Kent’s theorem
A theorem providing a basis for digital strategies for business
During a project at work, we were given a task on how a given industry could go digital via a disruptive or transformative path, and we quickly agreed upon a theorem provided by one of our team members, Kent Andersen. We liked it so much, that we coined it “Kent’s theorem”.
“Kent’s theorem” is a theorem about how businesses have to transform to be prepared for the digital world:
Companies have to fix their problems in pace of innovation. Continues improvement demands basic agreement between IT and business. Embracement of new technology, R&D, user centered product development and minimizing of technical debt. The goal for digitalization gives a starting point for small initiatives. Those initiatives give value to existing projects or, in best case, replaces existing products (solutions). An example of this could be mobile banks (app).
What this refers to, is that companies that for years have been doing what they always have been doing, tries to innovate by repeating them selves and copy the competitors, eventually leading up to the point where they are copying themselves. The companies have to find small initiatives that could pull them closer to the future vision of complete digitalization, instead of creating initiatives that is buried in the “Continuous Improvement-bog”, that eventually will drag the production and innovation to a full stop.
We can simplify this meaning into the phrase: “Innovation jump”.
To ellaborate on the example given in “Kent’s theorem”, the mobile bank app, instead of letting that product drop down to the “Continous Improvement-bog”, the more digitalised approach would be to fine tune that initiative, making it a magnet for other projects to pull towards. This should eventually lead to the finalisation of the projects in the “bog”, resulting in a clean new ecosystem for the new digitalised company.
Originally published at phun-ky.net on September 22, 2015.
