Some Lessons For Enterprise From Startup Culture

Extracted from Re/Code “Big Tech Is Going Down” with my comments in brackets. “The pace and nature of change in the core underlying technologies, product development, selling models and buying […]

Extracted from Re/Code “Big Tech Is Going Down” with my comments in brackets.

“The pace and nature of change in the core underlying technologies, product development, selling models and buying models will undermine the historical Big Tech advantages.”

“Post-merger integrations often fail.” (Note: Because the focus tends to be on financial analysis pre-M&A. Rarely is there any Business or Technology architecture analysis beforehand.)

‘Many Big Tech companies have allowed their innovation muscle to deteriorate. So they must acquire, not only for growth, but for bringing in talent and technologies to help them meet customer needs and expectations.” (Note: At my workplace, News Corp, our entire digital division ceases our normal duties to participate in quarterly 54 hour hackathon/ innovation events. That’s serious investment!)

“The nature of emerging technologies and pace of their adoption is foreboding. Mobile-first design, cloud and services infrastructure, and SAAS-oriented applications that are updated on monthly or less upgrade cycles, are becoming the norm. Younger companies have been listening to customers, embracing innovation and developing compelling solutions in these areas.

“The best new companies are highly analytical about how every aspect of customer cultivation and nurturing works, and deploy specific campaigns and programs at key trigger points to win or upsell a customer.”

“Revenue recognition and cash-flow patterns are materially impacted by shifting from the traditional “license plus maintenance” model to a “subscription and renewal” model.”

‘It is just much harder to listen to the market and react nimbly when you are a $50-billion+ market-cap company with 25,000 or more employees.” (Note: Only if your culture and architecture are wrong. Enterprise architecture should be fostering lean product development and developing discrete, reusable capabilities to allow low-cost, rapid adaptation. When Darwin said survival of the fittest he actually meant survival of the best adapted. So everything should be driven by speed to adapt and a closed feedback loop to test & learn. This is basic viable systems theory. If you are operating in a complex, adaptive market, your business must be at least equally as adaptive.)

 

 

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Tags: , business architecture, , lean, startup

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Enterprise Architect