS
Create a low effort
customer experience:
improve operations
and processes to
gain customer loyalty
Well engineered
digitisation has the
ability to change a
whole industry.
It’s not too late
to start - the nine
actions outlined
here can help every
business catch-up.
9

25. Download Beyond Digital Transformation:
Reality check for European IT and Digital Leaders
Download now
To review the issues in hard numbers,
take a look at our Research Report.