Related Expertise: Digital, Technology, and Data
The superhuman ability of bionic companies can be seen in their outperformance. Our research shows that companies utilizing bionic processes boost cash flow and enterprise value faster than other firms. These digitally enabled companies have outperformed before and during the COVID-19 crisis, and they continue to outperform in those areas where recovery has begun to occur.
Most bionic leaders today are digital natives, to which bionic processes come naturally. But more bionic companies can also be found in traditional industries. Incumbents are mounting successful and far-reaching digital transformations to reposition their competitive capabilities for a bionic future.
Many of the elements of bionic companies are well known: artificial intelligence, digital talent, and platform-based software and services, for example. But the formula for putting them all together is neither immediately evident nor easy to implement. We believe our approach to building bionic companies was an important factor in BCG’s being named a digital transformation services leader in the industry by Forrester Research. Companies that understand how to lead a bionic transformation can make rapid process and create substantial near-term value.
A Digital Transformation Leader
BCG was named a leader in digital transformation services by Forrester Research. Find out why in The Forrester Wave™: Digital Business Transformation Services, Q4 2020 report.
Here’s what bionic leaders do.
Several attributes distinguish bionic leaders. The first is a strong sense of purpose, which energizes and aligns the organization around what it is trying to achieve. The core competitive foundations of bionic leaders—such as value, differentiation, and advantage—are similar to those of traditional companies, but the strategies they use are digital first.
Bionic companies organize their human and technological capabilities around business outcomes—personalizing customer experiences, improving processes, and building new offers—and they move fast to achieve them. Truly bionic companies often have 30 to 50 essential processes working in this fashion.
Bionic companies use the progress toward outcomes to build their human enablers: digital talent and a platform organization. Bionic companies need employees who have design and technical skills and who are flexible, adaptable, and able to learn. The importance of collaboration and creative and critical thinking is paramount.These companies also require a very different organization model than the traditional management pyramid. Layers of approval are replaced by small, autonomous teams that are built and empowered to make decisions quickly. They are supported by platforms designed for scale so that everyone has access to the same data, technology, and resources.
The bionic company puts a modular technology stack fueled by data at the heart of the new organization. Bionic companies use AI to drive mass pattern recognition, inform predictions, enable exponential learning, and unlock the ability to make better, faster decisions. AI-powered insights enable business teams to innovate products and design better processes, which drives competitive advantage and top-line growth.
The modular tech stack’s architecture is layered, which liberates data and supports new technologies. The stack is adaptable, so it can be refined and updated easily. It is built off of APIs and microservices that enable rapid assembly and reconfiguration without overhauling the entire underlying system.
Explore the potential of the bionic company with BCG below.
Bionic companies require a new vision of the organization, and many leadership teams do have a clear-eyed view of the future. They understand that it is bionic, and they are moving fast in this direction. But companies need to fully rewire the human side of the organization as well as its technology and data. Becoming bionic requires a fundamental change to the organization that will take time. But the benefits begin to accrue quickly. Explore how companies pursue digital transformations.
Learn more about DigitalBCG and our approach to digital, technology, and data →
