MIT's Dr Weill presents on creating a vibrant digital ecosystem

One of Equinox IT's core values is 'knowledge exists to be shared'. So last week when we had Dr Peter Weill, Chair of the MIT Sloan Center for Information Systems Research (CISR) in Wellington, we got him to share his research findings on digital ecosystems at a free event hosted by Equinox IT together with the Wellington City Council.

The intent of the event was to provide valuable insight to IT professionals, business people and council members to help us all work towards making Wellington, along with the organisations that operate within our city, a digital success story.

Dr Weill is ranked in the top 25 most influential people in IT. The MIT CISR conducts field-based research on issues related to the management and use of information technology in complex organisations, and much of their recent research has focused on the digitisation of organisations and digital ecosystems. Find out what we mean by digital ecosystems in our blog post What is a digital ecosystem?

Creating a Vibrant Digital Ecosystem Presentation 
Dr Weill's presentation on digital ecosystems was thought-provoking and challenged existing thinking. The content was not speculation, but rather evidence from CISR research findings and real-world case studies. Some of the highlights included:

• Insight into the how digitisation is creating the next generation organisation
• The different business models to consider including suppliers, omnichannel businesses (e.g. Countdown), modular product / service producers (e.g. PayPal), and open ecosystem driver (e.g. Amazon)
• Given the Wellington city focus Dr Weill presented a case study of New York city and how through activities relating to access to the internet, encouraging digital engagement, open government data, innovative education models, and supporting digital organisations the city was moving from a 'supplier' model to an 'open ecosystem driver' model.
• Dr Weill also presented examples of how organisations in traditional verticals are using digitisation to experiment, allowing them to compete and change the landscape in different verticals. For example, Coles supermarket has become one of the largest retailers of insurance in Australia. France Telecom is offering mobile telephone enabled banking services in Africa with Orange Money. USAA has become a retailer of new cars by packaging a new car together with auto financing and insurance policies, all purchased online.
• Dr Weill concluded by showing how organisations will move from supply chain models to ecosystem models, how governments will need to play a role in driving ecosystems and that organisations need to start experimenting and generating 'breakthrough initiatives' for the future.

Equinox IT is the only New Zealand-owned IT consulting company to sponsor the MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR). We were excited to bring Dr Weill to New Zealand to inject thinking and to share knowledge on digital ecosystems.