2. About the Deloitte Center for the Edge
The Center focuses on the boundary, or edge, of the global business environment where strategic opportunity is the highest.
The Deloitte Center for the Edge conducts original research and develops substantive points of view for new corporate growth. The
Silicon Valley-based Center helps senior executives make sense of and profit from emerging opportunities on the edge of business and
technology. Center leaders believe that what is created on the edge of the competitive landscape—in terms of technology, geography,
demographics, markets—inevitably strikes at the very heart of a business. The Center’s mission is to identify and explore emerging
opportunities related to big shifts that aren’t yet on the senior management agenda, but ought to be. While Center leaders are focused
on long-term trends and opportunities, they are equally focused on implications for near-term action, the day-to-day environment of
executives.
Below the surface of current events, buried amid the latest headlines and competitive moves, executives are beginning to see the outlines
of a new business landscape. Performance pressures are mounting. The old ways of doing things are generating diminishing returns.
Companies are having a harder time making money—and increasingly, their very survival is challenged. Executives must learn ways not
only to do their jobs differently, but also to do them better. This, in part, requires understanding the broader changes to the operating
environment:
• What’s really driving intensifying competitive pressures?
• What long-term opportunities are available?
• What needs to be done today to change course?
Decoding the deep structure of this economic shift will allow executives to thrive in the face of intensifying competition and growing
economic pressure. The good news is that the actions needed to address near-term economic conditions are also the best long-term
measures to take advantage of the opportunities these challenges create. For more information about the Center’s unique perspective on
these challenges, visit www.deloitte.com/centerforedge.
3. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
About the authors
John Hagel III
John Hagel III, a director with Deloitte Consulting LLP, is the co-chairman of the Deloitte Center
for the Edge. He has nearly 30 years’ experience as a management consultant, author, speaker, and
entrepreneur, and has helped companies improve their performance by effectively applying infor-
mation technology to reshape business strategies. In addition to holding significant positions at
leading consulting firms and companies throughout his career, Hagel is the author of a series of
best-selling business books, including Net Gain; Net Worth; Out of the Box; The Only Sustainable
Edge; and The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion.
John Seely Brown
John Seely Brown (JSB), co-chairman of the Deloitte Center for the Edge, is a prolific writer,
speaker, and educator. In addition to his work with the Center for the Edge, JSB is advisor to the
provost and a visiting scholar at the University of Southern California. This position followed a
lengthy tenure at Xerox Corporation, where he served as chief scientist and director of the Xerox
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). JSB has published more than 100 papers in scientific jour-
nals and authored or co-authored seven books, including The Social Life of Information; The Only
Sustainable Edge; The Power of Pull: How Small Moves, Smartly Made, Can Set Big Things in Motion;
and, most recently, A New Culture of Learning.
Christopher Gong
Christopher Gong of Deloitte Services LP, a member of the core research team for this report,
is the senior editor for the Center for the Edge. He is focused on understanding the deep, fun-
damental shifts in the economy driven by technological progress. With a background in strategy
consulting, he is also interested in the creation of organizational structures that maximize learning
and innovation.
Stacey Wang
Stacey Wang, a member of the core research team for this report, is a senior consultant at Deloitte
Consulting LLP who focuses on strategy, growth, and innovation within the technology space. She
is interested in building ecosystems within different industries, especially education, to create new
solutions for today’s challenges. Her passions include K-12 education reform, spinning, and food.
Travis Lehman
Travis Lehman, a member of the core research team for this report, is a consultant in Deloitte
Consulting LLP’s Strategy and Operations practice, focusing on Technology, Media and
Telecommunications industry clients. He is extremely interested in new approaches to organiza-
tional change, and his passions include emerging technologies (particularly social media), New
Zealand, and rugby.
5. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
Contents
Executive summary | 2
Traditional change approaches | 3
Pragmatic Pathways: A new approach | 4
Pragmatic Pathways to change | 6
Metrics that matter case study: Pfizer | 7
Scaling edges case study: AWS | 10
Shaping strategies case study: Spotify | 14
Pragmatic Pathway approaches build on each other | 17
Your starting point | 18
The path forward | 20
Endnotes | 21
1
6. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
Executive summary
F or executives, it is the best of times and
it is the worst of times. In the past few
decades, we have seen an unparalleled and
This paper seeks to show how organiza-
tions can achieve large-scale transformations
in a series of smaller, pragmatic steps. Through
exponential rate of technological progress new technologies, practices, and other parties
that has created opportunities to run busi- in their business ecosystem, organizations can
nesses better, faster, and more cost effectively. make success more likely by decreasing initial
However, the increasing pace of progress has investments and increasing their initiatives’
also led to unprecedented levels of disruption velocity. We propose that through small moves
and uncertainty. Squeezed between increas- smartly made, organizations can address their
ingly powerful consumers and employees, short-term tactical needs as well as create the
companies face all-time high levels of competi- fundamental, long-term changes needed to
tive pressure. In the Deloitte Center for the survive in a world of constant disruption. We
Edge’s annual Shift Index report, we show that call this new change methodology “Pragmatic
since 1965, return on assets across all publicly Pathways,” and have defined three separate
held US companies has declined by 75 per- approaches that can be deployed depending on
cent, indicating these pressures are not part circumstances and organizational cultures:
of a short-term recession, but are permanent
fixtures in the business landscape. • Metrics that matter is a pathway to focus
Faced with these pressures, investors, deployment of a disruptive tool or practice
stakeholders, and executives all agree that in order to trigger cascades of adoption and
something needs to be done. However, from rapid performance improvement.
our experience, there is rarely alignment on
what to do or how to do it. When confronted • Scaling edges is a pathway to transform
with the imperative for change in times of the core of the business by focusing on
uncertainty, many companies fall victim to low-investment, high-growth-potential
either the paralysis of short-term, incremental opportunities—“edges”—with fundamen-
improvements or the hubris of risky, bet-the- tally different business practices.
farm strategies that have no guarantees of
success. To make matters worse, companies • Shaping strategies is a pathway to restruc-
struggling most face what we call the Change ture markets and industries using platforms
Paradox: The companies in most dire circum- to bring people together and mobilize large
stances often have the fewest resources to make ecosystems with positive incentives by cre-
requisite changes. ating a compelling view of the future.
2
7. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
Traditional change approaches
B efore discussing Pragmatic Pathways in
greater detail, it may be helpful to reflect
on the two common change paradigms we
large financial outlays, 2) lengthy lead times,
and 3) the uncertainty of success. The com-
bination of these factors invariably arouses
touched upon before. The first is the pursuit of financial and political resistance from the orga-
incremental change, often consisting of either nization’s core. This resistance can manifest
cost-cutting initiatives or marginal product in a multitude of ways: from direct resistance,
improvement. This mentality is common in such as pulling budget, to more subtle or pas-
organizations without a clear vision or align- sive forms of resistance, such as the refusal of
ment on how to “steer the ship.” While incre- employees and managers to adopt new prac-
mental improvements are absolutely critical to tices. This resistance to change can be observed
maintaining and improving a healthy business, anecdotally. Reflect on large-scale change
they are incapable of protecting organizations initiatives attempted by organizations in your
from disruption. In fact, in the long run, focus- own industry, or perhaps even by your own
ing only on efficiency and incremental growth company, and consider the various sources of
is the most tried-and-true path to irrelevancy. resistance that were encountered.
The second common change paradigm is Inevitably, as more and more organiza-
what we call the “big bang” change approach. tions face the imperative for transformational
These approaches are typified by high-profile change, they have started to look for alterna-
projects with multimillion-dollar budgets, tives to the incremental and “big bang” change
large implementation teams, and complex approaches we have described. Fortunately,
multiyear implementation plans. They include the disruptions that necessitate change (such
large-scale M&A deals, technology deploy- as new digital infrastructures, technologies,
ments, and business strategy overhauls. But and communication patterns) also provide the
despite the resources and attention devoted building blocks for better ways of transforming
to these “big bang” approaches, somewhere an organization. The companies that deploy
between two-thirds to three-quarters of such these new change approaches before their
efforts fail.1 competitors will be able to create and hold a
Although the reasons for these failures are significant advantage in their industries.
complex and unique to each effort, at their
simplest level, they all share three factors: 1)
3
8. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
Pragmatic Pathways:
A new approach
E ven under the best circumstances, orga-
nizational transformation is difficult. The
Pragmatic Pathways methodology is designed
possible. However, when alignment is not
feasible, the Pragmatic Pathways philosophy is
to circumvent conflict rather than face it head-
to help maximize a change initiative’s chance on. Battling detractors is risky; should you
of success by increasing the velocity of the lose, it could mean the end of your initiative,
initiative, decreasing the initial investment, and even if you win, it wastes your time and
and minimizing uncertainty wherever possible. energy. Instead, change leaders need to seek
By doing so, the change agents leading the ways around detractors and lengthy approval
initiative decrease the ability of detractors to processes by minimizing initial investments
mount resistance against it. Although the three wherever possible, shortening timelines to
approaches we outline are different, they all gain traction quickly, and seeking out those in
employ the following principles to increase the the organization most willing to embrace the
likelihood of success: change, both at the executive and tactical level.
Circumvent internal resistance: Often, Leverage your ecosystem: Another impor-
the most significant obstacles for change tant component of the Pragmatic Pathways
occur internally, either in the form of the slow approach is to help your organization establish
pace of approvals and adoption or outright its place in its broader ecosystem (your eco-
refusal to change. First, seek alignment where system consists not only of your suppliers and
4
9. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
customers, but also your consumers’ influenc- change initiatives easier. The changes outlined
ers as well as groups in adjacent businesses). in Pragmatic Pathways will not only help move
Members of your ecosystem have deep insights organizations from one stable state to another,
about your industry and consumers, and they but will also help them create more flexible and
can be powerful allies and partners, providing fluid organizations that will be able to respond
insights and ideas. By partnering with compa- to future disruptions. By positioning them-
nies with complementary skill sets and exper- selves to work with growing networks inter-
tise, you will be able to offer better solutions nally and externally, companies access flows
faster and with less initial investment than you of knowledge and capital and enable scalable
could on your own. learning, allowing them not only to respond to
Employ disruptive tools: All three change but also to preempt it. Organizations
approaches prescribe the use of new tools that adopt one or more of the Pragmatic
to help in the change process. The purpose Pathways will:
is to increase the speed of information flow
and transparency, which leads to better 1. Understand the financial and operational
decision making. In addition to these ben- metrics that matter most and figure out
efits, these tools help flatten organizational how to connect these levers to the deploy-
hierarchies and circumvent bottlenecks that ment of new tools or practices in order to
block initiatives. stay abreast of technological and organi-
Aim for immediate impact: Each path- zational developments that can improve
way is designed to help organizations realize internal efficiency.
the benefits of their change efforts as soon as
possible. This fast-to-market mentality not 2. Continually test and refine new edges out-
only lets organizations realize their short- side the core of the organization, using its
term goals, but also tests the feasibility of their business ecosystem to help hone fundamen-
initiative as soon as possible. Through the tally different skills, practices, and business
natural process of trial and error that comes models while connecting and mobilizing
from quickly developing and testing ideas, third-party resources to minimize the cost
change agents can simultaneously gain traction of scaling these edges.
by showing the benefits of their initiative while
also adjusting and correcting areas of failure. 3. With the right alignment and vision at the
Achieve long-term transformation: While executive level, companies could shape
these approaches are designed for short-term entire markets or industries through
impact, they will also help create and reinforce orchestrating these broader ecosystems
the collaborative behaviors and transpar- with a shaping strategy.
ent organizational cultures that make future
5
10. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
Pragmatic Pathways to change
T he Pragmatic Pathways framework (see
figure 1) can be interpreted as a spiraling
maturity model of sorts, with the starting point
have a vision of how they can capitalize on
these, but lack the broad executive support or
wherewithal to pursue large-scale organiza-
at metrics that matter and moving clockwise to tional change, can consider scaling edges. This
scaling edges and then shaping strategies. approach allows the company to begin trans-
Companies at the beginning of the maturity forming on the periphery, rather than the core,
curve, which have not adopted the behaviors of its business and eventually scale the new
and practices to take advantage of the new idea to become the new core. Finally, compa-
digital infrastructures, will probably benefit nies that have complete alignment on their
most from a targeted, narrow implementation vision—from the CEO to line employees—and
of a new tool or practice (e.g., social software, the conviction to see this vision through can
cloud) to improve business operations. This influence the entire face of their industry by
can be achieved through the metrics that mat- orchestrating an ecosystem of active partici-
ter pathway. Companies that have identified pants through a shaping strategy.
the fundamental shifts in their markets and
Figure 1. Pragmatic Pathways framework
Broad
SCALING EDGES SHAPING STRATEGY
Focus on edges of the business that Restructure markets and industries to
have the potential to rapidly scale your advantage by mobilizing large
through adoption of fundamentally ecosystems through positive incentives
different business practices and that generated by compelling views of the
ultimately could become a new core for future and economically attractive
Breath of change
the business platforms
METRICS THAT MATTER PRODUCT AND SERVICE
Tightly focused deployment of new
OFFERINGS/INCREMENTAL
technologies, tools, and practices to CHANGE (Out-of-scope)
trigger cascades of adoption and rapid
performance improvement
Narrow
Internal Focus of change External
Graphic: Deloitte University Press | DUPress.com
6
11. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
Metrics that matter
case study: Pfizer
M any companies will deploy a new tool
or practice with a hammer; that is to say,
they roll it out and hammer it in with no stra-
power required to process the information
quickly and affordably—two key metrics that
determined the company’s profitability and
tegic plan. But when people are told to adopt success. To solve this problem, Pfizer partnered
something and they have no incentive to do with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to design a
so, the outcome is typically a lack of adoption. tailored solution—specifically, a private cloud
Imagine if the same company first understood solution, so that Pfizer could offload mundane
why people needed the tool, and then deployed tasks and free up its internal high-performance
it systematically to the people who would computing (HPC) platform to process critical,
eagerly adopt it. yet sporadic projects.
When Pfizer was considering increasing By using thousands of off-site servers
the usage of cloud technologies in its organiza- rather than relying solely on internal ones,
tion, the natural place to deploy it was in R&D, Pfizer compressed compute time from weeks
the core engine that drives success for phar- to hours, enabling it to make quicker financial
maceutical companies. Pfizer R&D needed to and strategic decisions, and resulting in gains
quickly analyze, organize, and compute large of millions of dollars.2 This tailored solution
amounts of very complex data and provide also freed scientists to focus on problems and
results back to scientists so they could make solutions without worrying about technology
actionable decisions about a drug. But Pfizer limitations, decreasing Pfizer’s R&D costs by 7
lacked the enormous amount of computing percent, or $600 million, since implementing
7
12. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
• Operating metrics: Managers aim to drive
cloud in 2010.3 As Michael Miller, senior direc-
improvements on operating metrics—near-
tor of HPC for Pfizer R&D, observes:
term indicators of an organization’s perfor-
Speed can literally change the way you mance and success.
think about a scientific problem.4
• Financial metrics: Finally, executives are
Pfizer’s use of AWS is an example of how
focused on improving financial metrics to
organizations can effectively launch a new
please shareholders, often in lockstep with
tool or practice by aligning it with business
quarterly reports.
metrics that matter to employees. By focus-
ing on improving operational needs rather In an industry characterized by “eureka”
than on adoption, Pfizer created incentives for moments, Pfizer’s choice to use cloud has
employees, particularly those with the stron- afforded the company greater flexibility and
gest need for it, to adopt the tool. As employees capability to scale its operations as needed for
adapted to and created new behaviors, they critical research. Accessing offsite servers for
saw improvements in their own performance, the necessary computing not only decreases
which drove further adoption in vertical and computing time, but also reinforces informal
horizontal cascades. This method allowed collaboration, accelerates time to decisions,
Pfizer to catalyze new practices and the use of and lowers the costs of new investments. The
the tool much more successfully than if leaders company benefits handsomely from this, but
had pushed for adoption directly.5 this benefit is actually driven by individuals
This metrics that matter approach is very finding value in the new tool. For example, the
different from a traditional firm-wide IT R&D HPC team is now able to expose resource
implementation; it is a targeted insertion of a costs very transparently back to the researchers
new tool or practice to drive business perfor- in real time so users can make intelligent deci-
mance. If you look at social software specifi- sions on costs versus priorities. Miller claims:
cally, two-thirds of companies are interested It’s a game-changing approach to making
in social platforms and approach them by better decisions within Pfizer.6
deploying them agnostically across the enter-
prise; this, more often than not, fails to drive Not only has the targeted deployment of
adoption and usage. As these companies have cloud led to adoption and behavioral changes
learned, adoption cannot be the primary aim across the R&D group, but it has also changed
of deploying a new tool or technology. Instead, Pfizer’s competitive advantage. In 2010, Pfizer
adoption should occur naturally as employees spent seven months working with a cloud
willingly use the new tool or practice for their services provider to design a secure system that
own personal benefit (and the benefit of the fulfilled its compliance and security needs.7
company). Looking forward, Pfizer could also consider
There are three types of metrics to consider how cloud is deployed across the rest of the
when launching a tool, each important to a dif- organization to enable rapid prototyping, much
ferent group within the firm: the same way R&D is able to use cloud now to
rapidly undergo new research. A scaling edges
• Exception metrics: For line employees, it strategy could allow Pfizer to adapt to the
is critical that they improve productivity rapidly shifting health care markets by finding
and performance, whether through improv- the right “edge” opportunity. Pfizer could even
ing collaboration and communication or think about how it could shape the way the
making exceptions to daily processes easier entire industry pursues R&D and consider how
to handle. collaboration could potentially occur beyond
8
13. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
its own organization and extend to the entire perhaps a business unit manager finds a key
pharmaceutical ecosystem. Cloud could also exception that needs to be addressed in order
enable Pfizer to create a flexible platform upon to improve operating performance. Skepticism
which scientists, quality controllers, customers, from employees, who are used to and comfort-
regulators, and others in pharma connect and able with the status quo, is understandable, but
collaborate to quickly design, test, and bring positioning a new tool or practice as a means
new drugs to market. to affect key performance metrics can over-
This pragmatic approach may start with an come skepticism and align the entire organiza-
executive spotting a strategic challenge that tion to adopt something new to drive change.
impedes an important financial metric. Or
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14. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
Scaling edges case study: AWS
W hen AWS was launched in 2002,
many thought it was simply a way for
Amazon to sell off excess storage and comput-
transform the core business; earlier this year,
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, said:
[AWS] has the potential to be as big as
ing capacity. However, within two months of our retail business. It’s a very large area
its inception, Amazon had burned through all and right now, [cloud computing ser-
of its extra capacity. In fact, by 2007, AWS had vices are] done in our opinion in a very
grown to offer nine different services. Today, inefficient way.9
that number has grown to 82, and the number
of objects stored in Amazon’s cloud continues One of the most interesting aspects of AWS
to grow exponentially. Morgan Stanley ana- is that while cloud services seem fundamen-
lysts estimated revenues for 2011 to be $1.2 tally different from the online marketplace that
billion, and projections are that the business Amazon is known for, cloud services are actu-
could grow to $2 billion by the end of 2012.8 ally part of the same broad vision. AWS serves
Although AWS still only constitutes a small as a nonobvious adjacency that has allowed
percentage of Amazon’s $48 billion business, Amazon to leverage many of its existing
Amazon’s leadership sees it as having lots of capabilities from its retail arm. Amazon had
room to grow. To truly be an edge, an oppor- developed expertise in distributed comput-
tunity has to have the potential to scale and ing within the company, which has lent itself
to providing AWS as a service. This expertise
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15. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
has led Amazon to transform the adjacency There are several principles any organiza-
into an industry-leading business. From the tion can adopt to scale an edge:
beginning, Amazon realized the opportunities Focus—Firms should identify and focus on
for this service. As Werner Vogels, the chief “edge” initiatives that follow four principles.
technology officer of Amazon, observed: An edge should:
The excess capacity story is a myth. It was
never a matter of selling excess capacity … 1. Align with fundamental market forces
Amazon Web Services was always consid- and the long-term vision of the business
ered a business by itself.10 and market: For Amazon, this came with
understanding the strong growth potential
The move into cloud computing may be and high margins of cloud-based services.
pivotal for Amazon, not only because it gives
the company access to new markets, but 2. Require minimal investment to initiate:
because the market can also potentially bear In addition to its excess capacity, Amazon
higher margins for services than commod- had already developed many key tech-
itized retail products. nologies and internal capabilities (particu-
Amazon’s AWS is an example of what we larly around distributed computing) that
call scaling edges, which is a framework and could be leveraged for AWS. This allowed
a set of design principles focused on large- Amazon to test its ability to host cloud
scale institutional transformation. It requires services with little investment.
focusing on promising high-growth areas, or
edges, that have the potential to change the 3. Have the ability to “grow the pie,” or cre-
core of the business in the long run. To ensure ate revenue in the short term, which does
the best chance at this, the edge must avoid not conflict with the core of your busi-
direct conflict with the core of the business by ness: The revenue streams from AWS were
playing in a different space in the short run. almost immediate and did not cannibal-
This will allow the edge to grow and become an ize any of Amazon’s core business on its
established, proven, and viable model before online marketplace.
encountering the full range of financial and
political obstacles that come from directly 4. Have the potential to transform the core
challenging to change the core business. In the in the long term: While it is too early to
case of the AWS edge, the cloud services space say definitively how much AWS will grow,
is adjacent to rather than in direct conflict with both Bezos and Vogels have suggested that
Amazon’s core online retail business. it will become as large as the core of the
Often, the organizations that need change business.11 And while it plays in a differ-
the most are those that are the most resistant ent space than Amazon’s core business,
to it. The scaling edges framework helps to given the potential for significantly higher
circumvent the political and financial resis- margins, AWS has the potential to replace
tance that usually arises with any change effort. the core online retail business as the pri-
While this resistance may not have surfaced mary profit generator for the company. In
within Amazon, as AWS was driven by the addition to growing revenue, the move to
founder, it is a common problem in many services also represents a new approach for
firms that are less open to change.
11
16. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
the company and a fundamental transfor- Accelerate—The third key component to
mation of the company’s focus. the framework is the speed at which one can
take a new product to market. Compressing
Leverage—Edge initiatives should leverage lead times and driving revenue quickly will
low-cost, disruptive technology, and external allow the edge to overcome the financial and
resources to overcome obstacles to scaling: political obstacles that are the downfall of most
Many of AWS’s services are designed to easily strategic and change initiatives. Examples of
integrate with and build on other software and these obstacles range from the explicit, such as
web services. AWS’s fastest growing service, choosing not to allocate budget to an initiative,
DynamoDB (a fast and scalable database to the passive, such as agreeing to an action
service), was designed to seamlessly integrate item and then not following through. Edge
with Elastic MapReduce (EMR), another web initiatives should accelerate the pace of innova-
service. EMR allows customers to analyze tion to compress the time between investment
large quantities of data quickly and cost effec- and return wherever possible. Part of this pro-
tively. The two services in tandem are quite cess is to design for scalability and rapid testing
powerful. On his weblog, Vogels described and release. AWS itself was built to be quickly
the interaction: scalable with a portfolio of integrated products
By taking advantage of DynamoDB’s
that were released as they were completed; this
seamless integration with EMR, many of approach allowed Amazon to quickly test both
our publishing customers are able to easily the concept of moving into services as well
analyze various trends in real time, such as each individual application concurrently,
as content popularity.12 and to make adjustments in real time to meet
market demands.
As a result of the integrated design, a wide
range of customers have quickly adopted Scaling edges in the
the product because it meshes with tools
they already use. This ease of adoption has
context of the Big Shift
driven rapid growth for DynamoDB. As In order for the edge vision to have the
Vogels describes: most impact, it has to be in line with funda-
After only two months, customers had
mental shifts in the broader marketplace. We
already provisioned enough capacity to have seen rapid gains in technological perfor-
perform hundreds of billions of requests mance, digital infrastructure penetration, and
per day.13 global liberalization of economic policy, and all
of these macro shifts are fundamentally chang-
One of the powerful elements of leverage ing the way consumers interact with organiza-
is that AWS overcomes a zero-sum business tions. Any change initiatives that do not take
mind-set. By creating products that interact these trends into consideration will have a
with the existing ecosystem of online solu- reduced chance of long-term success.
tions, AWS is able to leverage the capabilities These concepts are built for change agents
and products that have been established in the to help others in their companies develop the
market. Additionally, Amazon fosters and cre- courage and conviction required to start the
ates online forums for new users who are just change process. Often, companies will have a
learning to use AWS tools. The result is that vision for where their company and industry
both products add value to each other and cre- need to head (conviction), but lack the cour-
ate a symbiotic relationship where companies age to act on that vision. At the same time,
and users both benefit. much of the financial and political resistance
12
17. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
to change comes from the core of the busi- there will be a profound impact on how busi-
ness. This is to be expected; core processes are ness is conducted. By providing cheap, scalable
designed for the status quo. Deploying an edge services, products like AWS enable companies
model requires some change agents to detach to focus on core competencies, new or exist-
from promising core activities to build on the ing. Also, as data storage and processing needs
periphery where there is less resistance, par- become variable rather than fixed costs with
ticularly in the initial phases when momentum cloud, companies will be able to more effi-
is still building. Operating on the periphery is ciently provide current product and service
particularly important, as efforts that challenge offerings with less risk and a litany of new
the core directly tend to mobilize institutional services will follow suit. Amazon will have the
“antibodies” that cause these efforts to fail. opportunity to create new uniform standards
As Amazon continues to scale the edge of and protocols for interactions across a series of
AWS, it has the potential to not only transform products that have the opportunity to become
the core of its own business, but to also fun- new industry-wide standards. Amazon, as a
damentally change its market and ecosystem. result, will then have the chance to rally its
When companies, particularly those that are ecosystem around its vision for the future of
growing, begin to adopt cloud-based services, the technology industry.
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18. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
Shaping strategies
case study: Spotify
N apster broke the music industry by
removing content from its traditional
wrapper, the album, and the industry has not
sharing platform may just be able to save the
international market.
Before the 2012 Grammys, Spotify co-
been the same since. International revenues founder and CEO Daniel Ek spoke before a
for the music industry peaked in 1999 at $56.7 gathering of industry executives and spent
billion and have declined to an estimated $28.7 most of the night describing his vision to them:
billion in 2012. After Napster was litigated out The value of music is not $15 billion [2011
of the picture, Apple’s iTunes legally continued international digital music sales]; it’s
the digital trend of separating the single from worth much, much more than that.14
the CD. Although the revolutionary distribu-
tion method appealed to consumers, it unde- After Spotify’s launch, Sweden’s music
niably eroded profit margins for music labels, industry experienced growth for the first time
artists, and other participants in the industry. in 2011, with Spotify accounting for approxi-
It affected regional music industries around mately half of the music revenue. To the
the world, which have likewise been in steady Spotify team, they are not just a streaming ser-
decline since the peak in 1999. vice or an application to access your playlists;
Enter Spotify in 2008, a new player in the from the founder on down, the company views
fray. Swedish company Spotify has single- itself as the “operating system (OS) of music.”
handedly reversed this trend in its home The executive team is aligned on its central
country, and its digital streaming and social vision to deliver music to people wherever,
14
19. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
and whenever, they want to consume it. More Shaping view: Spotify’s actions to date
importantly, Spotify is pursuing a shaping demonstrate a very specific vision of where the
strategy, mobilizing and orchestrating global music industry will evolve—to an industry that
ecosystems around its vision to transform the is thriving on, rather than suffering from, the
music industry. new digital platforms. Spotify sees itself as the
Shaping strategies are an effort to transform key platform in this new era; as Sten Garmark,
an industry or market by creating incentives director of Spotify, describes it:
for external participants, demonstrating that all We have to turn ourselves into the OS
participants can benefit from this new vision, of Music.15
and providing a platform for these participants
to interact on. The goal is to redefine the nature As this “operating system,” or music plat-
of competition for the market sector. There form, Spotify intends to deliver music and
are three specific components of a successful interactive experiences through third-party
shaping strategy: applications to its consumers. By broadcast-
ing this vision and directly engaging and
1. Shaping view: First, the orchestrator must orchestrating key ecosystem participants, such
articulate a shaping view, a long-term vision as major music labels, artists, music industry
of where the market is heading, which iden- media, third-party developers, and consumers,
tifies where the opportunities and economic Spotify has multiplied the depth and complex-
incentives lie for participants, yet is big-pic- ity of the listening experience on its platform.
ture enough to leave considerable room for Spotify differs from Apple, Pandora, and
refinement. The orchestrator needs to be a other prominent digital music aggregators
compelling evangelist, able to clearly articu- through the integration of social graphs into
late the vision of the direction of the new the music listening experience. Spotify’s launch
market and the value creation opportunities in the United States reflected this strategy,
for all participants in the industry. as the service was deeply integrated with
Facebook Connect from the start. Users’ playl-
2. Shaping platform: Second, the orches- ists are highlighted to their Facebook friends
trator must provide a shaping platform, in real time, and users are able to “send” tracks
or a set of clearly defined standards and to each other in order to recommend a new
practices, that organize the activities of artist. Social recommendations are a crucial
the participants and also provide them factor in increasing engagement with new and
with leverage by reducing initial invest- established artists alike. As Ek observed in an
ment and lowering the cost of interactions interview at the Grammy Awards:
between participants. The sales cycle of [a] record is anywhere
from four to twelve weeks in most typi-
3. Acts and assets: Third, the orchestrator cal cases. With Spotify, we keep seeing the
needs to demonstrate its capability and effect [extend] up to twenty-five, thirty-
commitment to realizing its vision through five [weeks], or even a year.16
a mixture of “acts” and “assets.” Acts are
necessary to define the shaper’s intentions, This is a crucial differentiator that enables
demonstrating the shaping company’s Spotify to deliver music anywhere, anytime,
assets can be a significant factor in persuad- while still fostering a healthy ecosystem and
ing potential participants to invest in the growing the music industry. Spotify is also
shaper’s view. aggressively targeting partnerships with new
media channels to increase its user base—for
example, it recently signed a distribution deal
15
20. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
with Yahoo that will highlight the music ser- bold vision for Spotify and moved on it before
vice as the preferred service for all of Yahoo’s people realized it was even possible.
700 million unique monthly visitors. Such dis- Acts and assets: To date, Spotify has dem-
tribution partnerships are crucial to Spotify’s onstrated that it has both the conviction and
long-term success in realizing its vision, as the the assets to help realize this vision. By open-
addition of each new user increases the value ing up an application program interface to its
for other participants in the music ecosystem. catalog of more than 15 million songs to any
Shaping platform: Spotify has created third-party developer for free, it has commit-
a platform and a set of clearly defined stan- ted to creating a much richer, deeper music
dards and practices that organize and support ecosystem than what currently exists. By dem-
the activities of its many participants. Since onstrating it is willing to invest a significant
launching as a platform in December 2011, amount of money on its platform and making
Spotify has actively engaged the ecosystem of these assets available for free, it is creating
third-party developers by providing best prac- powerful incentives for third-party developers
tices and coaching to ensure all applications to adopt its platform. Spotify has also sig-
hosted on Spotify meet a minimum quality naled a long-term commitment to improving
standard before going live on the platform. By the music industry by actively engaging the
having an open-admit policy for third-party four major music labels (each of whom is a
developers and providing them with the tools minority shareholder in Spotify) throughout
and training to deliver quality applications, the evolution of its platform. It has identified
Spotify is fostering specialization on its plat- opportunities for creating value in many dis-
form and increasing the odds consumers will tinct niches for the labels, artists, publications,
be able to find the specific features they want live promoters, third-party developers, and any
to engage with. Targeted applications increase number of other participants within the music
engagement for customer niches that might industry. For example, Ken Parks, Spotify’s
not be reached otherwise; as a result, consum- chief content officer, has worked with music
ers are willing to spend more time and money labels and other parties to develop new metrics
on the music industry (e.g., on the platform, at to measure customer engagement with artists
live events). This, in turn, increases the value and applications on the Spotify platform. By
for application developers, musicians, and nature of their diversity and specialization, the
labels as a whole. applications created by third-party developers
This strategy is working—Spotify’s paid help expose niche artists who might not oth-
membership in the United States increased erwise have a platform for their music. These
by 1 million in the past year, and since the types of actions demonstrate that the shaper
platform launch, US consumers have spent is committed to creating value for the entire
more than 23.7 million hours on Spotify ecosystem, rather than exploiting the other
applications, listening to music and engaging participants for its own gain.
with the content creators in new and unique Spotify has demonstrated the potential
ways.17,18 The platform not only makes Spotify’s to shape the music industry by describing
shaping vision possible; it is also an integral a compelling vision of the future of music,
piece of the vision. The ability to stream music introducing a platform to help realize this, and
anywhere requires a sophisticated infrastruc- signaling its commitment to developing this
ture and would not have been possible even vision in tandem with its broader ecosystem.
five years ago. When envisioning the company, As it continues to grow as a company, Spotify
Ek presupposed the existence of this architec- might find it useful to adopt a metrics that
ture and was one of the early music streaming matter strategy in order to drive adoption of
services to capitalize on its existence. He had a technologies or practices necessary to transi-
tion into a publicly traded company.
16
21. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
Pragmatic Pathway approaches
build on each other
A lthough we have suggested a maturity
model-type approach to identify where
to start with Pragmatic Pathways, this is only
so, it would not only improve the efficiency
of the organization, but also refine usage of
the technology or practice through a deeper
a loose guide to how they can be deployed. understanding of incentives for adoption.
Firms may begin in different places in the Additionally, the benefits that are activated on
cycle, and there is no strict order in which the edge would pull individuals and functions
Pragmatic Pathways should be undertaken—in in the core out to the edge when the company
fact, they are mutually reinforcing. recognizes the benefits from this new practice.
Let us take a hypothetical example to In effect, this method of diffusion can be used
demonstrate how the Pragmatic Pathways to transform the core from the outside in.
approaches can build upon each other. Imagine After scaling its edge vision and pulling the
if a cable provider were looking to update core out to meet that edge, the cable company
its traditional delivery methods to be more could realize it has the potential to disrupt and
aligned with the Big Shift. Rather than seek- shape its entire industry. At this stage, if the
ing a “big bang” change approach, such as a change agents have gained sufficient influence
large-scale acquisition, the firm could test its to align the entire organization, the company
ability to leverage its massive cable networks could begin pursuing a shaping strategy to
to deliver broadband Internet independently orchestrate the wider ecosystem of partici-
or through partnerships with several smaller pants to shape the evolution of that specific
companies. The company could rapidly pro- industry. One potential shaping view could
totype and test the viability of this edge with be to create audience-focused media chan-
its employees and customers in a manner nels, informed by a deep understanding of its
that limits up-front financial outlay while still customer segments. In this scenario, the firm
maintaining large potential benefits. could potentially orchestrate a broad range of
At the same time, the team in question third-party participants to provide its consum-
might identify a new technology or practice ers with access to content from a wide range
to increase the efficiency of operations for of sources beyond the firm’s traditional brands
the identified edge of these media companies. and partnerships.
For example, the cable provider could adopt a Throughout this example, you can see
rapid development approach, such as the Agile how the Pragmatic Pathways frameworks are
methodology, to develop and test new capabili- complementary and self-reinforcing; more-
ties. It could then pursue a metrics that matter over, they are an iterative cycle in which the
approach to strategically reinforce the adop- principles of each approach can be repeatedly
tion of that methodology and catalyze cascad- applied to empower companies to evolve and
ing adoption across the company. By doing match the rate of change of our world.
17
22. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
Your starting point
A s a change agent reading this article,
you are no doubt wondering which of
these change approaches is most suitable for
approach depends on what type of change your
company is aiming to achieve—whether it be
broad versus narrow change or internal versus
your specific company and situation. The right external change.
Figure 2. Pragmatic Pathways decision tree
Innovative company Shaping strategy
strongly aligned
with leadership
No
Previously successful
company under
increasing pressure,
No with divided
leadership
Traditional risk adverse
company locked into Yes
old technology
Scaling edges
Yes
Metrics that matter
Graphic: Deloitte University Press | DUPress.com
18
23. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
The following questions will help you assess which approach will be most helpful for you:
You may want to consider a metrics that matter strategy if you answer yes to the majority of the
following questions:
Is your company considering the deployment of a new, disruptive technology or
Yes/No
practice, but unsure how to best drive adoption?
Leadership
Does your company have a metric-driven culture with clear key operating and financial
Yes/No
metrics?
Risk appetite Is your company’s culture resistant to change? Yes/No
Are there specific pain points (e.g., exceptions to daily processes, bureaucracies
restricting external collaboration) in day-to-day operations that can be improved by Yes/No
adopting new technologies or deploying new practices?
Performance
priority Is your company locked into relatively old technologies (e.g., traditional ERP systems)
and eager to deploy new technologies to improve operational and/or financial Yes/No
performance?
You might want to consider a scaling edges approach if you answer yes to a majority of the
following questions:
Are you a change agent who is willing to test boundaries and work outside of the core
Yes/No
organization?
Leadership
Do you have a long-term vision of how fundamental shifts are affecting your industry or
Yes/No
market?
Do you see an opportunity in leveraging a broader ecosystem within your industry or
Risk appetite Yes/No
market to accelerate internal initiatives?
Are the core operations of your organization surviving but not thriving in a competitive
Yes/No
industry?
Performance
priority Can you identify a high-growth potential “edge” for your company, which is aligned
with changes in your business’s landscape and has the potential to eventually transform Yes/No
your entire organization?
You might want to consider a shaping strategy if you answer yes to a majority of the
following questions:
Do you have alignment around your organization’s strategy from the CEO through the
Yes/No
entire executive team on a vision that could change your industry?
Leadership
Can you clearly identify and articulate attractive opportunities for a wide range of
Yes/No
participants in your vision for your industry?
Are you an industry leader or disruptor with the conviction and capability to influence
Risk appetite Yes/No
the direction of the industry?
Does your view of the industry express a perspective on its long-term direction and
Yes/No
highlight how it could change?
Performance
priority
Can you create or provide a platform that can support a diverse set of participants and
Yes/No
offer opportunities to create value in many distinct niches?
19
24. Pragmatic Pathways New approaches to organizational change
The path forward
L arge-scale transformation is not an
easy process for an organization, but it is
becoming increasingly necessary if compa-
toward reaching a new state of being, firms
must worry about reaching a state of always
becoming, where they are able to meet new
nies are to escape today’s mounting pressures. challenges with conviction and courage rather
The Pragmatic Pathways framework provides than fear, and continuously evolve to overcome
companies with new approaches to change these challenges. In that pursuit, the reinforc-
that and take advantage of the fundamental ing nature of Pragmatic Pathways will help
shifts occurring across markets and industries. firms develop the capabilities and practices to
Instead of implementing transformation efforts succeed on their path to change.
For more information on Pragmatic Pathways, please visit our website at: www.deloitte.com/centerforedge
20
25. A report by the Deloitte Center for the Edge
Endnotes
1. M. Washington and M. Hacker, “Why 11. Larry Dignan, “Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos: Cloud
change fails: Knowledge counts,” Leader- services can be as big as retail business,” ZDNet,
ship and Organizational Development May 27, 2010, http://www.zdnet.com/blog/
Journal 26, no. 5 (2005): p. 400–411. btl/amazon-ceo-jeff-bezos-cloud-services-
2. “Amazon touts Pfizer and other wins in the can-be-as-big-as-retail-business/35111.
enterprise,” http://searchcloudcomputing. 12. Werner Vogels, “Amazon DynamoDB—
techtarget.com/news/1515748/Amazon-touts- From the Super Bowl to WeatherBug,” All
Pfizer-and-other-wins-in-the-enterprise. Things Distributed, June 21, 2012, http://
3. YCharts, “R&D Expense Rankings for Drug www.allthingsdistributed.com/2012/06/
Manufacturers,” http://ycharts.com/rankings/ amazon-dynamodb-growth.html.
industries/Drug%20Manufacturers%20-%20 13. Ibid.
Major/r_and_d_expense?s=calc&d=desc. 14. Alex Pham, “Spotify’s Daniel Ek and the
4. Jeremy Quittner, “A Pharma Giant Goes music ‘dinosaurs’,” Los Angeles Times, Febru-
a Little Bit Virtual,” Crain’s, June 6, ary 10, 2012, http://latimesblogs.latimes.
2010, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/ com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2012/02/
article/20100606/SUB/306069989. daniel-ek-spotify-grammy-keynote-
5. Megan Miller, Aliza Marks, and Marcelus entertainment-law-initiative.html.
DeCoulode, “Social Software for Business Per- 15. Guardian Technology Blog, “Spotify Apps
formance,” Deloitte Development LLC, 2011. Platform,” Guardian, March 6, 2012,
6. Jeremy Quittner, “A Pharma Giant Goes http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/
a Little Bit Virtual.” Crain’s, June 6, appsblog/2012/mar/06/spotify-apps-platform.
2010, http://www.crainsnewyork.com/ 16. Evolver.fm, “Spotify CEO Daniel Ek
article/20100606/SUB/306069989. Talks Royalties, Social and the Future,”
7. Derrick Harris, “How the Cloud Could Boost February 10, 2012, http://evolver.
Amazon’s Slow-Moving Margins,” gigaom, April fm/2012/02/10/spotify-ceo-daniel-ek-talks-
4, 2012, http://gigaom.com/cloud/how-cloud- royalties-social-and-the-future/.
computing-could-boost-amazons-margins/. 17. Ingrid Lunden, “Spotify by the Numbers:
8. Ibid. Now 5M Paying Subscribers, with 1M in the
US Alone; 20M Users Overall,” TechCrunch,
9. Werner Vogels, “How and Why did Amazon December 6, 2012, http://techcrunch.
get into the Cloud Computing Business,” com/2012/12/06/spotify-by-the-numbers-
Quora, September 10, 2010, http://www.quora. now-5m-paying-subscribers-with-1m-
com/Amazon/How-and-why-did-Amazon- in-the-u-s-alone-20m-users-overall/.
get-into-the-cloud-computing-business.
18. Hisham Dahud, “Spotify Releases U.S. Figures,
10. Ibid. Sees More Than 13 Billion Streams,” Hypebot,
July 23, 2012, http://www.hypebot.com/
hypebot/2012/07/spotify-releases-us-figures-
sees-more-than-13-billion-streams-.html.
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