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{{DISPLAYTITLE: Importance of an Agile Enterprise}}
== Why the ‘Agile Enterprise’ is so important ==
In the past years the term “Agile” has attracted signification attention across industry and academia. There are a number of ways in which agile concepts are being applied to various enterprise disciplines and industry verticals such as agile software development, agile project management, agile supply chain, agile manufacturing, agile service management, agile process management and the list goes on. Nonetheless, today, organizations are wishing to apply such agile principles to much more specific enterprise concepts, from planning, transformation, innovation, value ideas, business model concepts as well as their business architecture views.

Before we, however, are jumping on all the good details of the agile enterprise, it is important to understand why so many organizations need to consider applying the concepts. What drives the “Agile Enterprise”? What are the building blocks or principles underlying enterprise agility? What does it mean to apply agile principles within an enterprise? What is the difference between agile and traditional non-agile ways of working? Why do Enterprise independent of industry or business model need to consider the discussed approaches? I would like to provide precise and practical answers to these fundamental questions.

=== Understanding the changes in the market ===
It should not be a surprise for many to hear that the market, consumers and even entire industries are changing in a faster rate than ever before. With the technological adaption of consumers and the organizations, we stand on the brink of a technological revolution that will fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another.

In its scale, scope, and complexity, the transformation will be unlike anything humankind has experienced before. We do not yet know just how it will unfold, but one thing is clear: the response to it must be integrated and comprehensive, involving all stakeholders of the global polity, from the public and private sectors to academia and civil society. The changes organizations are going through is driven by the market and industry changes that are happening.

If we look at it from an historic perspective:
#The First Industrial Revolution used water and steam power to mechanize production.
#The Second used electric power to create mass production.
#The Third used electronics and information technology to automate production.
#Now, the Fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres.

There are three reasons why today’s transformations represent not merely a prolongation of the Third Industrial Revolution but rather the arrival of a Fourth and distinct one: velocity, scope, and systems impact. As illustrated in figure 1, which was presented at the Keynote at the World Trade Symposium on ‘Mastering the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ and is based on the Global University Alliance research, the speed of current change through breakthroughs has no historical precedent of earlier industrial revolutions. When compared with previous industrial revolutions, the Fourth is evolving at an exponential rather than a linear pace. Moreover, it is disrupting almost every industry in every country. And the breadth and depth of these changes herald the transformation of entire systems of production, management, and governance.

[[File:Why the ‘Agile Enterprise’ is so important - Figure 1.png|thumb|800px|left|alt=Figure 1: The four phases of the industrial revolution and the innovation potential.|Figure 1: The four phases of the industrial revolution and the innovation potential.]]

We see these changes everywhere happening. Who would have thought that we would have a fully electric self driving car? Tesla Motors, Inc. with their innovative technology adaption made it happen. We can’t deny it anymore, it is everywhere, artificial intelligence is all around us, from smart phones you can talk to, smart fridges, smart TVs, smart virtual assistants and software that translate or invest to advanced drones with built-in intelligence.

Impressive progress has been made in AI in recent years, driven by exponential increases in computing power and by the availability of vast amounts of data, from software used to discover new drugs to algorithms used to predict our cultural interests. Digital fabrication technologies, meanwhile, are interacting with the biological world on a daily basis. One of the reasons that this innovation is happening is that contrary to earlier industry revolution cycles, progressing from one cycle to the next, doesn’t require all the components to be changed. For example, from working manual to apply ‘water and steam power’ requires 100% change of hardware as well as the way of working.

Immense changes in the hardware are needed to go from ‘water and steam’ to ‘electrical power’ (see figure 1). The same is to the step of the third industrial revolution of automation, which was based on the electronics and information technology to automate production. Also there the change of technology is immense. However, the fourth Industrial Revolution is building on the Third, the digital revolution that has been occurring since the middle of the last century therefore needs much lesser change in the organizations. Since it is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres, the adaption will be faster.

As demonstrated in Figure 2, the convergence between the physical, digital, and biological trends, fuels the individual innovation cycles and combined provide an exponential innovation and thereby change in the market.

[[File:Why the ‘Agile Enterprise’ is so important - Figure 2.png|thumb|800px|left|alt=Figure 2: A high-level overview of the he innovation cycles of Industry 4.0.|Figure 2: A high-level overview of the he innovation cycles of Industry 4.0.]]

Like the revolutions that preceded, the Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to raise global income levels and improve the quality of life for populations around the world. To date, those who have gained the most from it have been consumers able to afford and access the digital world; technology has made possible new products and services that increase the efficiency and pleasure of our personal lives. Ordering a pizza, booking a flight, buying a product, making a payment, listening to music, watching a film, or playing a game - any of these can now be done remotely.

We are already seeing that the technological innovation is also leading to a supply-side miracle, with long-term gains in efficiency and productivity. Transportation and communication costs will drop, logistics and global supply chains will become more effective, and the cost of trade will diminish, all of which will open new markets and drive economic growth. Engineers, designers, and architects are combining computational design, additive manufacturing, materials engineering, and synthetic biology to pioneer a symbiosis between microorganisms, our bodies, the products we consume, and even the buildings we inhabit.

What we are experiencing in the market is that the innovation cycles of the new trends are staring to merge and totally new concepts and solutions are emerging. For example, we see that a long discussed trend of the smart cities is being connected to multiple individual trends that have their own innovation cycles, such as smart energy, smart transport, smart manufacturing as well as smart economy. These innovation cycles are again connected to other developing markets, such as the smart buildings, smart drugs, smart healthcare etc. The convergence between the physical, digital, and biological trends are triggering multiple innovation cycles that as illustrated in figure 3 are connected across multiple touch points.

[[File:Why the ‘Agile Enterprise’ is so important - Figure 3.png|thumb|800px|left|alt=Figure 3: The convergence of trends fuels the exponential innovation.|Figure 3: The convergence of trends fuels the exponential innovation.]]

An underlying theme when talking to senior executives is that the acceleration of innovation and the velocity of disruption are hard to comprehend or anticipate and that these drivers constitute a source of constant surprise, even for the best connected and most well informed. Indeed, across all industries, there is clear evidence that the technologies changes are having a major impact on businesses.

Some of these changes are consumer driven, where individuals want “Smart Living”, which includes both connected when needed as well as information when needed. But it can also include entertaining, leisure as well as the need to have independence through technology enablement.

The consumers are expecting more advanced “Smart Buildings”, that are connected, internet enabled and connected lightning, thermostats, HVAC, presence sensor, lockers, actuators, meters and even smart plugs. This on the other side is driven the utility organizations to push towards “Smart Energy” concepts with connected and internet enabled electric grid, voltage and power sensors, meters and breakers as well as faults detection.

The “Smart Consumer” is however also influencing organizations to move towards a digital transformation, have Individual production and services and enable consumer triggered crowd purchases. We see the innovation drivers across multiple industries and in numerous fields.

From “Smart Manufacturing”, that has advanced automation, digital infrastructure, data-driven operations, flexible operation, decentralized control, and collaborative network. All to enable smart products, solutions and services. There is actually no industry untouched even those industries that are more technology change resistant, such as governments, where through the citizens they are pushed towards “Smart Cities”, that have connected communities, better monitoring and security and improved traffic control. Even lighting and water management are influenced.

As voters we are even expecting politicians to use the technology for a ‘Smart Planet”. We are expecting automatic water and power leak detection, with environmental sensor as well as pollution and weather monitoring. All to bring us to a more sustainable environmental friendly planet.

We are also expecting “Smart Healthcare” that have up-to-date connected bio sensors, probes, monitoring systems. Even the healthcare services are influenced where we expect automated and self service systems. We even expect remote health care enabled solutions.

The “Smart Industry” with interrelated production control, interconnected and smart robotics as well as coupled security, actuators and even smart lighting is driving change. We have now illustrated how the innovation cycles are interacting to drive change in multiple industries and while we because of space can’t list all forces, trends and drivers, here are few that are cross industry specific:

'''Smart Economy'''
*Digital economy, block-chain
*Security, global trading
*Crowdfunding and investment

'''Smart Transport'''
*ITS, HEVs and Evs
*Electronic mobility
*High speed trains

'''Smart Supply Chain'''
*Extreme connectivity, digital infrastructure
*Data-driven operations, agile operations
*System integration, decentralized control
*Collaborative network

On the supply side, many industries are seeing the introduction of new technologies that create entirely new ways of serving existing needs and significantly disrupt existing industry value chains. As a matter of fact, these discussed mega trends when adapted to the right way and both incorporated into and organizations service model and value model. It can disrupt an existing market and value network so much, that it can displace established market leaders and alliances.

'''Document''': [[Media:Why the ‘Agile Enterprise’ is so important.pdf|Download the Why the ‘Agile Enterprise’ is so important document]]

[[Category: Agile]]

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