Wolfgang Thiel: Information Advantage
Wolfgang Thiel is a senior partner and managing director in BCG's Cologne office. He is a senior member of BCG's Information Technology practice area, which he led for four years until 2010.
Wolfgang became a BCG fellow in 2011, and his research topic is information advantage.
The digital economy is transforming the business world. Four key drivers are causing dramatic shifts in the digital ecosystem:
The wide-spread penetration and evolution of smart mobile devices
Ubiquitous social networking and user-generated content
On-demand, universal, and real-time access to computing power and unlimited storage (cloud)
The convergence between the "real" and the "virtual" world
All of this is leading to a shift in the balance of power between consumers, customers, and companies. Consumers are becoming more powerful, with greater ability to gather and process information, connect, and voice opinions. Companies can build new sources of competitive advantage by leveraging vast new, increasingly rich and dynamic sources of information. Building information advantage goes far beyond analytics and requires feedback loops for continuous, rapid learning and collaboration across the organizational boundaries within enterprises and beyond.
A specific issue of focus will be the issues that CIOs need to focus on in order to play and win in this rapidly changing world:
Understanding where in the value chain the digital economy impacts most
Using increasing rich data to improve operations, gain insight, and foster decisions
Transforming the IT architecture to cope with the rapid uptake of new digital ecosystems and devices
Creating fast organizational learning loops and agile environments for solution delivery
Using open innovation in the large applications development communities
Deciding on the information services that may be offered to customers
At BCG, Wolfgang's consulting experience has focused on helping define and implement high-performance IT organizations for large multinationals in a wide range of industries. He works with CIOs and senior executives to create alignment on IT and business strategies for competitive success and value creation.
Wolfgang holds a master's degree in mathematical economics from the University of Ulm, a master's degree in econometrics from Paris Dauphine, and a PhD in economics (summa cum laude) from the University of Karlsruhe.