{"id":12800,"date":"2018-07-13T11:00:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-13T19:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2018\/07\/13\/news-6567\/"},"modified":"2018-07-13T11:00:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-13T19:00:55","slug":"news-6567","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palada.net\/index.php\/2018\/07\/13\/news-6567\/","title":{"rendered":"The rise of the extended enterprise in today\u2019s digital economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Credit to Author: Jean-Pascal Tricoire| Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2018 14:18:24 +0000<\/strong><\/p>\n

The concept of an \u201cextended enterprise\u201d\u2014that is, a network of partner relationships\u2014is not new. A single company cannot operate successfully in a silo to serve its customers best. Instead, a successful corporation depends on an ecosystem of partnerships, including suppliers, system integrators, and innovation partners such as universities, startups, technology alliances, and more. For Schneider Electric, this extended enterprise ensures that Life Is On\"\u2122\" everywhere, for everyone, and at every moment.<\/p>\n

The concept of extended enterprise is rising today because of several converging factors:<\/p>\n

1. The world is becoming more local.<\/em><\/strong> Even as globalization strengthens, evolving localized needs are prompting the end of a \u201cone size fits all\u201d centralized approach. The key question then for multi-national corporations to answer is, \u201cHow will I address this variety of needs?\u201d<\/p>\n

2. The rapid rise of digital and ever-changing technologies calls for more agility and responsiveness<\/em><\/strong>. For better agility, large, incumbent MNCs now must be able to look beyond established industry boundaries in order to meet their customers\u2019 expectations. This transformation demands a new management style that nurtures digital talent, empowerment, an innovative spirit among employees, and ongoing learning. It also requires strong partnerships with startups, universities, developers, and system integrators to fuel an innovation ecosystem that can act fast, adapt permanently, and create market-relevant breakthroughs.<\/p>\n

3. Digital technologies that enable customer-centricity require more sharing and co-innovation.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0To solve specific customer problems and provide distinctive experiences. Instead of developing technologies in a vacuum, successful technology providers lead with the customer in mind, integrating their customers and their entire ecosystem in the co-innovation process.<\/p>\n

How are we forging an extended enterprise to leverage these digital sea changes?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Global yet local<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With widespread connectivity, global organizations can decentralize governance and operations by adopting a multi-hub, multi-connected extended enterprise approach. This ability to localize enables companies to remain close to customers and to the local ecosystem and, in turn, respond better to their tailored expectations. Customer centricity is the key differentiating factor, and it also requires an extended ecosystem to serve customers best\u2014one that can be enhanced through digital technologies.<\/p>\n

Schneider Electric in particular works closely with a vast ecosystem of more than 650,000 service providers and partners, 3,000 utilities, and 20,000+ developers and system integrators such as our EcoExpert\"\u2122\" partner MC2<\/sup><\/a> to create specific solutions for customers. And we are immersed in our 21-one stop Innovation Summit World Tour<\/a> to hear from thousands of customers about their challenges and how we can serve them better with our digital solutions.<\/p>\n

Agility and responsiveness <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In a world where co-innovation and customer-centricity are the new norm, it becomes critical for every company to leverage the brainpower, agility, and disruptive ability of a large ecosystem, to create competitive, innovative differentiation. Startups, which help address burning market needs, are one part of that ecosystem. Schneider Electric finances innovative firms in the fields of energy, IoT, cybersecurity, new materials, and the environment.<\/p>\n

Customer-centric digital innovation <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As I mentioned in my recent \u201cDisrupt or be disrupted\u201d blog post<\/a>, we advance co-innovation to scale our EcoStruxure\"\u2122\"<\/a> digital solutions to specific customer needs, leveraging our Digital Services Factory<\/a>. Our own extended ecosystem includes strategic alliances with technology leaders such as Microsoft, AWS, Salesforce, Accenture, Cisco, and Intel. This alliance approach, as evidenced by our collaboration with Microsoft, is helping us accelerate our customers\u2019 digital transformation, as recently discussed by our EVP of IoT & Digital Offers Cyril Perducat and Microsoft\u2019s General Manager of Manufacturing \u00c7a\u011flayan Arkan<\/a>. Through co-innovation, customers such as the machine builder Italpresse Gauss can transform their own business models and offer innovative maintenance and support services<\/a>.<\/p>\n