Digital Innovation Quotient

Digital Business Model – Data Capturing

To what extent do you capture data in the following functions?
For your answer, please consider data capturing related to the offering with the highest contribution to earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the last three years.
On a scale from 0-4, please specify the answer by selecting from the drop-down menu based on the following logic:

Why is this question important?

  • This question assesses and compares your firm’s ability to capture data from a variety of different sources with benchmarks.
  • Growing amounts of data are generated internally (e.g. documents, e-mail messages) and externally (e.g. internet, social media).
  • Data capturing provides valuable information – e.g. about competitors, the customers’ emotions for a firm’s offerings as well as recent trends and their inherent potential for innovation – and enables a better understanding of what works and what does not work across a firm’s functions. Therefore, it is a key enabler to enhance a firm’s offerings and processes.

How to answer this question?

Technical guidance

  • The value chain in this question consists of 10 functions which are grouped into four overarching categories:
    1. Customer experience
    2. Customer contact points
    3. Value generation and delivery
    4. Administration
  • Please note, that a broad definition for “operations” is used, including logistics.
  • For any of the functions listed, please consider how regularly data are being captured by your firm and to what degree the data capturing process is automated. As a reference, please consider data capturing related to the offering with the highest contribution to your firm’s earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) in the last three years where adequate. Data captured by your firm may have been generated by your firm or by external sources.
  • You may want to answer differently for different segments of your business. For instance, you may capture data on product usage by customers continuously and automatically for some products, regularly but manually for others. In this case, please chose the most conservative option that applies across the different segments.

Explanation of the functions

Category

Function

Explanation

Customer experience

Product or service usage by customer

Customer experience is the product of an interaction between your firm and a customer over the duration of their relationship. In particular, we focus on customer experience related to product or service usage.

Customer contact points

After-sales services

After-sales service is the service after the customer purchased the product. After-sales services include support, repair services, and product replacements.

Sales

Besides the sale of goods and services, “sales” includes the contact maintenance to customers.

Marketing

Marketing includes all those activities that make customers and potential customers aware of a firm’s offerings.

Value generation and delivery

Operations

Generally operations is concerned with converting materials and labor into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization. In this case operations also includes logistics, meaning the integration of information flow, material handling, packaging, inventory, transportation and warehousing.

Procurement and partner management

Procurement is the act of finding, acquiring and buying goods from an external source. It often involves purchase planning, standards determination, supplier research and selection, value analysis, price negotiation, supply contract administration and inventory control and stores.

Development

Development is the process to turn new ideas into successfully commercialised offerings (products, services or business models).

Administration

Finance

Finance is dealing with the sources of funding and the capital structure of a corporation.

HR

The Human Resources department engages with the determination of needs of the staff,

recruitment and training of employees, preparing employees records and personal policies and managing employees payrolls.

IT

An IT department is charged with establishing, monitoring and maintaining information technology systems and services.

How would it be answered in a case example?

Degree of analysis

Example Manufacturing

Example Service

1 – occasionally

E.g., in customer experience occasional data capture may include selectively documented customer feedback.

E.g., in after sales service occasional data capture may include the development of “frequently asked questions.”

2 – regularly, but manually

E.g., in procurement regular, but manual data capture may include lists of required materials, volumes, and prices.

E.g., in sales regular, but manual data capture may include manual bookings related to orders (including volumes, prices, and customers).

3 – regularly and automated

E.g., in operations regular and automated data capture may include standardised product quality tests with automated measurements on a regular basis

E.g., in sales regular and automated data capture may include a report on online payments in a web-shop.

4 – continuously and automated

E.g., in customer experience continuous and automated data capture may be driven by a product which is linked to the internet and continuously submits data on its usage – for instance a mobile phone.

E.g., in digital marketing continuous and automated data capture may include the use of software tools – for instance to track the number of website visitors and how they reached the website.