Author Archives: ricardo.pauleta

For instance, automotive companies have integrated internet of things (IoT) sensors and data analytics into vehicles to offer smart and connected features, thus transforming traditional cars into intelligent, connected products. Even the healthcare industry, traditionally known for its conventional practices, has adopted digital transformation to launch new products and services such as telemedicine platforms, enabling remote patient consultations and digital health monitoring.

Other companies may stick to current products and services, but completely reshape the customer experience.

In the banking and finance sector, institutions are redefining customer experience through mobile banking apps and online platforms. Customers can now manage accounts, transfer funds, and access financial services wherever they are.

The same with Government and public services that are reshaping the way they interact with its citizens, by dematerialization and simplification of processes.

In this context, regardless of their industry, it is essential for all companies to establish a compelling digital presence through an inclusive corporate website that addresses accessibility, leaving no one excluded.

Transform how value is created

Digital transformation is often associated with efficiency improvements and cost reduction. Automation, artificial intelligence, and other digital tools are being used to streamline operations and reduce unnecessary costs. As companies become leaner and more agile, they can redirect resources toward more value-added activities.

For instance, robotic process automation (RPA) is being employed to automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks. This reduces the need for human intervention, thereby reducing operational costs. The savings can then be reinvested in research and development, product improvement, or further cost reductions, resulting in a positive feedback loop that enhances the company’s value proposition.

Digital transformation not only empowers the reshaping of processes but also enables this transformation to occur at an accelerated pace. Using digital tools, companies can swiftly create minimal viable products, gather consumer feedback more rapidly, and iterate product features. This approach involves working within an agile development process that minimizes risk and enhances the likelihood of success.

Deliver change

Finally, despite all the disruptive potential of digital tools compared to others in history, tools remain tools, to be ultimately used by humans. This implies that all digital transformation will primarily involve people. As much as there is currently an advocacy for change and a desire for agile organizations, the truth is that this change is not inherent to human beings (not even in physics, for that matter).

The natural tendency is to maintain the status quo. Breaking away from this inertia creates significant discomfort within the organization. Therefore, all digital transformation initiatives or others should be accompanied by change management projects and the requalification of individuals. The transformation in the way companies create value through digital means will only be complete by engaging and retraining people to actively contribute to the process through organization-wide change management projects and the use of digital tools as instruments of this change, such as intranets and corporate portals.

In conclusion, digital transformation is not just a buzzword; it’s the key to the future of value creation in business.

It is a journey that companies must embark upon to remain competitive in today’s rapidly changing business landscape. Those who embrace this transformation and harness its potential will find new avenues of value creation that were once unimaginable in the analog era. Digital transformation isn’t merely a technological shift; it’s a revolution that touches every aspect of a company, from its products and services to its relationship with customers and partners. It will continue to blur the lines between industries, reshape business models, and create new opportunities for those who are willing to adapt and innovate.

By Hugo Dias & Pedro Lima

Nevertheless, the prevalence of this message is not matched by a commensurate call to action. This discrepancy can be attributed primarily to two responses: first, some believe their traditional industries are immune to the digital shift, and second, others who are willing to embrace the change often find themselves paralyzed by uncertainty, not knowing the next steps to take.

The ubiquity of the transformation

Throughout history, transformative technologies have played a pivotal role in shaping human progress. From our prehistoric ancestors who ingeniously created tools to craft new ones, we have been deeply engaged in a process of continuous improvement. This journey has led to significant advancements, including the culmination of the steam engine and the industrial revolution, which brought about revolutionary changes across various industries. These innovations primarily enhanced our physical capabilities, making us stronger, faster, and more accurate. They enabled increased worker productivity, the construction of larger buildings or significantly faster travel.

In contrast, digital transformation represents a departure from this incremental innovation. It has brought about a radical shift by transcending the constraints imposed by the physical world. Unlike their industry-specific predecessors, digital tools possess a transversal nature, impacting all aspects of society: they empower us to transcend the limitations typically imposed by analog methods.

Understanding the starting point

Companies thrive because of their inherent capability to create value for their customers, a feat accomplished through a complex interplay of processes and the use of resources. They then capture a portion of this created value to offset their operational costs and to generate profit.

Digital transformation may revolutionize how companies create value in two fundamental ways: by reshaping how value is generated or by redefining their core value proposition.

In the case of new companies, they have the advantage of defining their value proposition and crafting the means to create it while fully integrating the digital era as a fundamental tool from the outset. This proactive approach enables them to embrace the potential of digital technologies seamlessly and operate in a digitally native manner.

However, for established companies, transformation needs a different approach. They must first undergo an internal transformation before aiming to reshape their market impact or fight newcomers. This journey involves two additional steps: understanding the starting point and instilling an organizational culture that welcomes change.

Redefining the value proposition is a foundational element, requiring a revision of strategic plans and the formulation of an overarching vision that will serve as a guiding beacon for future decisions.

Equally essential is comprehending how value is currently being created. Only with clear and unified visibility into their processes (for instance, through Business Process Modeling) and how the organization is set to serve the client, can they pave the way for optimization in the digital era.

With the right diagnostic, it is possible to apply the overarching benefits of digital transformation to each case.

Know more, on part II.

By Hugo Dias & Pedro Lima

How to succeed and innovate in a VUCA* environment?

The Global Strategic Innovation – GSI program allows you to join executives from around the world for five days of immersion in the Bay Area (San Francisco and Silicon Valley) – the world’s leading ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship – to better understand what is shaping the trends, explore strategies, solutions and partners to build the future of your company.

A truly transformational journey, this is five intense days of immersion in the Bay Area culture; with visits to innovation champions, incubators and accelerators, interactions with experts, entrepreneurs and visionaries, complemented by several networking sessions. The program is composed of five thematic sessions focused on improving essential skills for executive development.

The GSI covers complementary development axes, including the improvement of strategic innovation capabilities (interactive sessions with LBC, experts, entrepreneurs and professors from Stanford University and Berkeley); the benchmarking of business solutions and best practices in innovation (with interactive visits to leading companies such as Salesforce, Plug and Play, Mastercard, PayPal, SHACK15, among others); exploring opportunities to accelerate business models (through meetings with start-ups, venture capital firms and business angels, incubators such as The Vault, Plug and Play, RWLabs, Schoolab, among others); and participating in a unique networking network (enhanced by sessions with entrepreneurs, investors, experts and local managers, in addition to inclusion in an alumni network with participants from all editions).

According to Vera Oliveira, talent development manager at LBC, with several years of experience in conducting GSI programs, “the satisfaction level of the participants is very high, because the immersive experience has a great transformational impact on each executive”. Additionally, “the personal and direct interactions with a wide range of experts and peers is a huge asset”.

Register now to take advantage of the early bird discount. Places are limited.

*We have customized packages for companies and adjusted to their strategic objectives.

*VUCA: four key words: Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity.

The challenge that small and medium-sized businesses experience in shifting to new and next-generation manufacturing processes is the harsh reality of today’s competitive corporate environment. Restructuring takes time and effort that could be otherwise spent on developing or maintaining business operations.

To face this challenge, these companies heavily rely on digitalization, automation, and cloud solutions which are the fundamental and possibly most significant notions to apply.  Many people are starting to realize that industry 4.0 will not only boost their position but will also revolutionize how firms operate in the near future.

The global pandemic we all lived in the past couple of years is ending and most firms are starting to return to their routine and “old” levels of productivity. Although, some companies are registering no difference whatsoever compared to last year, and it’s not due to a lack of motivation or refusal to come back to the office, but because during the more stagnated periods of confinement they saw an opportunity to automate and digitalize their processes, effectively eliminating remote work constrains and streamlining tasks which freed resources to focus on other areas.

Industry 4.0 is not a plan to ensure the survival of European manufacturing companies in the face of low-wage competition from other developing nations, as many people believe. Instead, it’s a shift to next-generation manufacturing technologies that will accelerate globalization, particularly for small and medium-sized businesses. I4.0 will create digital networks and ecosystems that in many cases will span the globe but will still retain distinct regional footprints, and both developed and developing markets stand to gain dramatically. This concept enables, for example, a machine in Germany to freely interact with machines in Asia and other parts of the world. This is especially critical for small and medium-sized businesses that rely on others to develop efficient ecosystems. Through selective partnerships, individuals in B2C are moving closer to B2B manufacturing as they can now have direct control over logistics and equipment overseas without the costly investment necessary in the past.

As a result, suppliers are undergoing restructuring with the goal of growing digital technologies in order to help clients become even more productive and sustainable. This growing movement is set to increase in the coming years and will allow more firms to have a bigger reach in the early stages of development as tailored production is now easier and cheaper than ever before.

Sean Randolph, Senior Director, Bay Area Council Economic Institute, author of the Innovation Platform Report: The Future of Global Technology and Innovation Collaboration in the San Francisco/Silicon Valley Bay Area

The event included 3 panel roundtables with a variety of leaders from Consulates, incubators and accelerators as well as venture capital firms and research centers. The report researched whether the Covid pandemic had negatively impacted the presence of foreign representation in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

While the pandemic saw most countries and foreign entities temporarily closing down their physical offices in 2020 and into 2021, a lot of them adapted and went virtual, or ended up offering a hybrid model of operation.  The key takeaways of the presentation of the report for LBC were the following:

• The majority of foreign centers have reopened in 2022 with a number increasing their activity in the San Francisco Bay Area.
• The core mission of the foreign presence remains unchanged: even though other locations across the US and the world have grown in significance, they believe the San Francisco Bay Area will remain the premier global center for innovation and the place where the script for Digitalization is being written.
• Many Consulates have now appointed “Tech Ambassadors” to their outposts in the San Francisco Bay Area. This move reflects the belief that digitalization and tech trends are still largely initiated here. Capturing these trends and momentum can help countries and start-ups form strategies and craft policies to help promote and better manage technology.
• Until now the European Union has been represented on a rotating basis by the Consuls General of European nations already represented in the region. In the Fall of 2022, the European Union will open a full time, professionally-staffed office in San Francisco. It appears this will be the only global office for the European Union outside a Capital city.

The report found that while the pandemic certainly paused activity of globally headquartered operations in the San Francisco Bay Area there is a resurgence of activity in 2022. The world of venture capital and unicorns has become more evenly distributed which is a good thing for start-ups and local ecosystems. LBC has witnessed the growth of other ecosystems where we are present: namely in Portugal where there has been a healthy growth of start-ups, in 2015 there was just one Portuguese unicorn in Farfetch. There are now 7.

However, the status of the San Francisco Bay Area as a global hub for technology development and innovation process remains strong. The Bay Area continues to have a significant volume of founders, lawyers, investors that have successfully failed and succeeded in scaling companies. It still has a concentration of leading universities, fueling the talent pool, encouraging risk taking and entrepreneurship and the creation of new companies.

And this is still a place where you can meet a founder from Europe and in the same day, or at the same event, meet several others from far flung places like India or Japan. With their presence in the Bay Area and focus on Innovation, Tech scouting and near shore, LBC is witnessing and contributing to the re-opening of Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, participating with the likes of Axis Innovation and MasterCard, EDP and the Pasha Group to connect to thought leaders in Silicon Valley.

About LBC:

LBC is a boutique management and innovation consulting and digital transformation firm focused on high quality engagements. LBC has an offering specific to Innovation which is captured under our Global Strategic Innovation Programs. We’ve produced 37 immersion programs in Silicon Valley, involving more than 500 executives from several countries. Our next Global Strategic Innovation program will run from the 10^th to the 14^th October.