Building Digital Ecosystem Architectures

Digital technologies are revolutionizing the business world – challenging existing practices
and enabling a new generation of business models.

Business in the Digital Economy is an accessible new series of books that tackles the
business impacts of technology and the emerging digital economy. Aimed at non-technical,
mid–senior executives and business managers, this series will help inform choices and guide
decision-making on all major technological trends and their implications for business.

Series editors: Alan Brown and Mark Thompson

Available titles:

Predictive Analytics, Data Mining and Big Data

Steven Finlay
9781137379290

Building a Digital Enterprise

Mark Skilton
9781137477705

Series ISBN: 9781137395245

Building Digital
Ecosystem
Architectures
A Guide to Enterprise Architecting
Digital Technologies in the Digital
Enterprise

Mark Skilton
Professor of Practice, Warwick Business School, UK
© Mark Skilton 2016
© Foreword Allen Brown 2016
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2016 978-1-137-55410-9
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2016 by
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For Linda, Claire, Emma, and David.
Contents

List of Figures and Tables x

Foreword xiii
Preface xvi
Acknowledgments xviii
About the Author xxi
Notes on Contributors xxii
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms xxiii
Book Structure xxx
Disclaimer xxxiii

Introduction 1
Practitioners in the Digital Era 1
Architecture Practice 2
System of Systems Integration 3
Value Network Analysis and Social Graphs 6
Semantics and Contextualization 7
Changing Architecting Paradigm 8
New Worlds in Motion 10
Crossing the Rubicon – the Digital Continuum 10
New Architecture Practices for the Digital World 14
Introduction Summary 24
Part I Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems
1 Trends of Technological Ecosystems 27
Chapter Introduction 27
The Connected Enterprise 28
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 Contents

ii
vi
The Rise of Technological Ecosystems 31
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 1: The Information
Ecosystems 32
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 2: Technology
in the Supply Chain Network 33
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 3: Advanced Technology
Transformation Engineering 39
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 4: Open and Proprietary
Technology and Platforms 42
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 5: Technology
in the Workplace 43
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 6: Enterprise
Vendor Technologies 44
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 7: Privacy,
Confidentiality, Security, and Trust 45
The Practitioners’ Digital Enterprise Technology Constituency 48
Chapter Summary 49
2 Digital Workspace Concepts 50
Chapter Introduction 50
The Human–Machine Interface 51
The Semiotics Ladder 53
Contextualization of Objects, Places, and Actions 59
The Digital User Experience (UX) and
Customer Experience (CX) 62
Enterprise Software Practice Evolution 68
Evolution of Software Techniques – Toward “Digital
Convergence” 70
Fourth-Generation Software Developments
and Techniques 72
Fifth-Generation Software Developments and Techniques 74
Data Analytical Software Developments and Techniques 76
Digital Workspaces 79
Digitization Transformation Viewpoint Perspectives 81
Spatial Field of Information View 83
Semantic Field of Information View 84
Temporal Information Field of View 86
 Contents

ix
Convergence of Digitization in Physical and
Virtual Space and Time 87
Transformation of Physical Workplaces to Virtual
Workspaces by Digitization 89
Definition of Digital Workspaces from an Ecosystem
Perspective 89
Definition of Digital Workspaces from a Human Perspective 91
Design of Digital Workspaces 93
Digital Workspaces as Digital Platforms 97
The Next Technological Era 101
Chapter Summary 102

Part II Designing the Digital Enterprise

3 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise 105
Chapter Introduction 105
Example of a Digital Business Model Using
Digital Workspaces 105
Modeling Digital Solutions in Enterprise Architecture 113
Architecting a Digital Workspace Example 117
Example 1 – Digital Hospitality Enterprise
Architecture Model 122
Example 2 – Digital Retail Enterprise Architecture Model 123
Example 3 – Connected Car Digital Enterprise
Architecture Model 124
Design Practices in Digital Enterprise 126
Modular Scalable Multi-Sided Platforms 126
Competition Moving to Ecosystem Level 128
The Rise of Ecosystem Architecture 129
The Future of Intelligent Workspaces 131
Digital Workspaces Pattern Catalog Example 132
Conclusion 134
Chapter Summary 141

Notes 142
International Technical and Business Standards Bodies
and Suggested Further Reading 149
Index 150
List of Figures and Tables

Figures

i.1 Early system of systems concepts 4

1.1 Examples of technological ecosystems viewpoints 32
1.2 The shift of time and space by advanced technology
engineering transformations 40
1.3 Advanced technology transformations changing
workspace capabilities 41
1.4 PCST model of digital privacy 46
2.1 Human–machine boundaries 52
2.2 Semiotics ladder 54
2.3 Evolution of information theory 58
2.4 Software and hardware development techniques 72
2.5 Fields of view PEC – physical, extended,
contextual – model 80
2.6 Field of view of an STC – spatial, temporal,
contextual – model 82
2.7 Spatial views of view 83
2.8 Spatial information field of view 84
2.9 Physical data, metadata, and hyperdata 85
x
 List of Figures and Tables

xi
2.10 Semantic information field of view 85
2.11 The present now, pasts, and futures 86
2.12 Temporal information field of view 87
2.13 Convergence of digitization in physical and virtual
space and time 88
2.14 Digital workspace 90
2.15 Definition of digital workspaces 94
2.16 Digital workspaces as platforms 98
3.1 Smart hospitality – digital experience strategies 110
3.2 Smart hospitality – digital delivery strategies 111
3.3 ArchiMate® notations symbol examples 113
3.4 Technical reference model concept 114
3.5 ArchiMate® example of the technical reference model for
an application model 115
3.6 Enterprise architecture basic framework 116
3.7 Experience mediation role example 117
3.8 Example of connected guest digital workspace 118
3.9 Modular, scalable, generative digital workspace 119
3.10 An eHotel digital enterprise architecture model example 120
3.11 An eRetail digital enterprise architecture model example 122
3.12 A connected car digital enterprise architecture example 124
3.13 Modularity and platform as a core practice
for digital enterprise architecture 127
3.14 Competition has moved to the ecosystem level 129
3.15 Ecosystem architecture continuum 130
3.16 The role of clusters and the emergence of
ecosystem architecture 131
3.17 Transaction touchpoints to experience touchpoints 135
 List of Figures and Tables

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3.18 Toward digital ecosystems 136
3.19 Digital enterprise with PEC and STC views 138
3.20 Designing digital workspaces that drive digital value 140

Tables

i.1 Network topologies 12

i.2 Spectrum frequency – device receiver and transmission
network protocols 12
1.1 Examples of information and physical domain
ecosystem mappings 34
1.2 Examples of physical to virtual supply chain processes 37
1.3 Advanced technology engineering transformation 41
2.1 What is the context of “a hot cup of coffee”? 60
2.2 Space, time, context example definitions 63
2.3 Digital knowledge platform examples 99
2.4 Digital contextual augmentation platform examples 99
2.5 Digital transit platform examples 99
2.6 Digital personal/business community platform examples 100
2.7 Digital room/facility platform examples 100
2.8 Digital object platform examples 101
3.1 Hospitality operational versus customer outcomes 107
3.2 Example of digital workspaces patterns catalog 133
Foreword

Over the past century, technology – primarily in the form of computing

systems – has evolved at a pace never before seen in human history. These
changes have not only made life simpler for most people, but have also
brought great convenience and immediacy to everyday activities. One need
only to consider our new-found dependence on smartphones – devices that
barely existed before the iPhone was introduced less than ten years ago in
2007 – to realize just how rapidly technology is changing our lives.

The new digital landscape has also pervaded nearly every system and
organization across the globe. Despite the simplicity digitalization has
brought to business processes and structures, the technology systems
themselves have become increasingly complex over time. This is
particularly true in large enterprises, which now require entire buildings
placed strategically across globe to maintain the company “infrastructure.”

To better manage these systems, enterprise architecture emerged over

the past 30 years as a discipline and profession that provided a necessary
bridge between the IT department and the business. It has been adopted
by companies, partnerships, government departments and agencies,
charities and non-profit organizations: in effect, every type of organization
that exists.

Enterprise architecture addresses the complexity of information technology

systems and the need to integrate new capabilities with the existing
legacy in heterogeneous environments. Initially enterprise architecture was
justified as a cost-saving tool. It soon moved to being recognized, not only
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 Foreword

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as a means to control cost but also to enable new capabilities. Now it is
becoming a critical business discipline, alongside other essential business
functions such as accounting, finance, legal, or marketing, no matter
whether the business is a commercial organization, a government agency
or, as in the case of The Open Group, a not-for-profit enterprise.

Every organization that exists today has become its own system with a
mission (whether explicit or implicit), people, processes, technology and
ecosystem of partners, each of which are constantly changing at an ever
increasing pace and becoming more and more complex in their own right.
As such, many enterprises today are being inundated with the digitization
of their business models: products and services, processes, changing costs,
revenue and profit models, new subscription and incremental models in
capital expenditure and operating expenses, new operating value chains
and shifting market position and channels. Boundaryless Information
Flowtm, the vision of The Open Group, conceived over a decade ago by our
members, is even more of a business imperative today, from the macro-
scale of connected markets and nations to the micro-economy of trading,
social media and personalized mobile services and wearables.

That vision also recognized the need for information to be secure, reliable
and timely. Today, new cyber threats and challenges, together with new
opportunities for e-commerce have created the need for trade-offs in the
flow of information among and between organizational systems, the need
for new global standards, and the need to minimize regulation, which by
definition is bound by geo-political constraints.

As the march toward digitization has gained momentum, some organizations

have become trapped by their brand (how they are perceived), by their
culture (how they think), by their processes (how they get things done), or
by their technology (in both what they make and the tools they have) and
have become the victims of significant shifts in their industry. These are the
areas where enterprise architecture can help organizations adapt to this new
landscape.

As with any discipline, enterprise architecture also must evolve to meet the
needs of the digital economy. Like other professional disciplines, enterprise
 Foreword

xv
architects need to adopt a culture of continuous learning. For accountants
working within enterprises, the basic methods of book-keeping and
accounts have hardly changed in hundreds of years, but the standards of
financial reporting are constantly evolving, the needs of the business for
information are constantly evolving, and the tools available to accounting
professionals are constantly evolving, not to mention the complexities
around taxation as governments seek to catch up and close loop-holes that
have appeared as a consequence of new ways of managing an enterprise.

The tools of enterprise architects, standards such as TOGAF® and ArchiMate®,

both standards of The Open Group, are relatively stable although they too
will evolve over time. The real issue facing enterprise architects is how to
apply standards in a world where the pace of change and complexity will
only continue to accelerate. Enterprises are turning to “Agile” or “DevOps”
in an attempt to accelerate their own pace of change, and enterprise
architects have a valuable role to fill as part of the Scrum or DevOps teams.

Enterprises are also increasingly moving toward a new platform that

represents the convergence of social, mobile, big data, cloud, and
the internet of things. This new platform represents a kind of paradox
that organizations will be grappling with for years to come. How can
you harness this mass of data and networks and mobility to empower
employees and business activity while at the same time trying to protect
value, survive new digital competitors, and be able to scale and grow
business performance and the value outcomes for customers, citizens,
donors, members, or beneficiaries?

Both continuous learning and constant change are about remaining

relevant and having an edge. For enterprise architects, the opportunities
of the future lay outside of the boundaries of the current ecosystem in
which we operate from day to day. This book is an important contribution
to thinking about the critical role enterprise architecture must play in the
new digital era.

Allen Brown
2016
Preface

In a recent conference on the future of business technology, the consensus was

that if you want to build the future of a connected society then you need “to
think differently,” you need to adopt a “new mind set.” Why is this required
with the internet that emerged into the social networks and enterprise
architecture in the last decade of the twenty century but is now such a major
disruption well into the second decade of the 21st century?
This is the “digitization” effect that is a current theme in the modern
business landscape, which is seeing significant economic and business
models change as a result of digitization.
While the digital economy is still reportedly seen as only 6 percent to 11 percent
of GDP in terms of e-commerce transactions, market survey trends point to 30
percent to 40 percent of revenue growth from digital channels alone across local
and global marketplaces. Driven by massive mobile and social media growth
rates taking hold in society, the emerging digital behavior is shifting to even larger
rates of 60 percent to 70 percent in terms of movement of business processes
and data into digital product and services and new digital operating models.
Every day we experience and see the effects of digitization in the lowering
of barriers to entry from search engines to the accessibility of degrees of
freedom that enable online purchases, digital payments, streaming movies
and music to rapid social network connectivity and data insight. Yet this
knowledge of physical transformation does not consider the virtualization
effects that digitization brings with it, enabling concurrency of multiple
tasks, co-presence of people and connections who may be thousands
of miles apart. A new kind of digital convergence and entanglement
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Preface

xv
is emerging that a generation ago would have been limited to singular
transactions, technically cost prohibitive, or just plain unthinkable.

Today the Enterprise Information Systems Landscape is a combination of the

new and old technologies. IT infrastructures consisting of networking, data
centers, and devices have come to define the modern enterprise platforms
that run sales and marketing, operations, planning, and productivity software
applications. Yet practitioners in both IT and business have been faced
with enormous changes in how enterprise solutions are brought into the
organization and their ability to spread from inside and reach outside the
company boundaries. The rise of the term “digital technologies” and “digital
transformation” have led the way in describing social media, big data, mobile
devices, and cloud computing in reinventing how customer experience (CX)
and user experience (UX) can be developed and enhanced. The large-scale
enterprise platforms seen in examples such as ERP, CRM, PLM, SCM, SRM,
Office productivity, email, and website content have undergone major
technological changes driven by the new capabilities of technologies that
have created new virtual workplaces, virtual reality (VR), embedded Internet
of Things, machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI), to new
augmented systems that transform customer experience and new capabilities.

This is the “digitization effect” driving new consumerization, crowds, and

ecosystems where value and loyalty are increasingly based on the level of
connected and shared experience.

This book seeks to explore the ways in which enterprise architecture considers
how different types of technological and business ecosystems are designed
and constructed with digital technologies. We examine how the scope of
enterprise systems is increasing, driven by connected digital technologies
that span the enterprise both internally and externally. This is changing how
enterprise architecture needs to think and work effectively for customers,
employees, businesses, and the wider society of the digital economy.

A “different mindset” is a reality, but this will not happen by magic and
will need a new “architecture” approach to build the digital ecosystems of
the new digital connected economy.

Mark Skilton
2015
Acknowledgments

The development of this book has involved many hours of research and
interviews with professional practitioners and academics in the field of
business and information technology. I would like to give recognition and
sincere thanks to the following people who gave their time in discussions,
sharing thoughts, and ideas that have helped me to craft this book. Simon
Ricketts, Group CIO of Rolls-Royce; Simon Bedford, Associate Producer
(Digital), Warwick Arts Center; Geraldine Calpin, Senior Vice President and
Global Head of Digital, Hilton International; Gary Lyon, Chief Innovation
Officer, MasterCard Labs, MasterCard Worldwide; Matthew Hanmer,
Global Product Development, Consumer Products, MasterCard Worldwide;
Sybo Dijkstra, Senior Director, Philips Research, UK; Peter Latham, VP
Logistics, Coca-Cola Enterprises; Mark Elkins, Head of Digital Sales and
Marketing, Coca-Cola Enterprises, and Lesley Tout, Supply Chain Systems
Director, Coca-Cola Enterprises; Alan Welby, Executive Director of Liverpool
City Local Enterprise Partnership; Daniel Goodwin, Executive Director of
Finance and Policy at the Local Government Association, and Chief Executive
of St Albans City & District Council; Dr Alex Roy, Economist, New Economy,
Manchester City Council; Ulf Venne, Senior Manager, Customer Engagement,
DHL; Alison Crook, General Manager of Supply Chain HSS, Unipart Logistics;
Professor Joe Nandhakumar, Information Systems and Management, and
Assistant Dean, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK;
Professor Ola Henfridsson, Information Systems and Management and
Head of ISM faculty, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick,
UK; Vikas Vishnoi, Full-Time MBA, Warwick Business School, University
of Warwick, UK; Professor Irene Ng, Marketing and Service Systems, and
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 Acknowledgments

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Director of the International Institute for Product and Service Innovation at
WMG, University of Warwick, UK; Dr Susan Wakenshaw, Research Fellow,
WMG; Xia Mao, Senior Research Fellow, WMG; Allen Brown, President and
CEO of The Open Group; Dr Chris Harding, Director of Interoperability,
The Open Group; Jacqui Taylor, CEO of FlyingBinary; Shaon Talukder, CEO
of GeoTourist; Ben Waller, Senior Researcher, ICDP; Dr Vinay Vaidya, Chief
Technology Officer, KPIT; Rupert Fallows, Services Business Development,
KIPT; Professor Christopher James, Director, Warwick Engineering in
Biomedicine, School of Engineering, University of Warwick, UK.

Many thanks also to the Palgrave Macmillan series editors; Professor

Alan W. Brown, Associate Dean, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Surrey
Business School, University of Surrey, UK; and Dr Mark Thompson, Senior
Lecturer Information Systems, Cambridge Judge Business School, University
of Cambridge, UK; and to Palgrave Macmillan for the opportunity to
contribute to this series.

A special thanks to Allen Brown for his kind support and the Foreword;
and to chapter contributor Geraldine Calpin, who has been immensely
helpful. Also a big thank you to my script reviewers Dr Chris Harding,
Forum Director of Interoperability at The Open Group; Philipp Kukai,
PhD researcher in digital strategy at the Information Systems Group at
Warwick Business School, UK, and Vikas Vishnoi, full-time MBA, Warwick
Business School, UK and co-founder of Aevesto Technologies. Also a
personal thanks to Vladimir Banarek for great discussions on the meaning
of ecosystems; and to Penelope Gordon for her invaluable insights in
product strategy monetization and metrics.

I would like to add a personal thanks to Professor Mark Taylor, Finance and
Dean of Warwick Business School; Professor Andrew Lockett, Strategy &
Entrepreneurship and Deputy Dean; Professor Joe Nandhakumar, Information
Systems and Management, and Assistant Dean, Warwick Business School;
and Professor Ola Henfridsson, Information Systems and Management and
Head of ISM faculty, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK,
for their kind support and my endeavors at Warwick Business School.
 Acknowledgments

xx
Many thanks to all the contributors to the book and to all my colleagues
and friends who have supported me over the years, it means a great deal
to me. I hope this book provides some justice for all our efforts – and
to those who seek to make an original thought leadership contribution
and recognize the importance of respect for professional competency-
led practitioners in this important and exciting revolutionary time in
technology.
About the Author

Mark Skilton is Professor of Practice in Information Systems and Management

at Warwick Business School. With over 20 years’ experience in information
technology in many commercial and public sector businesses, he specializes in
helping companies realize their business value, covering social media networks,
big data, mobility, machine to machine (M2M), internet of things (IoT), and
cloud computing. He has worked with some of the top global international
companies at board level to realize their vision of digital operating models
across their complete technology landscapes. Mark is now Digital Leader at
PA Consulting and, prior to that, was Global Director of Strategy at Capgemini.
Previously, Mark was European CTO of services, outsourcing, and strategic
technology consulting solutions at CSC. He has been Head of Digital business
analysis at BSkyB TV and media company; led business re-engineering
engagements at KPMG Consulting, and worked in transforming the business
and IT of companies in over 25 countries worldwide. Since 2010 Mark has
held international standards body roles in The Open Group, where he was
co-chair of cloud computing and leading open platform 3.0 initiatives and
standards publications. Mark is active in the ISO JC38 distributed architecture
standards and in the “Hubs-of-all-things,” a multidisciplinary project funded
by the Research Council’s UK Digital Economy Programme. Mark is also active
in cyber security forums at Warwick University, Ovum Security Summits,
and INFOSEC. He has spoken at the EU Commission on Digital Ecosystems
Agenda and is an EU competition judge on Smart Outsourcing Innovation.
Mark has an MBA, as well as a post-graduate qualification in production
engineering and design management from Cambridge University and a
degree in applied engineering science subjects from University of Sheffield.
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Notes on Contributors

Allen Brown
Allen Brown is President and CEO of The Open Group – a global
consortium that enables the achievement of business objectives through
IT standards. He is also President of the Association of Enterprise
Architects (AEA).

Allen was appointed President & CEO in 1998. Prior to joining The Open
Group, he held a range of senior financial and general management roles
both within his own consulting firm, which he founded in 1987, and other
multi-national organizations.

Allen is TOGAF® 9 certified, an MBA alumnus of the London Business

School and a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Geraldine Calpin
Geraldine Calpin is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Digital at
Hilton Worldwide, responsible for setting the strategic direction for
Hilton’s digital guest agenda, and maximizing commercial advantage from
all direct digital channels. She joined Hilton Worldwide in 2002. During
her tenure, she has been responsible for the launch of Hilton’s pioneering
digital check-in with room selection solution at over 4,000 hotels, the
introduction of its e-commerce function, and the development of its
unique e-commerce and demand generation program for hotels globally.
Prior to joining Hilton Worldwide, she held various roles within the travel
industry, including sales, planning, operations, and marketing roles at
Trusthouse Forte and Le Méridien Hotels.
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List of Abbreviations and
Acronyms

ACID Atomicity, consistency, isolation, durability

ADAS Advanced driver assistance
Additive
Manufacturing 3D printing
AGI Association for geographical information
AI Artificial intelligence
AIT Automated identification technologies
ALM Application lifecycle management
API Application program interface
ARPU Average revenue per user
ATM Automatic teller machine
ATTE Advanced technology transformation engineering
AUM Assets under management
B2B Business to business
B2C Business to consumer
BASE Basically available, soft state, eventually consistent
BC Business continuity
BEPS Base erosion and profit shift
Bluelight An anti-terrorism force
BPM Business process management
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

xx
C2B Consumer to business
C2C Consumer to consumer
C2P Content to purchase
CAD Computer-aided design
CAM Computer-aided manufacturing
CDO Chief data officer
CDO Chief digital officer
CEO Chief executive officer
CGI Computer-generated image
Churn The rate of change of customers arriving and leaving
your product or service
CIO Chief information officer
CMB Contact memory button
CMO Chief marketing officer
CSO Chief security officer
CRM Customer relationship management
CVaR Calculated value at risk expected shortfall
CX Customer experience design
DDOS Distributed denial of service (cyber attack)
DEco Digitally-enabled ecosystems thinking
DoD Department of Defense
DOM Digital operating model
DOVE Digital operating value ecosystem
DR Disaster recovery
DSN Deep space network
EA Enterprise architecture
eCitizen The use of digital technologies to support society and
citizens
eGovernment The use of digital technologies to develop government
administration and citizen services
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

xx
eHealth Electronic-enabled health
EPC Electronic product code
ERP Enterprise resource planning system
EU European Union, the European Commission
EV Electric vehicle
FMCG Fast-moving consumer goods
FRS Fire and Rescue Services
GDP Gross domestic product
Geofencing The ability to track and send notifications to users
when in a location
GLAS Global logistics application suite
GODI Ghana government open-data website
GPS Global positioning satellite
GRC Governance, risk and compliance
GUI Graphical user interface
GVC Global value chains
H2H Human-to-human interface
H2M Human-to-machine interface
HFT High-frequency trading
HIPPA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
HMO Health maintenance organization (Israel)
HPC High-performance computing
Hypercloud A term referring to super scale investment in data center
and network infrastructure
IAN Inter-continental global area network
IATA International Air Transport Association
TM
iBeacon A trademark for an indoor positioning system by Apple Inc.
ICDP International car distribution program
IGPM Institute of Governance & Public Management, Warwick
Business School, UK
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

xx
IMF International Monetary Fund
IO Input–output
IoT Internet of things
IP Intellectual property
IP Internet protocol address
IPCC Inter-governmental panel on climate change, UN
ISP Internet service provider
IS Information system
ISS International Space Station
IT Information technology
ITESs Information technology-enabled services
IXP Internet exchange point
LEP Local Enterprise Partnership, UK government
LiSi Levels of information systems interoperability
LAN Local area network
M2H Machine to human interface
M2M Machine-to-machine interface
MAN Municipal area network
MES Manufacturing execution system
Metadata A set of data that describes and gives information about
other data
mHealth Mobile-enabled health
Mi More Independent, UK government technology strategy
board initiative
ML Machine learning
MOOC Massive open online course
MSP Multi-sided platform
NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NFC Near-field communication
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

xx
NGO Non-governmental organization
NHS National Health Service, UK
NSP Network service provider
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OEM Original equipment manufacturer
OP3 Open Platform 3.0TM, The Open Group
OWL Web Ontology Language Semantics and Abstract Syntax
PAM Personal ambient monitoring
PAN Personal area network
Pareto An economic principle of inequality of inputs and outputs,
80:20 rule
PAYG Pay-as-you-go
PCST Privacy, confidentiality, security, and trust
PDM Product data management
PEC Physical, extended, contextual model
PIM Product information management
PLC Programmable logic controller
PLM Product lifecycle management
PSS Product-service system
QR Code Quick response code
Ramsey price Variation of marginal cost pricing based on scarcity of
products and resources
RFID Radio frequency identification
SCM Supply chain management
SDK Software development tool kit
SEC US Securities and Exchange Commission
SKU Stock-keeping unit
SmartCity The use of digital technologies to enable citizen services
in city living spaces and efficiencies
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

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xx
SoSi System of systems integration
SRM Supplier relationship management
ST Structuration theory
STC Spatial, temporal, contextual model
STS Sociotechnical system
Telecare The remote support of healthcare to patients and
assisted living services
Thin provision Demand over allocation method to optimize utilization
TIFF Tagged image file format
TMS Transport management system
TRM Technology reference model
Ts & Cs Terms and conditions
TSN Terrestrial satellite service
TSP Two-sided platform
UN United Nations
UNPACS United Nations Public Administration Country Services
USEFIL Unobtrusive Smart Environments for Independent Living
UX User experience design
V2V Vehicle-to-vehicle
VaR Value at risk
VC Venture capitalist
VMI Vendor-managed inventory
VNE Value network ecosystem
VO Virtual organization
VPN Virtual private network
VRM Vendor relationship management
WAN Wide area network
WBS Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK
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List of Abbreviations and Acronyms

xx
WEF World Economic Forum
WHO World Health Organization, UN
XDI Internet exchange point
Wi-Fi Wireless network
WLAN Wireless area network
WMG Warwick Manufacturing Group, University of Warwick, UK
ZDI Zero-day initiative
Book Structure

The design of digital solutions has become a pressing concern for

practitioners faced with a plethora of technology impacting their business.
From cloud computing to social networks, mobile computing and big data
to the emerging of Internet of Things, enterprise products and services,
the rooms and buildings that are connected to the wider ecosystem of
networks and services are changing. This book aims to outline a distinct
approach. Firstly, it seeks to explain how these digital ecosystems are
defined, using examples from real industry cases. Secondly, it shows
how enterprise architecture is evolving to address the connection to User
Experience (UX), Customer Experience (CX), and the digital workspaces
that connect these physical organizations with the virtual enterprise.

The scope of the book covers architectural concepts and design features
used in developing digital technologies in mobile, cloud computing,
social network media, big data, Internet of Things sensors, machine
learning, and cyber security. A working definition of digital workspaces
is provided as an architectural building block for a digital enterprise,
illustrated with working examples from many industry case studies.
The evolution of enterprise architecture practices are explored in the
development of digital platforms to enable physical and virtual social
and material object collaboration and experience. We identify emerging
digital design patterns and see the emergence of ecosystem architecture
concepts to enable market-making of digital enterprise activity and
how digital technologies are clustering, and moving competition to the
digital ecosystems level.
x
xx
 xi
Book Structure

xx
Among its most distinctive features, the book provides:

A workable technical definition of a digital enterprise and digital

ecosystems.
An extensive discussion on digital design using converging technologies
of social media networking, mobility, big data, cloud computing, and
M2M Internet of Things sensors.
A novel new approach to designing enterprise architecture using digital
workspaces that drive payback outcomes.
An expanding set of techniques and digital design patterns from cross-
case analysis to illustrate successful design methods for building digital
enterprise and digital ecosystems in the digital economy.

These features are important in understanding the impact of digitization

on enterprise architecture and the challenges for people and organizations
trying to build and grow their digital enterprise. Following the definitions
to digital ecosystems and the use cases, the book has two extensive
and important chapters pertaining to identifying and making sense
of physical working environments and turning them into successful
digital workspaces. This is followed by specific techniques for how these
workspaces become digital platforms and examples of digital design
patterns. The purpose of this provides a connective flow between
strategies to the architectural design using digital technologies.

The book seeks to appeal to a professional and academic audience

involved in the strategic planning, design, and implementation of digital
enterprise architectures. The focus of the text is on the lessons drawn from
cross-case analysis and from direct experience of practitioners in the field.
Each chapter defines an insightful set of characteristics associated with
digital ecosystem solutions success.

The sequence of the chapters deliberately follows a linear flow from

understanding the digital ecosystem concepts in Chapter 1, which
helps bound the scope that we explore in the book and frames the case
examples in industries. We then introduce a novel way of understanding
the digitization of physical workplaces into workspaces that use
 i
xi
Book Structure

xx
technologies in Chapter 2 and then illustrate how this enables ecosystem
architecture design approaches in Chapter 3, supported by real case
study examples. The book provides an analysis and set of lessons learnt
in enterprise architecture practices designing key digital workspaces
using technologies that make up a digital enterprise to achieve successful
payback outcomes.
Disclaimer

All company names, trade names, trademarks, trade dress designs/logos,

copyright images, and products referenced in this book are the property
of their respective owners. No company references in this book sponsored
this book or the content thereof.

ii
xi
xx
Introduction

Practitioners in the Digital Era

This book aims to provide a practitioner’s perspective of what it is like

to develop the next generation of information technology (IT) solutions
that will computerize corporate enterprises.

The focus is on examining how enterprise architecture has changed in

recent years as the evolving phenomenon called “digitization” has taken
place. We will look at examples of “thinking digitally” in this new era
of the digital economy, which is characterized by hyperconnectivity and
rapidly scaling technologies and systems.

I hope this is also a primer for what it means to “be digital,” and will clearly
show the impact and expanding influence of technology not just on busi-
ness practice but also on the wider ecosystem of society and everyday life.

I believe that a shift in mindset is required in today’s world, and this is one of
the key motivations that drove me to develop the ideas and concepts that
have emerged, supported by a myriad of case studies. Digitization changes
physical space, time, content, meaning, and usage of information into a new
kind of virtual space. This book will explore real practical examples and the
limits of this digitization impact, and will identify how technology-enabled
solutions can construct new realities with social and economic potential.
1
 Introduction

2
Whether you are seeking to market a new physical or digital product,
or you are the head of a city planning organization that is seeking new
skills and technology investment, or a research and development scientist
developing new medical drug treatments, you will be seeking outcomes
that can be radically changed by effective investment in technology and
its integration with people’s daily lives. Understanding and defining
effective digital architectures and infrastructures, and the act of architect-
ing effective digital solutions, are at the core of this journey.

Architecture Practice

The Oxford English Dictionary definition of architecture is the “complex

or carefully designed structure of something.” A computer science version
of architecture is “the conceptual structure and logical organization of a
computer or computer-based system.” The ISO international standards
systems and software engineering definition of architecture focuses on
the act of specification of architecting as a “formal description of a sys-
tem, or a detailed plan of the system at component level, to guide its
implementation,” and relates to the standard ISO/IEC 42010:2007.

All these definitions touch on aspects of defining a structure with mean-

ing. Technology architecting is not just the preserve of IT practitioners
but relates to a wider canvas of business and technology players. People,
processes, and technology have to work together. Digital technology is a
pervasive adoption and innovation process that transcends local specifications
to create a rich picture of objects, actors, events, platforms, and environments.
This suggests a wider ecosystem definition that we will explore in order to
define capabilities and practices. This broader definition is as follows1:

Definition of architecture
The structure of components, their interrelationships, and the
principles and guidelines governing their design and evolution
over time
 Introduction

3
In considering digital technologies, the practitioner has to use a broader
definition of architecture in order to encompass the digital ecosystems that
populate the world today. The idea of Enterprise Architecture (EA) is not
just a set of architectural building blocks from within the organization, but a
structure that includes user experience and the whole ensemble of techniques
and solutions that exist today in the digital world. An ecosystem perspective
of architecture therefore includes many solutions and technologies.2

This perspective may be arrived at in an enterprise via many routes,

involving both business and technical skills and leadership. We explore
the building of digital solutions by focusing on examples taken from
practical case studies that involve practitioners in leading organizations
who are seeking to use and develop technologies for better economic
performance and outcomes. We describe the techniques that these prac-
titioners can teach us, and seek to define principles and good practices in
the development of digital enterprise in the emerging digital economy.

System of Systems Integration

My intention in using a broad architectural definition is to cover both open

and closed systems of exchange and services. In many cases, because of a
variety of technical compatibility limitations and for operational reasons,
IT systems may not be connected directly together, thereby working in an
isolated manner. This may be deliberate or just because of circumstances. The
concepts of portability and interoperability, which are central ideas in the
exchange of information and services, underlie the designing of technologies
that can work effectively across many devices and networks.

From pioneering practitioner work at the Department of Defense

in the US, and at NATO in Europe in conjunction with the Software
Engineering Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, from about 2003 to
2009, ideas emerged concerning System of Systems integration (SoSi)
and Levels of Information Systems Interoperability (LiSi).3 These were
early forerunners of the ideas about thinking across systems, and origi-
nated in the planning of military operations. The aim was to establish an
 Introduction

4
overall plan of command and control capability in a battlefield theater.
The ability to link systems allows officers and the command structure to
coordinate different tactical and strategic fighting units. While each unit
could still operate independently under a common command set of rules,
it could easily join with others and collaborate when necessary.

An open system may choose connections with other systems through

standard protocols so that they can understand and communicate with
each other. Interoperability is the concept whereby exchange of informa-
tion across many systems that may be in different locations or languages
can work and act as if they were one single system through the imposition
of common standards. Portability is the ability to move information from
one system to another without interfering with its operation. Both inter-
operability and portability are important features of system of systems
thinking that have enabled new forms of architecture to evolve.

The idea of tight and loose coupling is a key concept that defines the ability
of systems to connect directly and formally or to work independently and
loosely. Control may be tightly coordinated or distributed between autono-
mous units. This is critical in scenarios where multinational armed forces
which are working together speak in different languages and work with
different military assets. The idea of connecting as a cohesive network is
critical. Connecting in this manner also underpins the concept of interoper-
ability, whereby different units from different countries and land, sea, air,
and cyber defense can work as a joined-up set of services (see Figure i.1).

Tight and loose coupling Network of interoperable services

within system of systems

figure i.1 Early system of systems concepts – DoD, NATO, Carnegie Mellon
2003–9
 Introduction

5
Considerations like this allow us to take an important step in systems
thinking, in which distributed complex systems can be described as a
“system of systems”:

System of systems
Large-scale concurrent and distributed systems, the components
of which are complex systems themselves

In the digital world there are many cases where digital technologies con-
nect and collaborate as a tightly or loosely coupled system of systems.
Social network platforms bring together many types of communities
that share and exchange information through a variety of mobile devices
and websites. While none of the mobile devices are connected directly
through the social network, they are part of a common set of informa-
tion that may either be open to the public or private, or shared among
selected friends or enterprises. The interoperability of mobile devices
works at a simple level through the common syntax of internet URLs and
v4 or v6 IP addresses, which enable connectivity. Devices may come from
different manufacturers and use different operating systems or software
applications, but they can in most cases share data and messages. Digital
marketplaces have formed as a result of these common properties, and
levels of control are exerted formally or informally by enterprises that
control new members or new technology devices as they arise.

A key difference between these marketplaces and the internet is that in

a sense there is no single command and control system of the internet.
In many digitized social networks and marketplaces, enterprise owners
exert their own policies and control over the membership. Other net-
works on the internet may be open to anyone, with no overall control.
The internet might be considered open, just with common standards for
internet address protocols and messaging to enable common communica-
tion. While governments, ISPs, telecoms, and service providers can exert
control over parts of these systems, there is nevertheless a general system
of systems. The degree to which systems are open or closed is very much
 Introduction

6
dependent on investment, whether interested parties decide to work
together, and which technologies are chosen.

System of Systems thinking in digital ecosystems is a network of devices,

objects, connections, and services that represent the digital world and its
many workplaces.

Value Network Analysis and Social Graphs

Establishing systems of systems involving digital technologies has

changed the value of networks that are created and has also affected the
formation of social networks. The definition of value in a digital network
is recognized as being more than just economic and financial, but can also
include social value, knowledge, and other non-material values. In addi-
tion, physical connections are not limited to one-to-one or one-to-many,
as in the physical world, but can be many-to-many in the digital world.

This many-to-many relationship pattern represents a shift from a “value

chain” to a “value network” type of thinking, which recognizes the nature
and complexity of the manifold physical and virtual connections. Social
graphs have evolved to map social connections, behaviors, and the prefer-
ences of these many-to-many relationships to gain insights into and make
inferences about human and system behavior patterns. Our “likes” and
“dislikes” are made directly or indirectly apparent by the way we interact
and associate with content, websites, people, and messages on the digital
network. A “digital smoke trail” is left behind, which gives clues and direct
information about what we may value, whom we spoke to and when, where
we interact, the brands and social preferences we acknowledge, and so on.
Digitization has created a new and unprecedented level of awareness. This in
turn has enabled a new kind of information analysis, which has enabled tar-
geted advertising and other recommendations, as well as other personaliza-
tion. This has the downside of affecting personal privacy, confidentiality, and
the extent to which operations and services are trusted or viewed as secure.
Our social networks become tangible evidence of our connections and activi-
ties. In business enterprises, similarly, an intangible network of value that
 Introduction

7
surrounds the organization can form indirect associations with customers
and suppliers and their social connections.

The modern digital enterprise lives in the value networks that connect
across customers, employees, and partners. Social and organizational col-
laboration, trading, and analysis can be conducted through relationships
that are defined physically and by digital technologies. The enterprise
value operating model can be defined through its tangible and intangible
knowledge and collaboration networks both inside and integrated with
the wider marketplace and the enabling technologies of mobile, social
media, and cloud ecosystems. Tangible value is defined by company infor-
mation, management and employee reporting lines, and skills and exper-
tise inside and outside the organization. Intangible knowledge networks
are the informal associations and tacit knowledge that exist in the minds
and experience of employees and value connections.

Semantics and Contextualization

The explosion of digitized content has led to a wide variety of digital

information ways. From early web pages with their basic text and images
we have moved to fully integrated websites that include video, voice, and
other data, such as geographic positioning, ecological, environmental and
biological information (geospatial maps, 3D drawings, biological and physi-
ological data), as well as virtual reality and other digital information. From
a practical standpoint, many efforts have been made to establish tagging
and other index systems to codify a common notation of the meaning
of objects. Indeed, the idea of semantics has been to introduce common
standards to text, images, and everyday objects in order to enable machine-
readable data services. Search engines are sophisticated enough today to
discover similar text within web pages and online books, as well as similar
images and soundtracks. Voice recognition and image recognition are now
routinely used in call centers and airports – including passport controls in
some countries. Computing machines can now mimic spoken language and
basic questions, but within a set of algorithms. It is a quest of digitization
to use information in context, in the moment of information sharing and
 Introduction

8
when and where individuals need that information: without understanding
the meaning of information, it is less easy to share it and use it purpose-
fully. The classification of an object such as a hotel and its rooms becomes
of increasingly higher value to the enterprise and its users as the informa-
tion is used in context.

All these trends point toward the use of “information in context.” The
goal is perhaps to understand the context of objects and their uses so
that humans and machines might be able to better gauge the meaning of
each situation to enable higher value outcomes.

This is a central idea for practitioners who attempt to define the true
meaning of a “thing” or an “event” in the location where an individual
or an enterprise is to be found. Context is necessary if information and
relationships are able to communicate with and understand one another.
Contextualization occurs when objects and activities are “in context” and
immediately meaningful. It is also a wider prerequisite to understanding
needs and interactions, thereby allowing “influence at a distance.” By this
I mean that a common language is necessary to work across distributed
locations, devices, objects, and people: locations that are half the world
away (physically) from each other can cultivate mutual understanding
via digital technologies.4

Changing Architecting Paradigm

For thousands of years, goods and services have been traded in person
and through markets, but this has changed profoundly in recent living
memory through the advent of IT and communications. Now it is not
just products that can be traded, but technologies, interconnections, and
services as well. This technological revolution has developed beyond the
four walls of organizations to encompass how humans measure and inter-
act, in minutes and milliseconds, every hour of the day and every day
of the year. It impacts how social groups form and exchange knowledge
and ideas; how transportation and energy are managed and sustained;
how everyday objects, buildings, and whole living environments can be
 Introduction

9
automated and augmented with intelligence; and even changes how
cities, countries, and regional identity operate.

Human presence, our social and commercial relationships, and the loca-
tions in which we live and work, are no longer constrained to the physical
realm but can be experienced virtually through the effects of “digitization.”5
Early academic research described “new media objects” such as image,
voice, and digital data as expanding digital data in communications and
media studies.6 It was realized that data was not limited to the tran-
scription of paper and transactional content into bytes that were then
shared over networks and web pages, but that sound and imagery were
also part of the interconnected world, thereby creating a much richer
experience. This research rapidly expanded into digital artifacts and
digital infrastructures and the development of mechanisms that scaled
the use of digital into large platforms,7 which is becoming evident in
the growth of social media networks that emerged in the early 2000s.8
Other academic research saw the effects of digitization on the codifying
of culture and behavior into digital artifacts.9 This meant that human
expressions of social meaning and relationships could form communi-
ties of association, whether informal clusters of common interest or
formal clubs, business associations, or trading markets. Different
demographic groups and other types of information and choices could
be recorded and analyzed. Later research, by governments, corporations,
and academics, has seen major changes in the nature of the control of
information, which has impacted on the economy and on economic
activity.10 Digitization has disrupted whole industries, such as travel,
books, media, and banking, and potentially has an impact across all
market sectors as new forms of commercial digital operating models
arise.11 National and industrial security have also changed dramatically,
with the advent of cyber threats and privacy attacks raising general
awareness of the need for cyber security.12 Technology innovations have
created new computing fields, such as machine learning and artificial
intelligence through cognitive computing,13 developments which are
further changing how information can create and adapt new knowledge
and insight in the context of particular situations and locations.
 Introduction

10
These are just a few of the themes that some observers call “game
changers” that are to be found in the “digital ecosystem,” and every one
of them has profound consequences. From a practical perspective, it is
essential to observe how these changes are combining across social, busi-
ness, and human activities. From the point of view of a practitioner, it is
clear that these new trends present both opportunities and challenges for
enterprise and the new digital economy.

New Worlds in Motion

It is important to point out that the digital revolution is not limited to

the digital technology of bytes and semiconductors. Emerging innova-
tions in nano-technology, fiber optics, photonics, quantum, and generic
engineering, for example, are changing how technology can be used.
Much of the research today, in industry and in universities alike, is active
in the boundary between computation and many other disciplines, such
as engineering, medicine, social and cognitive learning, robotics, the
financial world, and statistics simulation – to name just a few. The term
“digital” in this sense is a catch-all for the conversion of physical recording
and processing of information into a convertible form of virtual informa-
tion, which has radically different characteristics and attributes from the
physical world.

We have passed a point of no return in the digitization of data, with

early technology no longer placing any limits on us. We are in a new
technological era in which an information-driven economy will continue
to have profound implications for jobs, economic development, creativity
and innovation, competitive advantages, security, and ethics.

Crossing the Rubicon – the Digital Continuum

The last hundred years have seen profound technological developments

that are redefining the boundaries of business and the markets. The first
transatlantic cable was laid a century and a half ago, in 1856, and operated
 Introduction

11
for three weeks.14 Short-wave radio for transatlantic communication was
established by 1927,15 but it was not until the late 1950s that technologi-
cal advances enabled practical voice communication for commercial devel-
opment. Today this has radically changed, with data networked through
the vast infrastructure of terrestrial, satellite, and network investments
that span the globe.

As Mark Newman points out in the introduction of his book about net-
works, “It is important not to confuse the internet with the world wide
web.”16 The internet is the physical infrastructure, while the world wide
web is a packet-switching data network using a common standard known
as the Internet Protocol (IP).

From a digital practitioner point of view this is one of the basic foun-
dations for many of the innovations and structures that are termed the
digital infrastructure. The hierarchy of the internet “backbone” and its
various tiers of networks represents the concept of internetworking
that enables many networks to talk and to exchange information. The
internet is a “network of networks” framework of technologies and
standards that enables resources to be shared and distributed across
different domains of the network. Tier 2 and Tier 3 network service
providers, or ISPs, enable much of the front-end connectivity to the
network users.

The development of the scope of internetworking as an expanding con-

tinuum of different layers of telecommunications networks and protocols,
and the fixed and mobile devices and sensors that are increasingly con-
nected and populating this digital universe:

The networking continuum (see Table i.1)

The device and sensors continuum (see Table i.2).

The digital perspective is the data centers, devices, and data that reside in
these networks, and how they enable users and enterprises. It is this second
level of connectivity between networks and devices and the sensors
across these, in what I describe as the digital continuum, that involves
 Introduction

12
different network protocols and devices and sensors that are starting to
create the technological ecosystem and the digital enterprise within it.
Examples of these include network topologies, which typically represent
the physical area of network span, not necessarily coverage (which is a
function of transition power, terrain, and other factors). Spectrum fre-
quencies, and device and network protocols are examples of the way in
which the electromagnetic spectrum is split up commercially for different
communications usage. On top of these protocols there is a large amount
of security and usage legislation that is designed to control access to and
the certification of services.

Examples of network topologies

table i.1 Network topologies

DSN Deep-space networks

Various Military, commercial, dark, off-band
TSN Terrestrial satellite service networks, media, GPS
IAN Intercontinental global area networks
MAN Municipal area networks
WAN Wide area networks
WLAN Wireless area networks
LAN Local area networks
PAN Personal area networks
VPN Virtual private network

Examples of device and sensor receiver and transmission networks

table i.2 Spectrum frequency – device receiver and transmission network
protocols

Mobile cellular networks 5G testing 12 Gbit/sec

4G up to 1 Gbit/sec, average 14 Mbit/sec
(MIMO 42 Mbit/sec)
3G UHF 850MHz–1900MHz min 200 kbit/sec
(approx 0.2 Mbit/sec)
Cell, Femtocell, GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA,
WiMAX, LTE

(continued)
 Introduction

13
table i.2 Continued
Wifi WLAN IEEE 802.11a, b, g, n, 2012, ac, ad
Web pages: SSL
Encrypted: WEP, WPA, WPA2, WPS
2.4GHz UHF and 5GHz SHF radio waves
Fibre optics 1200 to nanometer wavelengths 1680
e.g. 2.56 Tb/sec 25 Gb/sec to 270 Gb/sec per
channel 1 Petabit/sec up to 100 Petabits/sec
500MHz–1000MHz
850–1550nm wavelengths
Bluetooth v1.0, 1.2, 2.0. 2,1, 3.0
v4.0 Bluetooth low energy
UHF ISM band from 2.4GHz–2.485GHz
NFC (Near-field communication) based on RFID
ISO/IEC 14443 and FeliCa
Proximity, smart card ISO/IEC 14443 Comms protocol
ISO/IEC 15693 vicinity Card, ISO/IEC 6523 ,
15459 Registration
RFID RF bands, LF, HF, UHF, Microwave
(1GHz–100GHz)
GPS satellite 1575.42MHz (L1) and 1227.60MHz (L2)

Commercial radio FM, MW, LW, SW, satellite, DAB (digital

radio) channels
Commercial television UHF, digital, satellite

Aircraft traffic, taxis, medical bands, UHF, VHF, digital encrypted

emergency service bands
NMEA 0183, 2000 echo sounder, sonars 100Hz–500Hz 160–235Db

Anemometers (wind), gyrocompass,

autopilot
Voice frequency Audio sound 20Hz–20,000Hz

Identification of the type of network topology and the range of device

protocol spectrum is very much part of the digital enterprise story. At a
personal level, mobile devices using near field communication (NFC)
proximity technology enable new contactless services such as financial
payments in shops or connections to wearable exercise devices. Taking a
wider perspective, mobile cell phone coverage, satellite navigation, and
Wi-Fi hotspots enable connectivity while traveling on roads, rail, and
abroad, whether in cars, trains, aircraft, or ships. At economy and market
 Introduction

14
level, city-wide municipal networks enable transport and emergency
services, and also expedite new initiatives, such as open data services that
provide community information and local business services support. With
telecommunication networks spanning global time zones and enterprise
data centers, these changes are driving the digital economy. Borders
between countries and industry models are being torn down by the digi-
tal continuum and the tiers of internetworking infrastructure.

New Architecture Practices for the Digital World

The connection between infrastructure networks and the devices and objects
that work to enable human/machine intermediation shapes how digital
technologies can service and enable the digital enterprise value network.

There are a number of emerging digital-oriented enterprise architectural

themes that represent a new kind of thinking and pragmatism which
affects companies and individuals, start-ups, multinationals, and major
cities. These digital era architecture practices include:

Commodity, core, and transformational thinking

Prototyping and agility
Empathy and aesthetics
Immersive sensing and feedback
Geospatial and stereoscopic augmentation
Modularity and disruption
Design thinking
Generativity and monetization
Platforms.

Commodity, core, and transformational thinking

Legacy systems can be a burden for the future, and may need moderni-
zation or replacement. C-level executives regularly have to deal with this
issue, in which decisions and investments have to be prioritized. Questions
continually arise when new technology is introduced, and re-engineering
 Introduction

15
the business model through consolidation and rationalization or through
mergers and acquisition is a critical issue for business transformation.
This all affects the capabilities of the enterprise, and collectively defines the
portfolio of capabilities of the enterprise operating model. A foundational
principle that applies to this kind of strategic portfolio management think-
ing is the ability to focus on what is important from a risk and mission
imperative perspective. In the case studies, we explore this practice, iden-
tifying strategic capabilities that define process, systems, and resources.
Digital technologies influence how these capabilities are developed by stra-
tegic leadership and in particular how enterprise strategy and performance
are shaped. Identifying the vision and direction of the enterprise is not
separate from digital strategy but an integral part of the whole strategy.
Programmatic planning of IT infrastructure and applications costs is a
widespread practice in both large and small organizations. In many industries
that are technology intensive, such as financial services and IT services, the
average IT operational budget is 3.6 percent of company turnover, rang-
ing from 2.9 percent to 6 percent.17 This figure varies by geographic region
and may change as the move from capital- to subscription-based services
becomes more common, thanks to cloud computing technology. It is not
untypical to see thousands of employees and thousands of applications and
interfaces hosted across multiple data centers in large multinational com-
panies. Prioritizing the IT budget spend on essential IT services over general
administration and productivity tools makes a difference in the legacy ration-
alization of day-to-day IT costs. What is more important, however, is that
the impact of digital technology to change business outcomes is potentially
more significant. Social media impact on customer experience, data analyt-
ics driving enhanced decisions, and the rise of mobile devices to empower
employees and customers is raised to a new level of IT budget prioritization
of what is commodity- and core-essential, and mission transformational.

Prototyping and agility

A second key feature of digital technologies is the rise of rapid design,
sourcing, and visualization. New digital prototyping methodologies that
seek to increase the immersion and high-quality user experience (UX) of
 Introduction

16
the design process is increasingly key to the successful design of customer
experience (CX). This is not new in systems engineering practices, but
thanks to the rapid visualization that is possible with many user experi-
ence and website tools that are based on an on-demand cloud computing
environment, it is increasingly a participatory feature. A number of the
case studies show significant use of the agile method to establish rapid
development and direct engagement with customers and employees, in
order to transform both new and existing digital enterprise capabilities.

Prototyping is now a key feature in development platforms and services

for web applications and mobile applications. Technologies from software
and services providers such as ADITI, BlinkMobile, Globo, MyOxygen, and
many others provide UX and CX design and integration to blend company
data content with products and services through smartphones and tab-
lets. A major feature of these platforms is the ability to prototype mobile
application solutions in hours rather than days or weeks from concept to
publishing and use. Mobile Applications Management (MAM) and Mobile
Device Management (MDM) are now strategic platform priorities for
many major enterprises in their efforts to build agility into their websites
and mobile channels, in order to reach more customers and citizens. These
digital technology management platforms are often essential to enable con-
nection to device-neutral services such as BYOD (bring your own device).
They also provide a better-integrated user experience of managed content
to and from mobile devices. From the perspective of the end user, these
digital technologies have a direct and tangible impact on operational work-
ing practices. For example, in retail it is common practice now to develop
front-end mobile applications that empower store employees to connect
to the back office stock and planning systems, so they can place and track
replenishment orders for stock items, through scanning barcodes in store.

Empathy and aesthetics

A third important plank of digital thinking is the change in human expe-
rience and its “immersive” quality through aesthetics and empathy that
are influenced by digitization. The visual artistry of providing informa-
tion that engages the senses is central to high-quality digital design. In
 Introduction

17
discussions with practitioners in the entertainment theater and arts world
in particular, it has become clear that the ability to use digital technolo-
gies to engage audiences in “live” experiences is a powerful and compel-
ling feature of the digital world. It is not just the wow factor of visuals
on a mobile device or an interactive public display board that promote
events and products, but it is how human activities and working spaces
integrate in a synergistic way to maximize the potential experience.

Giving visualization more impact for the user is increasingly essential to

mobile touchscreen interaction and on-screen alerts. Perhaps an extreme
example is the online gaming industry, which has made considerable
advances in the use of high-end multi-core and multi-tread graphics proces-
sors to create ever more intensive visuals and gaming experiences. This is
a significant market, as Intel recently indicated at their annual Developers
Conference in San Francisco. In the public keynote speeches, Kirk Skaugen,
SVP & General Manager of PV Client Group, stated that “There are
711 million PC gamers on the planet today, that’s about 1 in 10 people are
gamers, it’s a key statistic and a huge market opportunity.”18

Immersive sensing and feedback

A fourth feature of digitization is the rise of embedded sensors and
sensor networks that enable responsive feedback. The spread of Wi-Fi
and other network technologies enables connections to mobile devices,
embedded sensors, and other smart objects in the places in which we
live and work. Knowing how to use these technologies is key to building
a digital enterprise that is truly connected to the environment and the
value network. A number of case studies show practitioners seeking ways
in which to collect information and build sensing environments for their
customers, suppliers, and employees.

An example of immersive feedback is haptic design in mobile devices.

This is the sense of touch and feel from the device as part of the user
experience. Simple vibration is one example, but this will become more
sophisticated with the continuing development of wearable devices: these
can stimulate the skin to alert users passively or actively, simply by using
 Introduction

18
vibration. As an example, haptic specialist hack has created a vibrating
timekeeper that vibrates at different frequencies to signal the passing of
time.19, 20 The concept of immersive feedback is not limited to touch and
feel, but also encompasses augmentation and enhancement of the live
space with digital technologies. This idea is particularly strong in perform-
ing arts and theaters where light, sound, and digital technologies can cre-
ate a much greater sense of action and audience participation. Although
common practice in the world’s theme parks, of course, this vision is now
moving to other enterprises, with embedded sensors and feedback aug-
menting user experience.

Geospatial and stereoscopic augmentation

The fifth key feature of digitization has been its ubiquitous spread across
spatial boundaries. The advent of digital mapping has created a completely
new industry of online maps and satellite navigation, and this has empow-
ered a new generation of spatial services. Google maps, bing, Apple, and
many others have made this technology available in mobile devices to
provide images and street-level accuracy to travel directions and location
services. But it has not stopped there: buildings and rooms have been
mapped, and devices such as Apple’s iBeaconTM is an indoor proximity
system that enables Bluetooth low-energy proximity sensing to transmit
identifiers to determine locations within a room.21 It also supports detec-
tions of mobile device presence to trigger check-ins on social media or push
notifications automatically to the mobile user, based on preferences. The
ability to create digital spatial mapping has gone to ever finer levels, which
is continuing evolve: 3D scanning technology now enables physical objects
such as furniture to be digitized into a virtual model, which connects and
stores location data at an unprecedented level of detail. New technology
like this is changing how we think about physical spaces and the way we
interact with objects and services within them. This is a key challenge and
an exciting opportunity in the building of digital workspaces.

An example of geospatial thinking can be seen in the healthcare industry,

where geo-fencing technology enables patients fitted with wearable GPS
location tagging to be monitored to ensure they are protected and kept
 Introduction

19
from harm. In the consumer market, rapid advances in 3D scanning are
coming to consumer mobiles and tablets. Intel Context cameras are an
example of immersive scanning technology that can map context loca-
tion information. This technology, called Intel RealSenseTM,22 is embedded
in a tablet or a mobile with a scanner that can take a 3D image of an
object and, with stereoscopic algorithms, compute its real-world physical
dimensions. This can be uploaded into a context cloud database and used
in virtual models of the physical environment. Apple recently acquired the
Primesense 3D tech company and the itSee3DTM scanning technology that
generates image data in 3D.23 The spatial design of physical workspaces
is now enabled by digital space mapping, which in the near future will be
part of everyday living spaces.

Modularity and disruption

The sixth key feature of digitization has been the ability to take IT that
has been turned into “containered services” and treat these services as
modular, scalable building blocks. The evolution of digital technolo-
gies has seen a convergence of standards and technological advances in
computing, software, and miniaturization as well as a massive scaling out
of networks and infrastructure resources. Cloud computing has led the
establishment of a catalog and marketplace context so that today we see
large digital component markets such as the Android market, iOS mar-
ket, API markets, and many other scalable architecture resources available
on demand. Digitization has both commoditized and componentized
these cloud-oriented architectures as well as placing the computation
power in the palms of our hands, with mobile smart devices that 30 years
ago would have been equivalent to a supercomputer. Architecture has
become modular in the sense that it can be constructed from building
blocks of content – both software and hardware. Disruption in the mar-
ket comes through the fact that digital technologies are able to advance
to market faster because modular adoption and digital platforms enable
quick and pervasive adoption, as users access services and use powerful
devices to get work done. A number of case studies show practitioners
in the field of embedded technologies seeking ways in which to integrate
 Introduction

20
digital technologies with the supply chain, to enable efficiency and new
digital business models.

Examples of modularity and disruption have perhaps been most visible

in the consumer world with the impact of the Apple iPod and iPhone on
the music and mobile device industry. Several disruptive changes are well
documented in the shift to downloadable and streaming music, which has
fundamentally changed the way in which customers consume music. The
iPhone’s introduction in 2007 was a disruptive step change, with its combi-
nation of touchscreen, mobile applications, and radical new form disrupting
the old world of single-purpose communication devices. The new smart-
phone market is by all measures booming, with unit sales from all the top
vendors growing by over 40 percent, revenue up by 20 percent, and profits
up by 50 percent.24 Modularity in the architecture of these devices has been
a key part of this growth. The software, the content, and applications are all
“plug-and-play,” enabling a new kind of rapid scalability not seen previously.
The mobile device itself is a modular platform, with yearly or even quarterly
incremental enhancements, which are followed by step changes that include
new architecture such as the iPad and connected wearables.

Design thinking
A seventh consequence of these new architecture principles has been
the impact on philosophy and creativity through the use of digital in the
design process. “Design thinking” is defined as cognitive activities that
designers apply during the process of designing.25 It is the combination of
empathy for the context of the problem, the creativity to generate ideas
and insights, and the rationality to analyze and generate solutions to the
problem. According to Tim Brown, CEO and president of IDEO, the goal
of design thinking is “matching people’s needs with what is technologi-
cally feasible and viable as a business strategy.”26 This is critically impor-
tant in digital technologies that are linked intimately with the business
and social outcomes they influence and create. Design thinking uses a
scientific approach to creativity and rational design. It is not just thinking
about architecture design from the building blocks but creating scenarios
that drive solutions to meet the desired outcomes. The conceptualization
 Introduction

21
of design philosophy is changing through digitization. Deliberately planned
design is giving way to a more fluid modeling approach that may test many
possible solutions before moving to a chosen design. Design outcome tra-
jectories may be tested more rapidly and with greater repeatability, as new
generations of simulation and design tools enable rapid analysis of design
outcomes. The concept of modularity is used to create rapid incremental
services and capability advances, and then step-change jumps. New kinds
of architectural design styles are emerging as practitioners seek new ways in
which to “break institutional thinking” and move more rapidly toward new
digital adoption capabilities.

Examples of design thinking are evident in the disruptive example of cell

phone design we observed in the previous section on modularity. Other
examples can be seen with Intel and its research and development into
ever faster computing chip design. Intel is still pushing this, but their for-
mer chief architect, Bob Colwell, suggests that Moore’s law is “headed for
a cliff.” According to Colwell, the maximum extension of the law, in which
transistor densities continue doubling every 18 to 24 months, will be hit
in 2020 or 2022, around 7nm or 5nm.27 Yet Intel is already using design
thinking to move round this barrier with multi-core and multi-thread tech-
nology, and the evolution of other forms of technology such as quantum
computing. In the everyday world, design thinking is becoming a feature
where large-scale data and social networks challenge traditional market
and organizational thinking. New business models that crowdsource
testing and development to software distribution marketplaces are
challenging how work can be done to solve business problems.

Generativity and monetization

An eighth architecturally enabled phenomenon has been effective mass
scaling through mass adoption of digitization in products and services.
The so-called “viral effect” describes much of the underpinning change in
potential that has brought faster growth and quicker digital services. Digital
technology drives new kinds of consumer adoption cycles. Consumer
behavior in social networks, especially instant feedback, can drive a viral
self-reinforcement that has the potential to scale user adoption rapidly.
 Introduction

22
Monetization of the digital enterprise can exploit this by using digital
technologies to create advantage and value. In the case studies we seek
to understand the relationship between market outcomes and customer
experience, which is driven by digital enterprise capabilities. The case stud-
ies show how different monetization mechanisms drive value to consumers
and build the performance of the digital enterprise.

Examples of the generative scaling of moneymaking opportunities on the

internet are manifold in the popular press. A recent high-profile example in
the gaming industry is the acquisition of Twitch, the online gaming specta-
tor portal, by Amazon. Twitch hit one million active monthly broadcasters
in January 2014.28 As Emmett Shear, the CEO, said in his open letter on
accepting the Amazon bid, “It’s almost unbelievable that slightly more than
3 years ago, Twitch didn’t exist.”29 The ability to generate scalable social
communities is a powerful phenomenon of digital technologies, which in
the right circumstances can grow to huge numbers and high value. Yet it is
not just increasing audiences that create the power of digital generativity;
it is also the access to resources and services that support and enable enter-
prise processes. An early example of this took place in 2008, when Amazon
entered the cloud computing business,30 using cheap cloud computing
resources. This service was used by the New York Times to rapidly process
150 years of newspaper articles into an online archive. The data-intensive
goal was to convert 11 million articles published from the founding of
the newspaper in 1851 until 1989, so that they were available through its
website search engine. The New York Times scanned in the stories, cut up
into columns to fit the scanners (as TIFF files), then uploaded them to the
Amazon Cloud Storage S3TM platform. Then, using Amazon’s EC2TM com-
puting platform, they ran a PDF conversion app that converted the 4TB of
TIFF data into 1.5TB of PDF files. Using 100 Linux computers, the job took
about 24 hours. Today this is commonplace, with ever-increasing speed and
performance, and is a core part of using digital technologies.

Platforms
The final key design feature of digitization has been the creation of “digi-
tal platforming,” where digital technologies act as an enabler for “market
 Introduction

23
makers,” bringing together products, services, customers, and suppliers. It
has been said by some industry observers that we are living in a “subscrip-
tion economy” and a “sharing economy.” This means that assets are no
longer owned but rented and consumed as you go, and a recurring rev-
enue metrics model exists for consumers and providers. By sharing assets
in an incremental manner, consumers can choose from a wider variety of
products and services, while providers and partners can access a poten-
tially larger market. Digitization can allow consumers to access products
and services that are less constrained by physical location or ownership.
Economically it may not be right for all scenarios, but it illustrates a more
fundamental aspect of digital technologies, which is the emergence of
platforms. Underpinning digital services, whether on a mobile device,
a tablet, a website, or in an automobile or a building, a digital platform
is usually a constructed environment that enables the digital content,
services, and experience to be engineered and managed for quality out-
comes. It does not happen by magic, but when the design experience and
the usability of the digital service become entangled and an immersive
experience, it feels seamless and frictionless – almost magical.

Examples of platforms in the digital economy can be found in many

business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) industries.
Large-scale B2B marketplaces occur in many industries, from pharma-
ceuticals to the automotive supply chain. TradeB2B.com, canbiotch.com,
and worldbidpharmaceutical.com are examples of biotechnology and
pharmaceuticals portals, and B2B marketplaces in a heavily regulated
and segmented industry. Non-prescription, prescription, B2B wholesale,
government-level pharma, the active pharmaceutical ingredients market,
and the R&D market are some of the many segments. Allautowares.com
is a global B2B web portal for the automotive industry; and S-Gate is the
global BMW Group dealer and importer portal. There are many other
examples throughout the supply chain. In the consumer industry, B2C is
emerging everywhere. Examples include liazon.com, which acts as a portal
for employee health services, saving time and money for employees and
employers in finding the right health package. OpenTable.com is a ubiq-
uitous source of reservations that creates a community of feedback that
 Introduction

24
is based on likes and dislikes of restaurants and dining experiences.31 New
crowdsourcing models have created a “sharing economy” that is enabled
by new digital platforms. Examples include Sourceforge.com for Open
Source software; Wikipedia.com as a collaborative internet encyclopedia;
Piratebay.com for peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing; Kiva for P2P finance;
and Neighborgoods.com for collaborative consumption.32 Platforms are a
core feature of digital technologies and the building of digital enterprises
and digital market economies.

Introduction Summary

In the Introduction we have examined the technological revolution that

is unfolding in the physical and digital economies. The advent of new
thinking is clear, with data, processes, and social interactions being trans-
formed by digitization. A key aim of this book is to explore the impact
of these trends and to establish examples of practice found in today’s
enterprises. Chapter 1 will lay the foundations for the trends in technol-
ogy that are driving these changes, and will start to describe the changes
in architecture and platforms that are emerging.
I
pa
rt

Architecture in the Era

of Digital Ecosystems
 1 te
r
ap

Trends of Technological
ch

Ecosystems

Chapter Introduction

The pervasive adoption of digital technologies across all industries is a

global phenomenon. Materially, the internet economy, which represents
online transactional data, may only represent 10 percent of the Gross
Domestic Product of countries but per annum this is growing at 8 to 10
percent, far outpacing growth in traditional physical “bricks and mortar”
sectors defined as physical goods and services that are traded off-internet.1
Viewing internet transactions is only part of the wider evolution of how
human activity is using digital technology in all manner of social and busi-
ness activity. Technology frequently enables activities in an augmented
way, adding more value to telephone conversations, email, searching for
information, or completing a document, taking a photograph, or listening
to music. There is a greater than tenfold growth forecast in the next dec-
ade for mobile and data traffic alone, and there is a commensurate forecast
in the rise of the “Internet of Things.” Technological ecosystems are emerg-
ing that are becoming fused into the very fabric of society and economies,
and these are creating network effects that pervade the digital economy.
Online presence through websites and, increasingly, mobile devices
has become highly interconnected, forming ecosystems of association
27
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

28
and technologies. This interconnected effect has enabled value creation
through what some describe as “multi-sided platform” (MSP) business
models. Groups of people, enterprises, and markets are able to meet and
trade, share and collaborate through digital technologies that generate
new social and business monetization models.2

In this chapter, we will explore the definition of this clustering effect, be it

related to people, products, or services that are using technologies, and what
this may mean for the future of economic and enterprise development.

We will cover the following topics:

Digital economy and ecosystems

Definition of the digital ecosystem
Definition of vertical and horizontal digital ecosystems
Definition of the digital enterprise
The rise of technological ecosystems
Introduction to digital technologies
The state of digital technology and enterprise.

The Connected Enterprise

To illustrate practitioner perspectives, let us look at two examples of the

value network ecosystem that exist in two industries: the smart hotel
ecosystem and the connected car ecosystem.

“Smart hotel” digital ecosystem

In the digital world, with virtual communities of customers and potential
consumers, the evolution of vertical and horizontal value is a key concept
for building a digital enterprise. In the example of the hotel and leisure
industry, we can clearly see how physical meeting places and digital
ecosystems are converging. Vertical and horizontal digital ecosystems are
influencing the design of the digital enterprise.

The hotel room is a “physical workplace object” that can have many con-
nected spaces. Corporate and social events may be managed in the same
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

29
premises, requiring different utilization of rooms and facilities. Customer
services, whether the service desk, concierge services, room service and
housekeeping, or building maintenance, are all facets of service ena-
blement. Then there are the services at work in the rooms, such as TV
remotes, TV entertainment, room service calls, cleaning services, and
in-room dining. A gymnasium and other facilities create additional capa-
bilities that all provide additional value for the customer experience and
increase monetization opportunities for the business.

The “smart hotel” will have many points of contact with the customer,
from face to face to virtually, via digital technology, and therefore many
opportunities to build brand loyalty and engage customers in order
to offer new value experience. This contact can be before, during, and
after a visit and via the hotel and its partners. It is an ecosystem of value
networks that spreads across customers, hotels, their employees, and
partners. Each network is a combination of vertical integration (such
as the ordering and reordering of food and beverages from suppliers to
the consumption of these items) and horizontal integration (across dif-
ferent locations, to provide consistent customer experience and efficient
operations). These MSP platforms will enable customer loyalty systems
as well as cross-selling to flight, food, and business services that expand
the scope and potential value for the customers and the hotel. The digital
enterprise for a “smart hotel” is much more than its physical room and
assets; it is how each customer experiences the augmentation of grounds,
foyer, rooms, and all the services before, during, and after the visit to the
hotel. All these elements become the total service.

“Connected automobile” digital ecosystem

While a hotel is an example of a connected physical space, the value net-
work ecosystem also applies to moving objects as well. A good example
of this is the connected car, which is seeking to automate and enhance
every aspect of the vehicle’s lifecycle, from concept design to manufac-
ture, sales to aftermarket operation, and the customer driving experience.
This is not limited to inside the vehicle but also relates to traffic networks
and to other vehicles’ ecosystems.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

30
This mindset connects the digitally enabled car to the logistics supply chain as
a total lifecycle concept. A range of embedded technologies have been created
that include Advanced Vehicle Driver Assistance (ADAS) technologies for
safety and sustainable energy management. Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) provides
in-transit management of other vehicles and objects relative to the vehicle and
driver. Car infotainment provides remote content delivery and personalization
for driver and passengers, which links with mobile devices and applications.
Pre-planning trips or selected and downloading movies, music, and games can
all be done remotely in synchronization with the on-board systems. Remote
diagnostics, spare parts reordering, and planned maintenance can all be
automated, with remote downloading and monitoring of vehicle health and
performance. Virtual reality car showrooms, in-car head-up display controls
for line-of-sight information, and self-driving cars are all possible today. The
connected automotive ecosystem touches many associated objects and the
customer driving experience inside and outside the car. It is this extended and
connected system of systems that is the digital enterprise of the future.

The vertical and horizontal value chains are being impacted by digital
platforms that enable new value network ecosystems to be constructed
throughout a business model. Whether you are looking at how to engage
your customers in your products and services, seeking how to collect the
right analytical data to gain insight into better informed decisions and
judgments or user experiences, or seeking ways to build better B2B and
B2C collaboration, digital technologies are reshaping how we can archi-
tect these workspaces and the enterprise.

At the heart of these examples is the impact of digital enterprise on

industries and their associated physical and digital interconnectedness.

Digital enterprise
A form of organizational structure with a legal basis, enabled by
technologies to provide physical or virtual products or services
in one or more digital ecosystems. The organization physically
and virtually operates monetization mechanisms that generate
social and financial value in one or more digital economies.
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

31
Ultimately, the goal is to collaborate and to scale according to demand
and supply, thereby meeting the constituent members’ needs. These can
evolve as communities and relations form, coalesce, and dissipate, which
is referred to as co-presence. The value creation process is centered around
how the digital enterprise enables these experiences to generate co-benefits
and worth, as defined by monetary and other social value for all parties.
A definition of a digital enterprise perhaps encompasses all these things.

The Rise of Technological Ecosystems

Understanding how technology creates digital ecosystems is an impor-

tant place to start in building a digital enterprise. The term “digital,” as
stated in the previous section, is a catch-all term used to define many
types of technological viewpoints that exist today.
In the next section, we will explore the types of emerging clusters of technol-
ogies that define the viewpoints of digital ecosystems and how they are part
of building digital enterprises. It is particularly useful given the perceptions
and bias that can easily set in when describing the internet as an “ecosystem”
with a set of devices, networks, and web services. Whilst the internet is the
largest man-made “system” on the planet in terms of geographic scale, with-
out a doubt, it is not the only technology that makes up the smorgasbord
of innovations and inventions that are available to technologists and business
practitioners. I will examine seven such clusters, but by no means are these
the only ones. By definition, ecosystems will continually evolve new topolo-
gies and capabilities over time, thereby generating new ecosystems.
The seven technological ecosystems viewpoints we will explore are:

Information ecosystems
Supply chain technology network ecosystems
Advanced technology engineering transformation ecosystems
Technology in the workplace ecosystems
Open and propriety platforms ecosystems
Enterprise vendor technologies ecosystems
Privacy, confidentiality, security, and trust ecosystems.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

32
Technological Enabled Ecosystems

Information Supply chain technology

ecosystems ecosystems

Advanced technology
engineering transformation Technology in the
Emerging new workplace
ecosystems ecosystems
ecosystems

Enterprice vendor Privacy, confidentiality, Open & proprietary

technology security & trust platforms
ecosystems ecosystems ecosystems

figure 1.1 Examples of technological ecosystems viewpoints

Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 1:

The Information Ecosystems

The growth of information on the internet has reached staggering pro-

portions, and is accelerating. To estimate the number of web pages and
the number of links that connect those pages is difficult, but there were
over 1 billion websites in September 2014.3 According to Verisign’s latest
Domain Name Industry Brief, more than 6 million domain names were
registered in the last quarter of 2012, bringing the total to 252 million
worldwide.4

The power of this collective digitization of information is an ecosystem

that potentially spans every conceivable information domain and physi-
cal location. This is the first technological ecosystem with a completely
pervasive impact. Access and search engine capabilities will vary depend-
ing on the region of the world you live in, but the potential for digital
information is clear.

The semantic web is an idea developed by the World Wide Web

Consortium (W3C), an international standards body, which has devel-
oped a number of ideas and standards in this area.5
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

33
The concepts of Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, and Web 4.0 have grown in
recent years to define this information ecosystem perspective.

Web 1.0 – static information on web pages

Web 2.0 – user-generated dynamic data and social media growth6
Web 3.0 – information both structured and unstructured is identified
semantically and put into a common framework that allows data to
be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community
boundaries: “ a web of data that can be processed by machines”7
Web 4.0 – the intelligent web, which uses machine learning and cogni-
tive intelligence to create interactive human and machine systems.8

We are currently at the stage of Web 2.0, and emerging technologies are
starting to form Web 3.0 and Web 4.0 ontologies.
An information domain is a cluster of information classified by the infor-
mation archetype about itself and its related features.
Physical domains have features and information that relate to that physi-
cal domain. These can be clustered to form information archetypes about
the domains.
Search engines, queries, and all manner of different data analytics are
made possible by analyzing this raw material, together with its associated
relationships and behaviors. Table 1.1 is a sample of the enormous range
of information that can inhabit the information ecosystem.
The key is in understanding the relationships between the information
domains and the physical domains. They create spaces of information in
context. As in Figure 1.1, the movement toward Web 3.0 and Web 4.0
is the construction of meaningful workspaces that enable machines and
humans to gain semantic information and move toward intelligent aug-
mented experience.

Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 2:

Technology in the Supply Chain Network

The concept of the supply chain has been around for years: it was prob-
ably one of the foundations of the industrial revolution and latterly the
table 1.1 Examples of information and physical domain ecosystem mappings
34
Information Domains Physical Domains
Archetype Key search Key information features Archetype Key search goals Key information
goals features
Economic Growth  Macro economics Geographic Market segments  Legal, political, ethics
Commercial Stability  Micro economics Domains, Skills & resources  CSR, governance, policies, social
Continuity  Socio-economics Dominions behaviors, preferences
Equity  Metrics, qualities
 Value, value systems
 Contracts
 Intellectual property
 Monetization
Sourcing Capabilities  Managed hosting Processes, Context awareness  Internet of Things, pervasive
Competencies  Single sourcing Conversions, and optimization computing enterprise systems
Density  Multisourcing Transformations loops  Industrialization
Co-presence  Co-sourcing
 Crowdsourcing Automation
Acquisition Manipulation  Orchestration Systems  Workflow
Analysis  Aggregation Domains  Platforms
Trading  Broker reseller  Manufacturing – 3D
Integration  Isolation  Marketplaces
 Encapsulation Organizational Workplaces,  Services
Specification  Federation Structures user experiences  Digitalization of work practices
Connectivity architecture  Distribution
 Replication
 Exposure People
Internetworking Interfaces  Network topologies Avatars, Agents, Social, KM,  Communities
Entanglement  Domains Virtual People mashups,  Virtual teams
Multiplexity  Appliances augmentation, VR,  Virtual organizations
Multiplicity  Interfaces contextual  Virtual businesses
awareness  Virtual services
Code Digitization  Content Data, Services, data,  Groups
Creation  Versions, configuration Metadata objects,  Collectives
 Operating systems knowledge, sensing,  Individuality
 Frameworks metadata  Self-interest/bias
 Languages  Rights
 SDKs, IDEs
Security, Ownership  Identity Devices & Mobile comms,  Mobile comms
Privacy Protection  Encryption Sensors wearables, fixed,  Wearables
Containment  Authorization mobile embedded  Fixed, Mobile
 Cyber threat biometrics, ML,  Embedded
 DR, BC voice, AI, cognition  Biometrics
 ML
 Voice
 AI
 Cognition

35
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

36
modern industrial economy. Business processes were separated and man-
aged across a complex of operations that enabled access to markets and
labor as well as economies of scale. This general principle was based on
the notion of physical separation of tasks, and labor could be managed
and distributed through a chain of supply to meet market demand. Yet
this idea has been radically altered with the advent of global telecom-
munications networks and the internet-based virtual processes on top.
Many traditional supply chains have opened up into virtual organizations
(VOs) that either in whole or in part can function equally if not better
through online channels. The supply chain becomes the supply network
ecosystem of processes, which presents new opportunities and challenges
that thereby allow enterprises to rethink their business model.

There have been three major transformational shifts that have resulted in
a technology ecosystem surrounding the supply chain:

1. Physical supply chain network, which represents the physicality of

the supply chain.
2. E-commerce models, which represent how monetary transactions are
conducted.
3. Virtual supply chain network, which is the structure brought about
by digitization of the physical supply chain and e-commerce models,
creating virtual supply chain business processes and digital value net-
work models.

The digital supply chain can be considered as being made up of these

three concepts. The physical supply chain, digitized by new information
technologies, enables e-commerce models that in turn enable new digital
supply chain business processes and a virtual supply chain.

Firstly, a major change caused by the digital technologies has been the
creation of e-commerce models that can enable the potential in any busi-
ness process to be monetized and charged through an online transactional
model. This perspective has been described by the B2B, B2C, and latterly
new collaborative models that use crowdsourcing (social networking and
collaboration) to generate a Consumer to Consumer (C2C) model.
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

37
Secondly, the movement of physical asset ownership to a subscription
or “pay-as-you-go”-based economic model has driven opportunities for a
leaner supply chain operation. This is achieved by exploiting supply chain
partners who may host part of the business supply chain, rather than the
enterprise investing in its own assets. The overall effect is a shift from a
physical supply chain to a more modular virtual supply chain network
operation, which has new performance potential.

Thirdly, the design of the business model is altered through the use of
digital technologies, which can extend the reach of sourcing and net-
working to customers through one or multiple channels to market. These
are not limited to physical contact but include mobile smart devices and
web marketplaces, enabling what in computing language is described as
multiplexing and multiplicity of services. This means that more products
and services can be offered to customers online, creating a wider set
of options and a broader market to sell to and service. The challenge in
building the digital enterprise is in defining the business processes and
business models that can be realized through these digital technologies.
Examples of this transformation shift in physical to virtual supply chain
can be seen across industries, many examples are illustrated in Table 1.2.

table 1.2 Examples of physical to virtual supply chain processes

Physical Business Process Virtual Business Process
Sourcing  Multi-source, co-source, crowdsource
 Outsourcing and offshore
 Marketplaces, partnerships, and alliances
Design  Collaborative design, virtual design
 Simulation
 Technology refresh, quantum disruption
 Metrics and quality
Manufacturing  Trials, to stock, to order
 Additive manufacture
 Robotics, federated
Service and Aftercare  Auto-response to service request
 Service assist and self-service
 Service augmentation – contextualization

(continued)
 38
table 1.2 Continued
Transport and Logistics  Intelligent transport networks
 Shared/co-location
Warehousing and Distribution  Auto-response
 Service assist
 Service augmentation – contextualization
 Crowdshipping
Assembly  Robotic assembly
 Integrated material supply
 Dynamic planning & control
Maintenance and Diagnostic  Smart spares and component embedded diagnostics
and geo-reporting
 Auto-lifecycle replenish management
 Research to field integration (translation)
Fuel, Materials  Smart meters
 Alternative, reusable fuels
 Sustainable materials
 Smart materials, solar panels
Compliance and Policy  Tracking and traceability
 Intelligent resource management
 Smart buildings
Sales and Marketing  Gamification
 Dynamic pricing
 Behavior analytics
Human Capital Management  Crowdsourcing knowledge management
 Offshore, near, onshore
 Multi-skilling
Social Business Models  Consumer behavior analytics/gamification
 Augmented product/services
Crowd Network Models  Open innovation, multi-process
 Crowd funding
 Virtual markets, B2B, C2B, G2B
Social Technical Models  Internet of Things – embedded technology networks
 Simulation, computer design, manufacture
Research and Development  Translation research
 Ideation incubators
 Agile to market development
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

39
Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 3:
Advanced Technology Transformation Engineering

While the information revolution and the supply chain have seen changes
through digitization, in parallel there has been continual creativity and
innovation in technology. Often it is these conjunctions that have intro-
duced new ideas that in the right circumstances have moved from incre-
mental change to disruptive technology, which is capable of redefining
whole markets and creating new products and services.

Digitization has the ability to change the nature of what is recorded, the
speed of information, and how information and experience is processed.
We will explore these themes in later chapters, but as an introduction it
is important to put this type of technological ecosystem into perspective.
In our first diagram of technological ecosystems, Figure 1.1, advanced
technology engineering transformation is at the center connecting to all
other technology ecosystems: the reason for this is that technological
innovation can impact all ecosystems (see Figure 1.2).

To illustrate this point, consider how technological innovation such as web

telepresence or 3D printing can change existing methods. One has the abil-
ity to connect us in real time and to communicate over wireless or mobile
systems to share video images and the sounds of places and people that
could be thousands of miles away. The other has enabled digital data that
defines a virtual object to be entered into a 3D printer to generate a physical
object facsimile of the digital representation. Again, this can be done poten-
tially in any location, with the printer either on the ground or even in an
orbiting space station, as long as there are the right raw materials and com-
munication protocols to understand the digital data model. What is happen-
ing in the first case is that the moment of time, the temporality, is being
altered from the physical minutes, hours, or days it would have taken for a
person to have the experience in real time. The spatial awareness and local-
ity have also shifted from the physical to the virtual, as digital technologies
can compress large-scale information about objects and spaces and recreate
these digitally. The concept of “what is real?” is introduced, in that objects
and experiences can be both physical and virtual (see Figure 1.3).
 40

Transforming Spatial Experience Transforming Temporal Experience

Days
Loci of Experience Temporal
(Mobility) augmented local Hours Granularity
environments macrostructures
Seconds

Tenths of
seconds
“Web of Networks” Spatial Awareness

macroworld microworld

telemetry, nano Past Now Future

Temporal Awareness
Realism
Millionth
of a second
synthetic life
macro
environments Trillionths
of a second

figure 1.2 The shift of time and space by advanced technology engineering transformations
 41
Loci of Experience
(Mobility) Physical
Physical Artificial
forming
Physical to Non-Living
Augmented
Virtual Object Emulation Macro
Realism
Light Wide separation Manipulation
Virtual distributed form factor of resources and sentience
reality (light resource Physical
coupling Interaction) augmentation
Digital social
(light mobility) Static complex processing
analytics to (heavy resource interaction)
outcomes Distributed
crowd design spatial awareness
Distributed
heavy connectivity scaling
spatial awareness Multiple web networks

Macro Horizontal scalable Spatial Awareness Micro Physical

Distributed Workspace Virtual distributed
Distributed Manipulation
Realism Realism Ob reality (heavy resource Realism
Merged physical/synthetic
je coupling interaction-
cts telemetry)
Augmented physical
and virtual reality
Artificial (heavy mobility, anchored) 3D printing Micro, Nano, Pico
Living Manipulation
(realism) Virtual to Small scale
Emulation Virtual forming
Heavy, tight Physical Object
Integrated close coupling Augmented integration
Creation
of resources and sentience form factor
Realism

Virtual Manipulation

figure 1.3 Advanced technology transformations changing workspace capabilities

table 1.3 Advanced technology engineering transformation

Advanced Technology Engineering Examples of Advanced Technologies
Transformations
Spatial awareness – macro-distributed Virtual digital maps
realism
Spatial awareness – micro distributed Large-scale sensors networks, for example,
realism earthquake early warning systems
Loci of experience – physical Virtual reality augmentation
augmented realism
Loci of experience - virtual Virtual (gaming) world such as Second Life or
augmented realism digital mall
Physical to virtual objects creation Digital social analytics to outcomes, crowd design
Virtual to physical objects creation 3D printing
Artificial non-living emulation Simulation and complex object analysis,
examples include 3D engineering design and
biomolecular engineering and genetic simulation
Artificial living emulation Synthetic avatars, voice emulation, artificial
intelligence
Macro manipulation – meters, tens of Robotics, mega earth movers, deep space
meters, kilometers communications and controls
Micro manipulation – micro, nano, Wearable tech, nano tech, genetic engineering
pico scale
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

42
There are many such examples that illustrate changes in the way digital
information is used and perceived. They represent a frontier of what is
possible and, importantly, a way of rethinking and reimagining the
boundaries of what is and might be possible. By its very nature it cre-
ates new kinds of technologically enabled ecosystems (see Table 1.3).
Consider these few game-changing examples.

Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 4:

Open and Proprietary Technology and Platforms

Previous technological ecosystems have been primarily based on physical

properties of technologies to transform how humans and machines work
and computation gets done. These factors can be managed commercially
through the technology standards that are placed in them for code, mes-
sages, and protocols that are used to describe and share these capabilities.
A fourth important type of technological ecosystem is based on how
these standards of openness and connected communities exist. Probably
the three key areas that have emerged to define this type of technologi-
cal ecosystem are:

Open technical architecture standards that support a range of ser-

vices that may be from third parties as well as the original equipment
owner.
Embedded technologies, which encode digital content and function-
ality into the physical objects.
Interoperability and portability standards, which enable different
brands and technology standards used in products and services to col-
laborate and work together where enabled.

Firstly, the development of open standards for the internet and mobile
and wireless networks has been the foundation for a global connected
infrastructure. HTTP, XML, URL, 3G, 4G, and others have enabled the
technical sharing of content and services that hitherto would have been
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

43
impossible without common standards for sharing data. On top of these,
standards such as Bluetooth, Near Field Communications (NFC), and
Open Application Program Interface Protocols (API) have enabled a
further explosion of connected services that run across these networks.
Proprietary technologies can exploit these standards and create their
own technology ecosystems of technology products and services. Others
can develop open platforms of shared software code and standards that
are community based. Secondly, through embedded software technolo-
gies, smart fridges, smart printers, smart lighting, smart heating, smart
rooms, and connected automobiles – as well as many other devices –
have been “enabled” to connect through networks and algorithms to
create new kinds of smart services and products. The key step is taken
when these smart objects can “talk” to one another and become a sum
of integrated experiences that enable new digital workspaces of value.
A third aspect of this ecosystem is the aim for interoperable standards.
At a basic level, IP addresses, XML, URLs, and other core schemas had to
be established in the early internet to enable it to connect in a consistent
way with end points in networks, the browsers, and devices. Without a
common understanding of standards, no notion of exchange would have
been possible. Today, these foundations have moved on to a new level
of connection and sharing of digital content for products, services, and
social exchanges, thereby creating value ahead of the earlier standards.
Furthermore, mobile networks, Wi-Fi, and NFC, to name a few new net-
work standards, are seeking to further add common standards to enable
objects in what is termed the Internet of Things to build a new genera-
tion of services.

Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 5:

Technology in the Workplace

The digital revolution we have seen in information, operating models,

and advanced technologies has the potential to reshape the spaces in
which we live and work. A fifth important technological ecosystem view
is that of the digital workplace.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

44
There have been four changes affecting the ways physical workplaces
have the potential to gain immersive new experiential systems:

Sensors and actuators that measure and affect outcomes in the

physical environment.
Interactions and visualizations of information about the environment.
Social spaces that represent the personal private and public personas.
Contextual spaces that define the moment of an event and action in
the present, past and future.

Firstly, a range of sensors including those for heat, light, movement, sound,
and many stimuli can be placed in rooms, buildings, cars, and city locations.
These devices can passively or actively collect and process signals that can
be transmitted remotely to a platform in a mobile device, a room or build-
ing management system, or a moving vehicle. Secondly, the form in which
humans can interact with and visualize this information is now multifarious.
A nice phrase to capture this concept is “10s, Tabs, Pads, Boards, Spaces and
Places,” which refers to the size of the device you can interact with. These
can range from hand-held and wearable mobile devices of 10 centimeters
or less to tablets and wall-mounted screens, and even to large crowd boards
and spaces for “live” advertising and event communications. Large stadium
and concert events can have very large-scale place screens for mass visual
communications. These capabilities combine to enable different types of
online and offline social space gathering, from social meetings to formal
working groups and marketplaces. Together they create the potential for
tactile, verbal, and augmented feedback that can enhance workplaces.

Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 6:

Enterprise Vendor Technologies

Another key viewpoint of technological ecosystems is the commercial

branding and service aspects of digital business. These create real boundaries
for commercial and technological products and services depending on how
they are bundled and offered to markets and customers.
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

45
The definition of “brand” is key in defining how providers of digital
technologies denote and define their image in the market. Whether these
help or detract, they are a fact of life in the commercial world where
image and perceptions of value are key to competitive engagement.
There are in fact thousands of commercial, governmental, community,
and charitable status companies that emerge, grow, and change over
time. The questions is how do they match their products and services to
and define them for a given market and set of needs?

Digital technology can be defined by the description of the technolo-

gies that matter to the digital enterprise and the IT vendor as well. The
marketplace is made up of a plethora of vendors who may be enabled by
their vendor capabilities to support their ecosystem of standards, prod-
ucts, and services.

Technology Ecosystem Viewpoint 7:

Privacy, Confidentiality, Security, and Trust

Our final viewpoint of technological ecosystems is cyber security and the

impact of digital content and its regulation.

Our personal data and what it means to have privacy is fundamentally

altered by digitized information about us, the objects we own or interact
with, and our relationships to other people, all of which can be copied,
transmitted, recoded, reused, and analyzed. The concept of a “digital self”
or “digital double” is becoming a reality, as the information that is pro-
vided and left online becomes the territory of privacy controls and regula-
tion. Digital information that represents your “digital persona” or “digital
self” is a kind of proxy of your physical self. At one extreme we see the
marvels of CGI on film that mimic the physical form of the human body
and facial features. Yet this kind of virtual reality is different from one’s
image and personal data being used. The “digital life” is a journey: as we
walk down a city street, we may interact with many security cameras,
Wi-Fi, and mobile network cells with our smartphones; we may access
ATMs or speak or work online, whether on websites or in marketplaces.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

46
The ecosystem of privacy
Many digital technologies have created this privacy ecosystem, and there
are numerous questions over how this ecosystem is defined, governed,
and regulated. In considering the impact of privacy we can examine the
interaction of privacy with confidentiality, security, and trust in an eco-
system context (see Figure 1.4).

In privacy, what level and control of data isolation should there be?
What level of control should an individual or organization have over
access to and use of their data by a third party? What level and control of
archive data, access in subpoenas, and data destruction should there be?
Should there be the right to be forgotten?

In confidentiality, what level and control of data disclosure to

unauthorized individuals, entities, or processes should there be? What
level and control of intellectual property containment and rights
management?

In trust, what level and control of authorization and restriction should be

provided to an individual or third party to use personal data? What level
and control of authenticity to ensure that an entity is what it claims to

Privacy

The Digital Life

Security
Trust
Controls

The Digital Self

Confidentiality

figure 1.4 PCST model of digital privacy

 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

47
be? What level of perimeterization should there be to define boundaries
for personal and corporate trust?
In security controls, what level of integrity and persistence of data
should there be – with what properties of accuracy and complete-
ness? What level and control of non-repudiation; the ability to prove a
claimed event or action and its originating entities? What level of con-
formity should there be to ensure that privacy requirements are carried
out? What level of monitoring and response should there be to planned
or unplanned security incidents, for example DDOS (distributed denial
of service) or data breach? Should there be a process to determine a
system’s integrity?

Regulation and cyber threats

The rise in digitally enabled threats and the speed of regulation to
counter cyber misuse are key issues of our time and underpin any digital
practice, individual responsibilities, and the wider market impact. How
legislation will evolve as the “connected self” traverses many formal
and informal social, business, and governmental domains remains a hot
topic in today’s media, and has significant implications for practitioners.
Figure 1.4 illustrates a wide range of levels of legislation and domains
that the internet and digital services may cut across. The “digital self”
may touch many of these domains while the physical self may only be
living in one geographical area. The figure shows the impact of digitiza-
tion on legal and commercial governance, and the implications for the
physical and digital self.

There is a big difference between your physical self and physical environ-
ment, and what you are aware of in the context of digital technology.
The wider digital ecosystem changes a person’s privacy, confidentiality,
security, and trust domains. What may be termed the “digital self” will in
the future need to consider the consequences of digital information and
online behaviors that exist as another technologically defined ecosystem.
This is already apparent today, as there are many signs of intended and
unintended impacts on individuals, social groups, enterprises, govern-
ments, and society.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

48
The Practitioners’ Digital Enterprise Technology
Constituency

We have seen in the previous section the emergence of many types of

technologically enabled ecosystems, but it is simplistic to assume that
digital is the whole story; it is actually part of wider thoughts about
ecosystems. Technological ecosystems span whole markets as well as con-
tinents, countries, and industries. Digital technologies can cluster, linking
across one or many markets and enterprises, or focus on specific social
groups and individuals. It is useful to recognize these clusters when we
explore the building blocks of a digital enterprise.

Super cluster
A grouping of technologies that span a market or set of markets
and economies that can reach and access the physical and
enable the digital economy
Local cluster
A grouping of technologies that span an enterprise or collection
of enterprises and its economic activities

It can been seen that digital technologies exist in one or more of these
technology ecosystems. These digital technologies enable a business to
cut across supply chains, workplaces, and other technologies to build new
value networks and digital capabilities.

In the case studies later in the book we will see several digital technologies
that individually or together create different architectural arrangements.

In the “super cluster” technological capabilities are constantly developing

and emerging across the local, regional, and global economies.

In our “local cluster” there are those technologies that as practitioners we

are concerned about in order to enable and build our digital enterprises.
There are many potential types of digital technologies and components
that can fit together with the social, business ethical, commercial, and other
 Trends of Technological Ecosystems

49
concerns. From our many case studies there are currently probably seven
leading candidate technologies. These will of course converge, change, and
evolve over time, but our journey begins here in building the digital enter-
prise. Examples of proprietary definitions of digital technologies include:

Mobile devices
Social media
Cloud computing
Big data
Internet of Things
Machine learning
Cyber security
Augmented reality
Virtual reality
Artificial intelligence

Chapter Summary

In this chapter we have explored the meaning of technological ecosys-

tems and the development of the digital technology constituency. In
the next chapter we will start to unpack the meaning of digitization and
begin to define digital workspaces.
 2 te
r
ap

Digital Workspace
ch

Concepts

Chapter Introduction

In our everyday lives we seek out meaning in the communication and

interactions we have, with little thought as to how this works. Yet to
a computer the act of natural language processing and “speaking” is a
highly complex and difficult task. The subtle nuances of a facial expres-
sion, the tone of a human voice, the use of body language in the gesture
of a hand or a touch is used to convey much direct and unspoken cultural
information. Will machines ever have the empathy to understand and
emotionalize these same features? Will machines have the cognitive ability
to understand more than direct procedural instructions or to comprehend
the ambiguity and intonation that often goes alongside natural language?
These are perhaps goals of many cybernetic research projects today; it is
a realistic frontier for the development of a union between the physical
world and the technological world. This journey is a series of steps in the
encoding of basic data into more sophisticated forms of transactions and
then on to complex language and representations of the physical world in
virtual environments. This journey has already begun, with the explosion
in digital data from devices, sensors across the internet, and the myriad of
software applications. Through images, emails, video, and web pages, we
are describing our lives and the places we visit, live in, and work in.
50
 Digital Workspace Concepts

51
It is this key idea that sits behind the notion that the physical workplaces
we inhabit are being digitized into virtual environments. How do we
represent this development as the many devices and sensors collect data,
and move this to the internet and the myriad of software applications?

In this chapter we will explore the progress of key ideas in informa-

tion to describe physical work and what it means for building a digital
enterprise. We will examine some theories of information, then introduce
ideas about how digitization changes the perception of the physical
space and moments in time. We describe these as spatial and temporal
changes that are caused by the characteristics of digital information that
we examined in the previous chapter. These features have the ability to
change how humans and machines interact with each other and to trans-
form their environments.

This chapter covers the following topics:

The human–machine interface

The semiotics ladder
Contextualization of objects, places, and actions
The changing space and time of our environment
Digital capabilities and digital spaces
Perception and space
Aesthetics and spaces

The Human–Machine Interface

Semantics is the field of study relating to the meaning of things. The

word is derived from the Ancient Greek word σημαντικóς (semantikos),
“related to meaning, significant,” from σημαíνω semaino, “to signify, to
indicate,” which in turn is from σŋ~μα sema, “sign, mark, token.” The plu-
ral is used in analogy with words similar to physics, which was the neuter
plural in Ancient Greek and meant “things relating to nature.” Semantics
is often related to language semantics, where the meaning of human
expression through language defines how information is interpreted
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

52
and communicated. Language is critical to both humans and machines
such as computers, both of which need to understand and communicate
through a common language notation. Clearly there are many differences
between machine code language and human language, and information
and meaning are conveyed, interpreted, translated, and enacted in many
different ways. To some extent this is one of the core issues facing digiti-
zation and human–machine boundaries that this book touches on. Indeed
many machine systems involving computation and devices are based on
machine-to-machine interaction that does not involve human intermedi-
aries. This does not negate the importance of systems and their human
benefits. I am speaking of the differences in semantic notation and com-
munication that are a means to an end, enabling such interfaces and inte-
gration to work. At a basic level Figure 2.1 illustrates these interfaces.1
Human-to-human communication protocols include natural language,
written language, signage and visual notations, body language, olfactory
language, and augmented language, such as clothing and rituals. These
have evolved over many thousands of years and represent the complex
nuances of human behavior and societal norms and values. The intro-
duction of mechanization and, importantly, machinery, which enabled

Human to Machine to
Machine Entity Machine Machine
H-M M-M

Interpreter

Human to Machine to
Human Human
Human Entity
H-H M-H

Communication Protocols
Human Entity Machine Entity

figure 2.1 Human–machine boundaries

 Digital Workspace Concepts

53
human and information communications and the communication and
interpretation of the meanings and actions of human and non-human
contextual information has made a profound difference.

To some extent this basic determination of machine and human interfaces

is misleading in a digital ecosystem, in that there can be many-to-many
relationships in the digital world. Many participating websites, content
owners, mobile devices, connected systems, and humans represent a
more diverse and distributed environment that is more representative
of the real world. Millions of interactions are enabled through networks
and digital technologies in every minute of the day. It is these collective
interfaces that enable a far grander scale of machine-to-machine and
human-to-human interaction. Understanding how these ecosystems
of digital collectiveness work is a key issue in architecting both digital
enterprises and in understanding how economy functions and grows in
a digital way. These connections enable a kind of community intelligence
that reflects the collective behavior of individuals who are connected in
human-to-human communications through a machine interface medium
such as a social network.

Both human-to-machine and machine-to-human interfaces have moved

rapidly beyond the handset of a telephone or a television in the corner
of a room. New visualization systems enabled by digital effects of light,
image, sound, and transport can change how machines interact with
humans. Smartphones, and embedded sensors in doors, rooms, and cars
enable humans to interface with machines increasingly through body
movement and status, room location or environment, and with tactile
and natural language options as well as touchscreen and text interfaces to
exchange and gain information.

The Semiotics Ladder

The modern foundations of meaning and language are typically based on

what is termed a semiotic framework, which defines the various compo-
nents of language, including syntax, semantics, and pragmatics. Semiotics
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

54
is broadly defined as the study of meaning-making, and while this is
primarily to do with the use of signs and symbols, it is often applied to
understanding the fundamental building blocks of language and its use in
understanding meaning.

The semiotics framework, sometimes called the semiotics ladder, is based

on the original work of Professor Charles Morris, an American philoso-
pher,2 who in 1938 introduced a semiotic model, and Professor Ronald
Stamper, who in 1973 expanded it so it applies to information systems
(IS) and information technology (IT).3 Figure 2.2 provides a useful
visualization of levels of language meaning from an information systems
perspective. Our definition of digital ecosystems is not restricted to infor-
mation systems or to social aspects in the traditional sense of enterprise
software usage, but can encompass a wider set of data and information
about things, places, and relationships.

Figure 2.2 is useful in illustrating the bridging of the information system

concepts of semantics and the social and physical material worlds that
digitization seeks to define.

People
Social World Social aspects
activities

Pragmatic Usage

Information
systems
Semantic Meaning

Syntactic Structure

Empiric Information access channel

IT
systems Physical World
Information carrier/media

figure 2.2 Semiotics ladder (adapted from Stamper 1973)

 Digital Workspace Concepts

55
Stamper described an elevation of stages in his semiotics ladder, defining
the meaning and importantly the outcome context or pragmatics.
Fundamentally, at a basic level there would be raw data and informa-
tion about objects and events, but at higher levels forms of information
insight and knowledge about relationships, meaning, and intelligence can
be generated and interpreted.

Objects
At its basic level there are objects that exist in this world. The term “mor-
phological” relates to the shape, dimensions, and location of an object.
The empirical data of the object are the characteristics that define its
dimensionality and properties.

Syntax
The syntactic level is the set of rules that are used to construct a sen-
tence to describe an object. For example in information technology, a
data schema is used to describe information about an object. The famous
American linguist Noam Chomsky described syntax as the study of the
principles and processes by which sentences are constructed in particular
languages.4

Semantics
The semantics level is the definition of the meaning of information.
Semantics is often split into two areas: logical semantics is concerned
with making sense, and referring to assumptions about a object or
situation; lexical semantics is concerned with the analysis of meaning
and the relations between catalogs of words that make up language used
to describe mean, the lexicon. In a general sense the field of semantics
seeks to provide consistent identifiers of objects and communications,
such that the meaning is consistent to all involved in the communication.
Endeavors such as the Semantic Web or Web 3.0,5 and universal tags
and indexes seek to establish common standards for objects not just in
the structure of the syntax but also aiming to provide standards for the
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

56
meaning of those objects so that machines can understand the objects.
Many industries today have universal barcode and credit card payment
standards that enable transactions to be executed between parties who
only need to understand the protocols and syntax of these standards.
Indeed, Tim Berners-Lee described the Semantic Web as a component of
a wider movement called the Web 3.0 movement,6 which aims to estab-
lish not just access to the vast data online but make intelligent services
available across the net. The goal is the same for digital enterprise and
digital ecosystems. While the terms Semantic Web and Web 3.0 are used
interchangeably,7 our definition of digital ecosystems is an implementa-
tion of these, but aiming to push into a wider practitioner perspective
that takes into account how such concepts fit the real world via the next
level, which is pragmatics.

Pragmatics
Pragmatics is about how a situation contributes to the meaning.
Pragmatics has sometimes been described as a meta-language, which
is used to describe specific signs and their usages. In 2007 a semiot-
ics researcher, Daniel Chandler, described the transition of data into
information as something done by human beings and not computers.
Chandler’s contribution was to describe the difference between seman-
tics and pragmatics as the model of representation. Philosophically, it
is open to debate whether machines can truly understand meaning, a
subject involving artificial intelligence and the meaning of cognitive
sentience which is outside our scope here. The key difference between
semantics and pragmatics is in the modality and representation.8
Modality here refers to the method and the medium through which
something is defined in the specific context of a situation. Knowledge
alone is not enough to define the meaning of an object. For example,
finding and reading a book, visualizing the printed words, then translat-
ing this in the brain into what these words mean is the context of “how
I am reading.” The words themselves are rendered in the book, but are
meaningless without the context of the act of reading and then their
interpretation by the reader. The meta-language of how we describe the
 Digital Workspace Concepts

57
pragmatics of this context is the complete environment: the book, the
person, the chair, the room, and the act of reading and understanding.
All these things come together in this moment in time, the place and
the location in the physical sense.

Earlier we looked at the evolution of information theory and the impact

of digitization on this journey. The semiotics ladder is a concept that
describes the increasing stages of information and their relationships
to meaning, culminating in the reality of knowledge and action in a
purposeful way at the pragmatic level. Figure 2.3 illustrates this develop-
ment of knowledge: it is adapted from work by Ambrose, Ramaprasad,
and Rai on the use of distributed knowledge.9

The “theory of knowledge” is the span of data and information that

describes objects and their relationships up the semiotics ladder.
Knowledge becomes more detailed and sophisticated as it represents
increasing degrees of connectedness and reality. Likewise, the “theory of
being” is developed from defining facts and figures about objects and
“things” to increasing levels of representation, showing how these objects
and “things” connect with relationships and into meaningful relations
and actions. The ability to generate value and worth becomes potentially
greater as the levels of information and purposeful action are enabled
through these stages of information. This can be seen as a shift in think-
ing about data and information. Non-contextual data can be regarded
as generic data that is not associated with the moment in time or the
person or desired action. To move away from being generic to specific
about a situation and a person’s need is described as being contextual.
This is where data is interpreted and converted into meaningful informa-
tion that is useful and enables purpose to the person or action at that
space and time moment. A simple example is when we receive a cold call
from a salesperson or we get a list of products from a shop that we may
need or want. These are non-contextual, generic to the moment. On the
other hand, if we receive an inquiry about a specific product that meets
a person’s need or want at that moment, it is contextual: it is relevant to
that situation.
 58

s
ce t
s pa men y “Theory of being”
or k le vit
W tang e cti Ontological layers
en nn Knowledge
Co Pragmatic level
& & Action Purposeful
n
tio ity
cep tiv
r ra
Pe n e
Ge Meaning Semantic level Contextual

Relationships Syntactic level Non-contextual

Morphological
Objects “Theory of Knowledge” Facts & things
level

Basic Epistemological layers Rich

Actors, relations, devices, objects, sensory objects

figure 2.3 Evolution of information theory (adapted from P. Ambrose et al. 2003)
 Digital Workspace Concepts

59
Moving from non-contextual to contextual meaning
Facts and things - the basic raw data and entities.
Non-contextual – generic information about the needs and wants
but not directly relatable.
Contextual – specific information to the needs and wants of the
moment.
Purposeful – specific information that is actionable for value and
worth generating.

Contextualization of Objects, Places, and Actions

As one might expect with semiotics, there may be many different ways
to define the meaning of objects: social meaning, implied or emotive
meaning, cultural meaning, and others. These differences can be created
through different cultural and social norms. Describing an object, or the
significance of a statement or gesture, may have different meaning in
different cultures and societies. In human communication, the meaning
may be direct or implied by nuances. These things are complicated for
machines, yet in order for technology to provide context to our living
spaces and experiences, it has to climb the semiotics ladder. This can
involve basic conversations that name objects and images, and then the
language of sentences and commands and a more complex recognition
of meaning.

The basic level of semiotics is concerned with defining what an object

is. For example, I may describe an object as a “hot cup of coffee” or as
“a beverage within a container,” but the meaning of my description may
not be interpreted the same by all entities. The semiotics ladder helps
us illustrate this interpretation as we look at the syntax, semantics, and
pragmatics of meaning. In Table 2.1 the context of meaning becomes
more sophisticated as we ascend the semiotics ladder.

Ambiguity can exist in the number of permutations of the meaning of

“a hot cup of coffee,” driven by the nature of what and where the coffee
is consumed. The context drives the meaning and purpose.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

60
table 2.1 What is the context of “a hot cup of coffee”?
OBJECT CONTEXT OF MEANING
 Syntax – “objects and things”
○ Size, shape, or the cup
○ Type of coffee: espresso, Americano, decaf?
 Semantics – “what”
○ I am asking for a cup of coffee in a shop
○ Which coffee am I selecting from a vending machine?
 Pragmatics – “how”
○ The cup is hot and you could burn yourself
○ Do I want a hot coffee or a cold beverage?
○ The taste of the coffee is hot, like chili
○ I want to celebrate with a hot cup of coffee

In Table 2.1 we see a cup of coffee, but a machine interface needs to

understand and interpret this. Indeed, there have been great strides
in image recognition, so much so that airports and search engines can
scan images of human faces and complex objects to match patterns for
recognition. Further information about objects can be gained by sensors.
For example, embedded temperature sensors could enhance information
about the object. A “smart cup,” for example, could have a built-in heat
sensor and another sensor that could detect the liquid’s level in the cup.
The temperature sensor could automatically detect the temperature
and alert the user to its contents, saying “too hot” or “getting cold.” The
liquid level sensor could order a refill or suggest a different beverage
via a connection to a mobile app. Yet for all these advances in sensors,
does this enable the semantics and pragmatics of the situation to be fully
understood? Are all scenarios for a cup of coffee defined? Are all desired
outcomes covered? As we can see, there are many potential outcomes,
and it is for this reason that in the design and development of digital
workspaces we are seeking to establish better outcomes from information
at every level from the objects, content, status, relations to users, and
environment. This is a recurring theme that is seen in many modern digi-
tal enterprise scenarios, where the issue of digital enablement has moved
beyond syntax and basic semantic indexing to more advanced semantics
and pragmatics in order to create what we describe as the contextualiza-
tion of information; that is, information relevant and in context for the
user’s situation and desired outcomes.
 Digital Workspace Concepts

61
Contextualization
The process by which semantic meaning can be identified and
imparted into the situation at hand

At an object level, information standards are continually evolving to

define data and transactions such as credit cards, bank accounts, product
barcodes, map reference locations, and city and street names. In the
digital world, electronic schema standards are also emerging to record
and standardize how geographic and merchant data can be recorded and
exchanged. Internet traffic and digital messages and images are only pos-
sible through the creation and acceptance of common standards. These
may be specific to a technology hardware or software or be an “open
standard” that is non-proprietary and available for general use.

The key point here is that the use of common syntax is an essential step
in being able to create and establish universal agreement. The utopian
world view of being able to describe any object in any human or machine
language and situation, and it being instantly translated into a universal
language, like the “babel fish” in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by
Douglas Adams,10 is still yet to fully emerge. Perhaps this may not be
so far fetched, as recent announcements by Microsoft and Google have
referred to online translation with SkypeTM and Google translate, which
they say are moving toward real-time multilingual speech conversion.

Every day humans create contextual information to bring meaning to

situations and actions. We bring together information from different
offline and online sources. We develop social networks both in the
physical sense and through online co-presence with others. Community
intelligence builds as the exchange of information starts to be contex-
tualized by the grouping of people, either through “tagging” or “by
association.” Information reinforcement occurs as crowd behavior and
viewing habits drive the popularity of certain types of information and
events over others.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

62
The Digital User Experience (UX) and Customer
Experience (CX)

The connection between human and non-human technologies has

been described in recent years as a kind of digital entanglement.
In the previous section we explored context and meaning. This is
important in that it impacts the user experience that is created and
interpreted.

Using a holistic approach to UX design and the CX we can start to explore

how the human–machine boundary is changing through the process of
digitization. What we see is an entanglement of human activities and
digital capabilities in organizational routines that are becoming ever more
empowering and transformational.11

Let us start by exploring the contexts of digital entanglement. I will use

the following definitions:

User Experience (UX)

The interaction of the human and a device or sensor through
a user interface (UI) to affect the human-experienced
outcomes. This is defined as the UX agency of the device or
sensor in the context of the location and time. This agency
can also apply to other forms of actor, including non-living
objects such as software program agents that work with
the device or sensor autonomously by a machine protocol
or algorithm, or semi-autonomously through control of a
human.
Customer Experience (CX)
The human in the context of their living environment and
the human-experienced outcomes caused by interaction
with other humans and objects in that environment context,
location, and time.
 Digital Workspace Concepts

63
table 2.2 Space, time, context example definitions
Multiple CX and UX Contexts

Space – where Time – when Semantic – what

 The location of the  The moments before  Motivations before the need to
coffee cup deciding to get a coffee obtain a coffee
 The location of the  The moment of selecting  The searching for the type of
coffee table the location of the coffee coffee required
 The location of the  The moment of selecting  The cost and time of travel to
coffee shop the type of coffee the coffee shop
 The location of the  The moment of paying for  The social meeting of others
road where the the coffee who might be in the same
coffee shop is sited  The moment when the coffee shop
 The location of the coffee is taken to and  The payment methods for the
town or city where placed on the table coffee
the road and coffee  The moment the coffee is  The types of facilities in the
shop are sited consumed coffee shop
 The region  The moments after the  The other services in the
 The country coffee is consumed coffee shop following coffee
consumption
 The related services outside the
coffee shop

Using our cup of coffee example we might describe user experience con-
text in three ways (see Table 2.2).

1. The spatial location of where we might order and drink a cup of coffee.
2. The time before, during, and after we consume the coffee.
3. The semantically described reasons why and how we consume the cup
of coffee.

We will see as we explore the digitization of space, time, and semantic

meaning to create multiple contexts, that things can become radically
different as the virtual world entangles with physical objects and places.

A day in the life of living next door to a “smart photocopier”

In the room next door to my office there is a “smart photocopier”
that is connected to the internet. The machine automatically
detects when its ink cartridge is getting low and sends out an
email to reorder a new printer cartridge. Ordering online stocks
is fast and convenient, and as a consumable item does not need
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

64

to be authorized for purchase approval or regularly checked by

operators, the embedded sensors in the photocopier are able
to do this job. The following day the cartridge parcel arrives by
recorded delivery, but no one is available to collect and sign for
it. I offer to sign for it in the absence of anyone else available, and
it is placed in my room with a note left under the door saying
“I signed for the photocopy in the absence of any available
human...”

This story shows us that there is a big difference between UX and the
overall CX. Whereas the UX is the checking, ordering, and delivery of the
photocopier supplies, the end-to-end flow of different actors, organiza-
tional departments, and work routines affect the overall outcome of the
CX. It may be a trivial example, but it illustrates that UX and CX design is
a key part of enabling the smart photocopier, smart fridge, or smart TV
to automate steps in the reordering of components or to make suitable
suggestions.

As we will see in the digital enterprise case studies, though, it is possible

to create digital workspaces that can directly affect outcomes for indi-
viduals and an enterprise.

For example, multi-modal traffic and transport arrival times can be

optimized; patient healthcare delivery can be remotely supported; retail
products and metropolitan services can be enabled with smart techno-
logy to assist the smooth operation of living spaces and consumption.
These are increasingly linked by digital technologies that affect economic
and social outcomes. Digital entanglement matters in the way that con-
text is enabled in objects, locations, and an organization’s routines and
procedures.

Let us start to explore this digital entanglement as a way to define

workspaces that are enabled through digital technologies. We can divide
this into social, business, and knowledge contexts to illustrate how this is
changing physical workplaces into digital workspaces.
 Digital Workspace Concepts

65
Social context
Building on the cup of coffee analogy, let us return to a contextual set-
ting. In the social context there can be many devices and sensors that are
immersed in and connected to the social experience.

Examples of digital workspaces can include smart rooms and building

facilities that enable social gatherings with ambient lighting, humidity
controls, and wireless connectivity.

Room artifacts such as smart tabletops with interactive displays, wireless

charging, and location tracking for meeting coordination and time pro-
ductivity tracking.

Room walls and windows can become dynamic viewing boards for virtual
telepresence meetings and information display communication boards.

Wearable technology can monitor social connections and shared social

experiences.

Multiple contexts can drive customer outcomes to gain better social expe-
rience and higher productivity of meetings and social interactions.

Business context
The presence of consumers and providers in the immediate physical
location as well as digital connectivity to supply chains of products and
services enable new commercial, technical, and ethical models.

Digital workspaces can develop automated reordering and stock control of

products and services.

Dynamic services can be created for customers in the context of a meeting

place through personalized recommendations and dynamic “menus” and
promotions, to assist and augment the customer experience.

Smart point of sale devices and sensors can be used in fixed locations and
in smartphone applications to drive service efficiencies and customer loy-
alty programs.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

66
Location facilities can create immersive brand images, smart art, and dynamic
advertising boards.

Information about visitors and consumption habits can be collected and

analyzed for improvements of productivity and targeted services.

Employee smart badges and wearable assistant devices can help provide
employee assistance and tracking.

Multiple contexts across business locations, outlets, and points of cus-

tomer contact can drive improved customer experience outcomes. Business
operations and partner collaboration can be augmented to create co-
benefits and co-innovation across product and service locations.

Knowledge context
Today mobile devices and embedded sensors allow a potential revolution
in the ability to collect and bring knowledge and insight to locations
and contexts remotely. The knowledge context of digital entanglement
has never been felt more keenly in the way social and business behavior
models have shifted thanks to the use of digital technology.

Examples of knowledge augmentation in context are wide and varied,

including mobile and tablet devices with local proximity connectivity in
order to sense their environment.

Rooms, buildings, and whole cities can have connected spaces covered
by mobile and wireless infrastructure with telemetry for heat, light, CO2 ,
nitrogen, and consumption and wastage data.

Wearable technology can create wellbeing and health information and

behavior incentives as well as monitoring and driving social value.

Objects including automobiles, engines, buses, trains, ships, and aircraft

extend the envelope of digitization to include services on the move
through local, regional, and global travel.

Proximity between local and remote locations can span and connect social
information-sharing.
 Digital Workspace Concepts

67
The many contexts of knowledge create new forms of customer experi-
ence outcomes.

Building digital capabilities from digital spaces

In this section we have explored the ideas of information theory and con-
cepts of contextualization. Digital technologies pervade physical locations
and objects, creating new user and customer experiences.

One goal is understanding how this digital entanglement works in practi-

cal terms.12

How do the organizational routines become digitized?

How is this scalable across multiple contexts?
How do human activities and digital capabilities become entangled
across contexts?
How does technology become entangled in patterns of practice we
can learn and share?

The next step is to start to define how the enterprise builds these digital
workspaces.

Cognitive understanding and co-presence are no longer just in physical

moments of human-to-human presence, but can be created and “held in
virtual space” through digital entanglement.

Interpretation is not a one-way process. The act of participating in the

activity by definition makes you part of that activity.

In developing a working digital architecture for a digital enterprise we

need to break the situation down into its constituent building blocks. It
has been long considered that “Understanding the building block is requi-
site to designing the wall.”13

Semantic construction is a key concept in complex systems analysis and

requirements management.14,15 This book seeks to define principles from
practitioners to show how digital systems are constructed.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

68
In the next section we will explore the evolution of enterprise architec-
ture and show how digital technologies are changing the nature of enter-
prise technology design.

We will then explore how the concepts of contextualization are put to

practical use in the design of workspaces, the digital content, and its use
through time. These new digital workspaces are a building block for a
modern digital enterprise and the digital economy.

Enterprise Software Practice Evolution

For a practitioner in business systems development, the use of technol-

ogy to enable new types of business processes is at the core of architec-
tural systems engineering.

Selection, functional design, coding development, testing, and migra-

tion to the production environment are all key. With digital technologies
involved in website design and mobile applications, for example, the use
of rapid prototyping techniques, often described as fourth generation
software techniques, use stored software code and visualization of the
end user screen has rapidly changed systems development. These tools
and practices have enabled the development time for general commercial
software in some cases to become a matter of days and weeks.

This is not to say that all software development is rapid: large and
complex enterprise applications can have many software modules and
components. Examples of these in outliers of the gaming industry use
advanced graphics design, and the advances in complex data analytics
require specialist skills and resource-intensive computational processing
power and data management. What is changing through digitization is
the enabling of rapid enterprise-class software development.

Back in 2009, Salesforce.com was reported at a press analyst event by CEO,

Marc Benioff, to have more than 55,000 enterprise customers, 1.5 million
individual subscribers, running on 30 million lines of third-party code, and
hundreds of terabytes of data all running on 1,000 machines. Amazon’s
 Digital Workspace Concepts

69
Web Services, in comparison, runs on 100,000 machines.16 Today these are
much larger: for example, in 2013 Google, with the market value of $290
billion, has over 12 data centers around the world processing 20 petabytes
of user-generated data per day, running 24 hours a day, seven days a
week.17,18 The technology ecosystem includes 900 million Android devices
and has passed 1 million Android apps.19, 20

Data analytics are now a major business tool for social business behavior
analysis, for retailers, social media, financial services, and many other
industries. For example, Walmart reportedly handles more than 1 million
customer transactions every hour containing more than 2.5 petabytes
(2,560 terabytes) of data. Walmart Labs have used this data to create
products such as “Social Genome” for improved semantic search in its
e-commerce and m-commerce channels, “ShoppyCart” for social gift sug-
gestions, and “Get on the Shelf”, a crowdsourcing product ideas model
that drives new customer product experiences.21, 22, 23

In financial services, global payments systems provider MasterCard aggregates

and analyzes 65 billion transactions from 15 billion cardholders in 201 coun-
tries to identify business and consumer trends. In a briefing at the GigaOM
Structure Data 2013 Conference in New York, Gary Keams, Group Executive,
Information Services, MasterCard Worldwide, explained how big data is used
by retailers to help drive co-brand growth and core business sales.24

Apart from social influence models, big data analytics is being used in
extreme speed and volume scenarios that are made possible by advanced
computing technology and its lower cost. Real-time transactions in
financial services’ high-frequency trading (HFT) compute rapid trading
decisions and automated fund timing, price, and quantity of buy and
sell orders, in many cases initiating the order automatically by computer
algorithm. Such machine-to-machine (M2M) processing has caused some
industry observers to raise concerns about the control of trading and its
impact on the stock market.

Machine learning (ML) algorithms are not limited to the financial mar-
ket. We regularly use embedded sensors and embedded machine code
algorithms in smartphones and tablets to get feedback from location data,
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

70
weather forecasts, fitness apps, and heart rate monitors. In the automotive
industry, the “connected car” has an array of electronic embedded sen-
sors that may affect between 30 and 50 different on-board and external
systems. The president of Ford, Stephen Odell, says, “Cars are the smart-
phones of the future. There are many untapped opportunities for mobile
to play a role in advanced automated driving.”25
In the field of large data set analysis, there have been high-profile exam-
ples in astronomy, earth climate change forecasting, and medical research.
NASA’s Large Synoptic Telescope Survey starts in 2016 and will collect 140
terabytes every five days.26 A recent OECD report into the cost of decod-
ing the human genome can be digitized in less than a day, a feat that
would have been cost prohibitive ony a few years ago. DNA sequencers
have divided the sequencing cost by 10,000 in the last ten years, which is
100 times quicker than the reduction in cost predicted by Moore’s Law.27

Evolution of Software Techniques – Toward “Digital

Convergence”

The speed of computation and digital data growth is predicted to acceler-

ate in the next few years. The increase in high-volume data versus practical
considerations such as latency, error rates of data quality and accuracy, com-
putational accuracy, and network bandwidth to cope with the volume of
data collection and aggregation, will be critical to the performance of these
systems.28 This increasing scale and complexity will impact how digital
technologies can perform effectively. Yet we must also embrace ideas that
represent the new world and not be constrained by the old definitions of
physical materiality.29 David Thorburn, MIT Professor of Literature and
Director of the MIT Communications Forum, wrote about this in The Web
Paradox about the contradictory nature of the web (internet).

The computer encourages joining, interaction, sharing, the

creation of communities of interest; yet it is also congenial to
our uncivic preferences for isolation, the avoidance of human
 Digital Workspace Concepts

71
contact, solipsism, “lurking”, voyeurism. Through its power to
confer anonymity, it feeds instincts for scandal, revenge, name-
calling, surveillance, pornography.
It is the best of Webs, the worst of Webs. It promises,
simultaneously, to become the Agora, True Democracy, but also
Big Brother. Do I contradict myself? says the American poet, very
well then I contradict myself. I am large, I contain multitudes.
It is easy to misconceive the import of such discourse about the
Web’s contradictory nature, and especially its power to threaten
such vital conceptual and psychological boundaries as “near” and
“far,” “presence” and “absence,” “body” and “self,” “real” and “artificial.”
We must understand the impact of the digital and social impact of
the web when we add the term “virtual” that is now fundamental
to our experience of computers: virtual environment, virtual
community, virtual reality.
David Thorburn, MIT, 1998, extract from The Web Paradox.30

As practitioners using the web of technologies, it is a path we must travel

to navigate through the endless possibilities. As practitioners we have
to understand how the early stages of software code development and
hardware have evolved and will continue to advance into the new virtual
environments, virtual communities, and virtual reality that they are ena-
bling. Many of the case studies in this book are testament to the fact that
digital technology has progressed from a technological foundation to a
truly immersive experience.

In practice there are many software and hardware techniques that are
in evidence today that cross between “developer-led” software coding
practices and the “consumer-led use” of devices and infrastructure. As a
result, software and hardware are converging to leverage the old software
coding styles and the new performance of scalable hardware architec-
tures “in the cloud.” Gary Lyon, Chief Innovation Officer of MasterCard
Labs, MasterCard Worldwide, described this phenomenon as “digital
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

72
Key characteristics
Modular, scalable
software and hardware
Contextual location-based
2010–20s services, hardware and objects
Social media Digital convergence/digital platforms
Massive distributed Augmented/artificial intelligence
server clusters
Mobility visualization
Parametric computation Digital Workspaces
Early artificial
intelligence
2000–10s
Machine learning
Algorithms Data Analytical
Abstracted software Started
and hardware 1980–90s
Rapid GUI, web design Fifth Generation
Client-Server
Digital
Started
Ecosystems
1970–80s
Fourth Generation

figure 2.4 Software and hardware development techniques

convergence.”31 It is the bringing together of digital solutions and services

into the place and context of your customers and partners. These have
emerged from the earlier foundations of software and hardware engineer-
ing practices into the converged physical and virtual world of user experi-
ence and social business analytics, and beyond into digital platforms. This
can be seen as a journey of four distinct ideas or phases in information
systems technology development, spanning technological to business and
then into social and societal convergence (see Figure 2.4).

Fourth-Generation Software Developments and

Techniques

Fourth-generation software techniques are based on software development

platforms and code tools that broadly aim to rapidly develop software
code independent of the hardware platform. Fourth-generation languages
can perform a range of program tasks from database queries and report
generation to data manipulation and mathematical analysis as well as
Graphical User Interface (GUI) design. Languages such as SQL, ABAP,
FOCUS, OpenROAD, SAS, and code generators Perl, Python, Ruby, and
many others are available today. Business Process Management (BPM)
 Digital Workspace Concepts

73
has been a strong advocate of this style of development, using graphical
notation to develop workflow algorithms with BPML (Business Process
Modeling Language), BPEL (Business Process Execution Language), and
various software-specific languages in BPMS (Business Process Management
Systems) tools. BPM is sometimes described not as software engineering
but a variation focused on business and technologists who are designing
how work operations function and the user tasks engineering involved in
achieving this, where the software is but one part of this enablement.32

Examples of fourth-generation software and hardware developments and

techniques:

Scrum software development methodology, which used an interactive

and incremental agile software development framework. The direct
user or representative worked together with the software developer to
rapidly define requirements and prototype the screens and workflows.
The key feature is that it progressively builds solutions.
UX development methodology, where the focus is on human user
interaction. Techniques such as “user journeys” and “wireframes” are
used to design how the user uses the system to enable user experience
outcome.
Fourth-generation languages have a high level of abstraction from the
hardware they run on, and therefore have high level natural language.
Cross-platforming, where code written to run on Apple iOS, for exam-
ple, can also run on Android, Symbian, Blackberry, or Windows phones
in the mobile device operating system.
Software development kit (SDK) uses prebuilt code and visual “drag-
and-drop” features to design database queries, report generation,
screen interaction, data manipulation, high-level graphics capabilities,
and automated generation of the Graphical User Interface (GUI) or
web page development using advanced software tools.
“WYSIWYG,” the what you see is what you get principle of design and
visual rendering, so that the final result on the end device matches the
mobile, tablet, or large-screen device. The code is able to detect and
change format dynamics with different device screen sizes.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

74
Integrated Development Environment (IDE), where the code libraries
and distribution are managed automatically.
Automated Deployment is automatically generated software code,
which compiles and produces the code for use in the product.
Disposable software, where code is generated rapidly, and rather than
being edited any changes can be rewritten automatically.

Fifth-Generation Software Developments and

Techniques

Fifth-generation software development techniques are based on solv-

ing problems using constraints given to a program, rather than using
an algorithm written by the programmer. Whereas fourth-generation
languages are designed to build specific programs, fifth-generation
languages are designed to make the computer solve a given problem
without the programmer. Fifth-generation languages are used mainly
in artificial intelligence, and examples include Lisp, Prolog, STRIPS, and
POP-11. The development of AI concepts has seen the rise of neural
network computing and the move toward cognitive computing, a
branch of cybernetics. Robotic sensors and actuators in seeing, sens-
ing, scanning, and in self-driving autonomous units and manipulation
devices have pushed the boundary of spatial, auditory, and visual
awareness in computing.33

Examples of fifth-generation software and hardware developments and

techniques:

Parallel Processing, using multi-core computing processors and technics

such as multi-threading processing with specialized software operating
systems to execute complex computation found in supercomputing
and high-performance computing (HPC). Parallel process in this con-
text is used in parallel computing, a technique for conducting complex
calculations by splitting them into individual smaller parts and process-
ing them in parallel, then recombining to gain the final result.34
 Digital Workspace Concepts

75
Logic Processing, a mathematical approach used in ProLog to determine
whether or not a given statement follows logically from other given
statements.
Heuristic Processing, a technique designed for solving a problem more
quickly when classic methods are too slow, or for finding an approxi-
mate solution when classic methods fail to find any exact solution. This
is achieved by trading optimality, completeness, accuracy, or precision
for speed, obtaining faster overall computational results.
Neural networks or neural network computing is an artificial set of com-
putational “nodes” based on the concept of the neuron structure of the
brain. It is designed as a computational model based on the biological
brain to solve certain kinds of problems, typically pattern recognition,
which are “easy-for-a-human, difficult-for-a-machine” tasks. Applications
for this range from optical character recognition (turning printed or
handwritten scans into digital text) to facial recognition.35
Cognitive computing is a methodology for computing complex situa-
tions that are characterized by ambiguity and uncertainty to provide
human-assisted context support. It uses a combination of technolo-
gies and techniques to link data analysis and adaptive page displays
to adjust the content to the particular type of audience, the context.
Cognitive computing systems seek to redefine the role of the computa-
tion as an assistant or coach for the user, and they may act virtually
autonomously in many problem-solving situations.36
Swarm intelligence is an approach to using self-organized systems by
decentralized collective behavior.37 It is a form where robotic agents with
basic rules are able to act as a multi-agent of behavior. This behavior is
found in nature in examples that include ant colonies, bird flocking, ani-
mal herding, bacterial growth, and fish shoals. Human crowd behavior
can exhibit swarm behavior and social preference clustering based on the
collective behavior and interactions of a crowd. “Swarm prediction” can
be used in the context of forecasting problems.
Robotics is a field that involves advances in electro-mechanical manipu-
lation and environmental augmentation through artificial automated
machine response. Many examples of industrial and commercial robots
may be seen, ranging from manufacturing, materials handling, and
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

76
basic home appliances. The term “android” or a synthetic organism
designed to look and act like a human, especially with a body that has
a flesh-like resemblance has remained largely in the realm of science
fiction. Recent advances in software-based avatars emulating a virtual
person, as described in the Turing test,38 and cybernetics have aimed
to provide early examples of realistic humanoid robots and human
empathetic behavior emulation.39

Data Analytical Software Developments and

Techniques

Data analytical software development techniques have pushed past the

restrictions of slower relational databases to process large quantities
of data. “Big data,” as it is generically termed, provides a wide range
of correlations and insight and services beyond the transactional and
informational aspects of data. To some extent, this has emerged from
the use of fourth-generation languages’ mathematical computation
requirements and fifth-generation languages’ attempts to calculate cor-
relations. These have converged with emerging new hardware in operat-
ing systems and massive scalable storage, memory, and computational
clusters. These capabilities, a branch of high-performance computing
and supercomputing, have brought large-scale commercial data analyt-
ics into everyday reach of individuals and enterprise to provide truly
remarkable capabilities. The advances in analytical methods have gone
beyond taking multi-dimensional views of databases and now include
natural language processing, generic algorithms, machine learning,
signal processing, simulation, and time series analysis. Examples of big
data code bases include R, Python, SQL, Java, and SAS. Types of big
data storage and databases include NoSQL, Hadoop, HBase, AWS, and
simpleDB. NewSQL examples are MemSQL, ScaleBase, VoltDB, and SAP
Hana. Big data file management examples include Hadoop and EMC
Greenplum. Big data deals with very large unstructured data sets, and
is dependent on rapid analytics, with answers provided in seconds. The
largest real-time big data practitioners – Google, Facebook, Apple – run
 Digital Workspace Concepts

77
what are known as hyperscale computing environments.40 This term
refers to specialized stripped-down hyperscale storage that provides
rapid, efficient expansion to handle big data use cases, such as web
serving and database applications.41

Examples of big data software and hardware developments and techniques:

Big data file management system describes a specific type of software

system for controlling files that are optimized to the massive scale and
volume found in big data sets.
NoSQL is a type of database designed for large scalable structured and
unstructured data storage and retrieval. Typically these databases use
BASE principles (basically available, soft state, eventually consistent prop-
erties) in which the data and transactions are not rigorously managed by
the file system. Processing data accepts partial complete transactions at a
given time but these are eventually consistent. This is different to ACID
transactions (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability properties) in
traditional relational databases in which essentially every transaction is
checked for consistency. A main benefit of NoSQL is that data does not
need to fit a particular database schema: for structured and unstructured
data there is no fixed data model allowing flexibility for the enterprise
to access and use large data sets. Features of NoSQL databases and file
management systems enable fast highly scalable “big data” processing.
NewSQL is a type of modern relational database that is designed to
provide similar scalable processing performance as NoSQL for transac-
tional ACID data. A term “in-memory” database is a NewSQL approach
where the complete database is held in operating memory to enable
rapid access and computational processing speeds.
Data Fabric is a general term given to defining the data collecting,
data aggregation, and processing of large-scale data sets. The fabric
denotes the scope and sources of data brokerage and orchestration to
obtain and render the data in a useful form for analytical processing.
Visualization refers to techniques for the presentation and communica-
tion of data in a graphical format. Data visualization enables large-scale
data analysis to be better understood and represented for human
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

78
understanding and usage. Popular examples include social media network
graphs, displaying the social relationships of associated clusters in social
networks. The term infographics refers to techniques to represent key
data with graphical projections and color. Many data visualization tech-
niques use interactive graphics to create dynamic content driven by the
user that acts together with a user interface, typically by touchscreen.
Generic algorithms (GA) is a search heuristic that mimics the process
of natural selection where a hypothesis is tested and iterated based on
best fit, inheritance, mutation, selection, and crossover combinations
of solutions to converge to a best solution. The GA technique is used
in many engineering, economics, chemistry, and research areas to cal-
culate design solutions that would be highly complex by conventional
analysis and calculations.
Natural language processing (NLP) seeks to use human linguistics for
the interaction between humans and computers. There are several uses
today in voice recognition and voice translation by computer services
through smartphones and cloud-based translation services. Spoken
instructions for search and queries or basic operations for assisted liv-
ing and mobile device operations are available today. Huge differences
still exist between translation and interpretation of stored instructions
and actual cognitive understanding by machines.
Simulation refers to methods for creating 2D and 3D representations of
physical data to create “synthetic” representations of objects of physical
environments for analysis and prediction. One of the major areas of big
data is in its use of contextual forecasting to predict scenarios of possible
future outcomes. Examples in social media include crowd behavior for
riot control, police assessments, forecasting weather patterns, and tor-
nado alerts: just some of the many areas for simulation analysis.
Signal processing is the area that relates to data collection from sen-
sors and other devices that generate analog as well as digitized signals.
Signals include sound, electromagnetic radiation, images, video,
acceleration, gravity (three-axis accelerometer), gyroscopic, rotational
vector, vibration (seismology), financial signal, and sensor readings;
for example, biological measurements such as electrocardiograms,
control system signals, and telecommunication transmission signals.
 Digital Workspace Concepts

79
In the Internet of Things this represents a huge area of data collection
and automation from M2M and human-to-machine (H2M, M2H)
interfaces. In signal processing, the ability to manage abnormal signals
for emergency events or data errors are important. This relates to
techniques including “signal sensitivity range” and “signal damping” to
manage and filter background or non-essential “noise.”
Machine learning (ML) is the study of machines that can learn from
data and adapt its analysis and reaction in current and future processing,
rather than following explicit programmatic rules. There are many types
of machine learning including “supervised learning,” where examples of
inputs and desired outputs “teach” the machine learning algorithm to
improve its response. “Unsupervised learning” is where similar inputs or
clusters or a range of data are used to create pattern reinforcement to
drive toward a specific improvement goal. In “reinforcement learning”
a computer program interacts with a dynamic environment in which
it must perform a certain goal (such as driving a vehicle), without
a teacher explicitly telling it whether it has come close to its goal or
not. Machine learning is used in many embedded systems in control
machines for automotive vehicles, autopilots, aerospace engine diagnos-
tics, and a range of other industrial machines.
Cloud-hosted big data instances enable rapid start-up of data analytics
clusters for on-demand use.
Real-time data stream processing, such as Amazon KineseTM, is used
to process information in real time, from sources such as website click-
streams, marketing and financial information, manufacturing instrumen-
tation and social media, and operational logs and metering data.
Data warehouses and data marts typically run offline analyses.

Digital Workspaces

The boundaries of technology and the physical world change when

considering the placement of digital technologies in our everyday lives.
This positioning in space has several new transformational properties that
enable the physical space to digitally converge with a virtual space view.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

80
Fields of view – PEC – physical, extended, contextual model
At first glance this can be defined as a technology-based definition of
extensions to the physical environment and objects within it. Early digi-
tization started to define and collect basic data about products, services,
and rooms, and was filled with potential for content for web and mobile
(see Figure 2.5).

This is a practical field of view for the building of digital solutions into
workplaces.

How do devices work in the location?

Where do we place sensors to monitor or augment the environment?
How do we use the floors, tables, walls, and ceiling to create new
information living surfaces?
How do the “actors,” humans, and objects placed in the environment
interact with and utilize the digitization of the environment?

But as we consider the third dimension of contextualization of this work-

place, the properties of digitization start to potentially change the physical
space and time of the moment. Information from other physical locations
can be brought together simultaneously to a physical location through

PEC Model

Contextual is the rise

of cyber automation and
intelligence.
This is more than just
The early digitization relevancy of big data
movement was to but a cause for
generate digital fundamental
content and Digital shifts in thinking and
representations of Workspace augmentation
physical objects,
Physical
spaces, and
relationships Contextual

Extended
The ability to digitally extend to moving objects, transport, and
to further more connect and see across geographies is more than the
“death of distance.’’ It is a profoundly different movement of spatial and temporal
changes that digital technologies can transform physicality into new virtual workspaces

figure 2.5 Fields of view PEC – physical, extended, contextual – model

 Digital Workspace Concepts

81
digital technology, creating a kind of “virtual information”. Information in
the present can also search information from the past or be projected into
the future by seeking alternatives. Using digital technologies it is possible to
contextualize this information to the specific moment of the place and its
environmental circumstances. This information is from the digital ecosystem
we introduced earlier that surrounds the networks and devices connected
to activities in a location. We explored this in vertical and horizontal value
chains, and saw it and the value network ecosystem as examples of how
these connected spaces can be built across business process and marketplaces.

Digital ecosystem
A connected convergence of technologies in a market and
business activity that enables new consumer, business, and
market performance and user experience.

Value network ecosystem

A collection of value activities that may connect to many vertical
or horizontal markets, customers, and providers that represent
its members of the enterprise ecosystems. The value network
represents the enterprise value system, creating and sharing
co-benefits through the constituency of members it connects
with in its ecosystem.

Digital ecosystems and digital enterprise are in part made up of PEC

dimensions. They have digital content about physical objects and spaces
but also connectivity to devices, sensors, and software applications that
start to enable contextual processing of information to create and enable
value in the network of connections.

Digitization Transformation Viewpoint Perspectives

While digitization in PEC enables workspaces, properties of digitization

often change the physical location and timeframes, affecting what it is
possible to connect.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

82
Digitization changes the physical and virtual locational space dimension
and the time, the temporal dimension. Put simply, the physical location
you are in while reading this page may be connected to other virtual loca-
tions through the internet. You can read this in the present, but you could
also access past pages or find information not on this page by searching
the internet. In this sense the digital experience is different from the
physical one in that space and time are a convergence of physical and
virtual environments.

This presents a new kind of mindset that as practitioners we are start-

ing to see with the emerging impact of new digital systems architecture
design. A way in which to consider this aspect is to explore the impact of
digitization of time, space, and the meaning of content, the semantics of
the moment (see Figure 2.6).

We define this as the spatial, temporal, and contextual (STC) dimensions

of the digital workspace.

Spatial
Temporal
Contextual (Semantic)

STC Model The context as defined by

the spatial and temporal
events
The physical locations
and virtual locations The actual events, predicted events,
and causal events in those
There can be many timeframes
spatial references
at the same
Context can have many
timeframe, for
example, viewing the Digital spatial and temporal events, for
example, viewing the past, present,
present location with
Spatial Workspace and possible future outcomes
other virtual locations
at the same moment
in time in referencing
Contextual
digital maps or virtual There can be many moments within a
web teleconferencing timeframe viewing past, present, and
future content. For example, data analytics
Temporal showing past trends with current choices
The present, past, and future timeframes that may have a causal effect on future
alternative events

figure 2.6 Field of view of an STC – spatial, temporal, contextual – model

 Digital Workspace Concepts

83
Spatial Field of Information View

Spatial transformation is perhaps the simplest of digitalization con-

cepts brought about by the vast scaling of the internet infrastructure
architectures and growth of data and connectivity and devices. The
“network effect” is that information across many geographic locations
can be digitally transmitted to potentially any physical location. In this
sense many physical locations can be virtualized and their information
shared simultaneously in any other virtual or physical location (see
Figure 2.7).

This changes the potential view or multiple views of information that

we can gain about one or many spaces while in one physical place. This
is not just through the transmission of digital pictures but involves the
information and meaning of the content and location itself. We see this
every day with satellite navigation and combined multimedia broad-
casts that combine physical and virtual location data into a combined
perspective with a special orientation (see Figure 2.8).

From a transformational perspective this changes the spatial information

field of view from immediate sensory information of the first-person
viewpoint into the potential to “see” and interact with collective com-
munity information. It also enables third-person perspectives of a wider
information field of view containing markets, communities, and global
events.

First person viewpoint Collective person viewpoint Third person viewpoint

figure 2.7 Spatial views of view

 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

84
Spatial Ecosystems
Markets,
communities,
global events
Collaborative
information,
communities

Immediate
sensory
w
information of vie
ation field
l inform Third person viewpoint
Spatia
Collective person
viewpoint
First person viewpoint

figure 2.8 Spatial information field of view

Semantic Field of Information View

With spatial information it is now possible to view the set of information

relating to a specific context, or meaning, from a combination of differ-
ent sources of information. The digitization of data has followed a path
from physical data to a term called “metadata” that describes information
about other information. With digital technologies that use sensors and
data analytics, new forms of metadata about groups of names and activi-
ties of communities are collected. Information and their relationships to
groups of names and activities or individuals can be generated directly
or through analytical inference and future predictions. A buzzword
“hyperdata” has emerged that describes a even wider set of information
perspectives, combining data and information from many local and global
sources to enable large-scale population samples or whole population
analysis (see Figure 2.9).

Semantics means that with such data, metadata, and hyperdata perspec-
tives new transformational perspectives are enabled, thanks to the way
 Digital Workspace Concepts

85
in which digital technologies can contextualize a moment, something
that is physically impossible through human capabilities and local senses
(see Figure 2.10).

The semantic information field of view can extend physical information

in a contextual situation to include collective intelligence and augmented
or artificial intelligence drawing on new forms of semantic data that are
generated in the digital ecosystem.

Information and their relationships

to all names and activities

Information
and their
relationships
to groups
Groups of of names
My name
names and activities
and current
and activities
activity

Physical data Metadata Hyperdata

figure 2.9 Physical data, metadata, and hyperdata

Information Ecosystems

Hyperdata

Metadata

w Artificial intelligence
f vie
Physical field o
ation
data form
an tic in Collective intelligence
Sem

Augmented intelligence

figure 2.10 Semantic information field of view

 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

86
Temporal Information Field of View

Temporal transformation is probably the hardest concept to grasp.

Human existence occurs in the present, the moment of now. Yet we can
remember the past and to some extent our immediate future is before
us and known. Events and decisions shape how we move from one time-
frame to another (see Figure 2.11).

In the digitization of information some “strange” potential properties

emerge, in that we can preserve and record what has happened in the
past, and predict and even change the future. This is more than a static
picture frame timeline of your post on a social network website. In defin-
ing digital content we can create contextual content that continues to
co-exist with us in the present. Videos, discussions, and decisions can be
preserved and taken with you on mobile devices, websites, and social net-
works, and “feed back” like a time loop into the present. Furthermore, we
can simulate future possible outcomes. We can simultaneously modulate
and create alternative outcome choices (see Figure 2.12).

To some extend this is the long tail economic effect first described by
Chris Anderson, editor of Wired magazine,42 where many possible choices
and outcomes can be made because “everything is available.” There are
constraints in availability, but this also has a profound potential in the
ability to have temporal hindsight and foresight in the present because of

Unknown
Unknown
past
futures

The Present
Now
The Past The Future
Known Possible
past futures
Path through time taken Path through time taken

Certain Certain
near past near future
Less certain Less certain
past future
Information of the
past, present, and
future

figure 2.11 The present now, pasts, and futures

 Digital Workspace Concepts

87
Temporal Ecosystems

Future time
Information of the information
Past, Present, and
Future The Present
Now

Past time
information
Near past
and present
Tem
por outcomes Further past,
al i
nfo present, and future
rma
tion outcomes
fiel
do
f vi
ew

figure 2.12 Temporal information field of view

digitization of moments, events, and services. The long tail of availability

can also look back at past consumption behavior and look forward to
predicted consumption needs and outcomes.

Convergence of Digitization in Physical and Virtual

Space and Time

This is not magic, but digitization is significant in its ability to change

society and services and the experiential existence for humans. Digital
transitions are transmutational in that they don’t just disrupt innovation
in the present moment but alter the very fabric of the information space–
time relationship of humans to buildings, places, objects, and relation-
ships, past, present, and future (see Figure 2.13).

Transmutation is a complex term given to the topological shape- and

capability-changing characteristics of an environment. Emerging new
technologies will continue to change the boundaries of physical domains
and social and societal connectivity. They enable the ability to do things
through information assets and solutions that can alter human experience.
 Spatial Ecosystems Temporal Ecosystems
Markets,
88
Future time
communities, information
Information of the
global events
Past, Present, and
Collaborative Future The Present
information, Now
communities

Past time
information
Immediate Near past
sensory and present
w Tem
information of vie por outcomes Further past,
on fi eld al i
rmati
nfo present, and future
al info Third person viewpoint rma
Spati
tion outcomes
fiel
do
Collective person f vi
ew
viewpoint
First person viewpoint
WHERE WHEN
Information Ecosystems

Hyperdata

Metadata

w Artificial intelligence
of vie
Physical field
mation
data infor
antic Collective intelligence
Sem

Augmented intelligence

WHAT

figure 2.13 Convergence of digitization in physical and virtual space and time
 Digital Workspace Concepts

89
Transformation of Physical Workplaces to Virtual
Workspaces by Digitization

These concepts of spatial, temporal, and semantic context are important

ideas in enabling understanding of what it means to think digitally.

Digital workspaces are areas within the digital ecosystem that define spe-
cific points of reference for how the digital technologies and information
are brought together in a specific context.

Digital workspaces are implementations of PEC models representing

space–time STC model interactions.

Digital workspaces are the building blocks of the digital enterprise (see
Figure 2.14).

The term digital workspace is a useful “unit” to consider in the definition of

digital design. We will explore a number of digital workspaces that provide
patterns that can be observed in the digital ecosystem and digital enterprises.

Digital workspace
 Digital workspace is defined by physical and virtual data and
objects associated with that domain workspace, which can
work collectively for the ecosystem and enterprise
 Digital workspaces span physical, extended, and contextual
areas of an ecosystem (PEC)
 Each digital workspace is defined by spatial–temporal charac-
teristics to enable its context (STC)

Definition of Digital Workspaces from an Ecosystem

Perspective

If we step back and look at the bigger picture of the ecosystem, the physi-
cal world can be thought of as representing the total environment that
we live in today. Yet in the virtual sense through the information era this
 Spatial Ecosystems
Markets, Temporal Ecosystems
communities, 90
global events
Collaborative
information,
communities

Convergence of
Immediate physical and
sensory
information f view
virtual spaces
eld o
tion fi
al informa Third person viewpoint
Spati
Collective person
viewpoint
First person viewpoint
TIME
SPACE
Spatial information Temporal information
view of view view of view

CONTEXT

Physical spaces Information

in time
Physical location of The relation of data to
persons, objects, buildings, the time it is created
and places and represents

Semantic and
pragmatic information What is experienced
view of view and understood

Digital Workspace The type and location of data

and its relationships

figure 2.14 Digital workspace

 Digital Workspace Concepts

91
has become increasingly interconnected. Telecommunications, devices, and
sensors grow across the physical world and enable a kind of virtual repre-
sentation of this in digital maps and shared media content from potentially
anywhere on earth. The virtual work does not constrain the geographical
and physical limitations of the locations but can represent many views, of
“worlds,” depending on what information and context is being considered.

Indeed, in the physical world there are many types of ecosystems that might
be described as systems in their own right. These ecosystems can be consid-
ered as different viewpoints of the same overall ecosystem. Examples of these
include societal ecosystems that have formed over millennia in villages, towns,
and cities across countries and continents. Commercial ecosystems have
spawned in trading products and services in market sectors from agriculture
to mining, manufacturing, and service industries, having grown with popula-
tions and driven economic ecosystems for wealth creation and wellbeing.

The modern exploration of ecosystems is of course not earthbound, and

this discussion can now include the low earth orbit International Space
Station (ISS) and satellite technology. Space exploration now extends to
other planets and the Deep Space Network (DSN) is an examples of the
ambition to reach further. The technological ecosystems are entangled
across these ecosystems enabling the potential of new digital workspaces
that connect different experiences and resources.

Definition of Digital Workspaces from a Human

Perspective

The definition of physical workplaces as virtual workspaces can be based

on a number of practical physical considerations. We can break this down
into the immediate human space of reference in considering three types:

Physical spaces that humans live and work in

Transit spaces that humans travel and move between
Biological spaces that represent the human body condition and living
habitat
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

92
Digitization of these spaces creates new virtual workspaces that can
change how the physical workplaces function and interact with the
human experience.

Physical workplaces
These are the contemporary locations, streets, sidewalks, buildings,
rooms, and other physical objects that are the small and larger scale
artifacts of the physical world. Consumable items such as food, money,
clothes, and other temporary objects can all be seen as the things that are
present in the living workspace.

Virtual physical workspace

A virtual space of a physical location is the enablement of the physical
space with digital technologies such as “smart wall,” which can display
content or offer touch-sensitive interactivity. Physical locations can be
connected: for example, in a web teleconference remote locations can be
shared as if they were in the same physical location.

Transit workplaces
Objects are not just static: cars, planes, and trains move. They are the
same as fixed artifacts except that they have an additional property,
which is that they move.

Virtual transit workspaces

The connected car is an example of a transit space that may have GPS
and other remote connectivity to provide information and entertainment
while on the move.

Biological workplaces
The human body has many biological subsystems. The organs, the res-
piratory, nervous, muscular, skeletal, and many other systems represent
the biological “systems platform”. The human body also has emotional,
intellectual, spiritual, and cultural essence of being. Biological systems can
 Digital Workspace Concepts

93
be treated as another “space” that are manifest in the real physical world.
The social collectiveness of groups, communities, and organizations also
represent a kind of biological living space.

Biological living systems can be taken to include the ecological environ-

ment we live in: animals, insects, plants, rivers, forests, land, sea, atmos-
phere, and the biosphere that encompasses the planet.

Virtual biological workspaces

At human body level, the use of implants to augment organs and monitor
health, such as heart pacemakers to artificial limbs to microchip implants.
Wearable technology can externally augment human health and fashion
and lifestyle accessories are seen in eyewear, wrist bands, and smart cloth-
ing. Advances in organ regeneration and genetic engineering suggest new
frontiers for augmented human medical lifestyles and conditions.

Design of Digital Workspaces

Digital workspaces, as we have seen, are connected spaces in a digital

ecosystem.

The physical enterprise is a commercial organization that can be con-

structed from the physical, transitional, and human spaces; the physical
objects, rooms, and buildings of the enterprise, and the transport and
traffic networks between the organization and its markets; the human
capital and skills that represent the enterprise and its partners and
customers.

There are potentially many digital workspaces that can be formed from
the digitization of these physical, transit, and biological spaces.

We will focus on six major patterns of digital workspaces in a digital

enterprise (see Figure 2.15):

Object workspace
Room and facility workspace
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

94
Extended
Travel – In-transit Automation
Personal/Business Community
Augmentation
Augmentation

Contextual Relationship Augmentation

DIGITAL
ENTERPRISE Contextual
Room/Facility Augmentation Knowledge Augmentation
Physical
Spatial Object Augmentation
Temporal
Context
Spaces

DIGITAL
ECOSYSTEM
Digital Workspace

figure 2.15 Definition of digital workspaces

Personal workspace and business community workspace

Travel and transition workspace
Contextual relationship workspace
Knowledge workspace

Definitions of digital workspaces

Object workspace
An entity that can be defined by content and function. Objects can be
materially physical such as a chair, cup, or a wall, or virtual digital objects
such as music or a digital book. Objects can be non-living and living.

Examples of PEC model object workspace - physical objects in a kitchen,

such as cooker, plates, forks, cups, food items, drink items, fridge, kettle.

Examples of STC model object workspace – information on recipes or

fridge reordering can be virtually connected to digital services; virtual
objects can be used, such as 3D printing of objects.

Room and facility workspace

The physical walls, floors, and objects within a room; a building made up
of rooms and floors. Rooms and facilities can be privately owned or pub-
lic place facilities such as municipal services, parks, swimming pools, and
 Digital Workspace Concepts

95
libraries. Rooms and buildings can also be virtual if connected remotely to
other rooms and buildings as a connected virtual workspace, for example
a simultaneous webcast of a concert or a theatre event for a viewing
audience community.

Examples of PEC model room/facility workspace – living room spaces,

corridors, the building structure; the collection of buildings in a shopping
mall; a factory complex; collections of facilities that are managed as a unit.

Examples of STC model room/facility workspace – visualization screens

mounted on walls to display information; the air conditioning system and
heating control system for automated room ambient environment control.

Personal workspace and business community workspace

The personal private and public set of information connected for
individuals or a collection of individuals. This may include a commercial
relationship that represents a business trading community.

A human body can be regarded as a collection of systems, a community

as it were of subsystems that together function as a human body.

Example of PEC model personal and business community workspace – a

personal set of social connections; a business trading community in a sup-
ply chain network; a set of buildings and business units that represent a
city community space.

Example of STC model personal and business community workspace –

wearable technology to monitor wellbeing for medical research; collect-
ing information across a community of patients; a social network of personal
friends or a marketplace of consumers and sellers.

Travel and transition workspace

Whereas rooms and facilities may be considered as fixed, physically non-
moving assets, other assets such as vehicles and transportation network
infrastructure such as roads, railways, shipping ports, and airports represent a
combination of facilities and moving transit spaces. These physically movable
spaces may also be digitized and follow the human user and connectivity as
they physically move from one location to another.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

96
Example of PEC model travel and transitional workspace – a personal set
of social connections; a business trading community in a supply chain
network.

Example of STC model travel and transitional workspace – logistics pack-

age real-time tracking; connected car on-board driver assistance and
infotainment system.

Contextual relationship workspace

A contextual workspace where the products and services are specifically
tailored to the needs of the situation at that time and location. Context
workspaces have a feedback loop that collects information, analyzes,
and then makes decisions and feedbacks to the context of the situation.
Context workspaces can be passive or active in the way they collect and
feed back a specific response to a situation. Passive, being not visual or
perceived by the human, and active, involving the human user who is
aware of the context action.

Example of PEC model contextual workspace – a set of food produce dis-

played by category in a shop; a book section in a physical library offering
genres; a concierge service at a hotel reception desk; an information point
in a city center.

Example of STC model contextual workspace – an online book recom-

mendations service; a GPS satellite navigation planner using real-time
road traffic adjustments; a body health feedback sensor providing
real-time alerts on movement exercise; an automated alarm system for
intruder alert that may notify authorities automatically through geoloca-
tion monitoring and alerts; an interactive art display that has touch sen-
sors to activate different displays.

Knowledge workspace
The information about an object, place, or person that provides awareness
and insight into the condition and nature of the objects and locations.

Example of PEC model knowledge workspace – information manuals on use

of TV devices for channel and services selection setup; a set of photographs
 Digital Workspace Concepts

97
about a location stored on a digital map service; aregister of attendees for a
concert or music event; an engineering design schematic drawing.

Example of STC model knowledge workspace – a digital brand with asso-

ciated products and social media activity about the brand; a set of shared
wiki pages for collaborative knowledge sharing and employee develop-
ment; a set of open source code downloads and coding development by
a crowdsourced community; a set of recommendations and ratings online
about a restaurant.

Together these workspaces represent a combination of many different

types of digitization experiences to be found across industries and mar-
kets. The digital enterprise is a construction of these workspaces, the
building out of the connected systems and physical locations in ways that
create new value networks.

The digital workspace is seeing an explosion of technologies that are

connected and immersed into these workspaces. This illustrates just some
of the technologies that are available today in these domains. But as
we saw earlier in the book, the number of objects, devices, and connec-
tions is projected to grow enormously. This is the digital ecosystem of 25
billion objects and beyond.

Digital Workspaces as Digital Platforms

A building can have objects, chairs, tables, and other artifacts, in rooms.
The building may be part of a set of buildings, walkways, roads, and
municipal facilities such as street lighting, traffic management, and
community services that together may represent a village, town, or city.
Inside the building there can be objects that themselves can connect to
other objects in the same building or virtually to other objects in other
buildings, thereby creating a virtual workspace across physical buildings.
The buildings and the wider location and resources could connect with
other cities and location services as a wider ecosystem of communities
and collaborations.
 Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

98
These can be considered as areas in which digital workspaces can connect
and build together into a set of physical and virtual services. In building
our digital enterprise we describe this as constructing digital workspaces
that together represent the operation of the enterprise.

Digital workspaces can be used to define how the digital enterprise

is built by connecting physical spaces in the enterprise and the wider
ecosystem. It supports market-making activities through the creation of
digital business models that work by using these workspaces to connect
physical and virtual objects, locations, and in transport between these
locations.

This is the “big idea” of digitization and indicates how digital ecosystems
and the digital economy will work in the future. Digital workspaces move
beyond the idea of UX and CX, and begin to be constructed so that users,
customers, and the enterprise work as a digital business.

Digital workspaces are digital platforms that support a multilayered

set of capabilities that are specific to each enterprise. Here we list some
examples of digital technologies that can be used to construct these digi-
tal workspaces (see Figure 2.16).

In the next chapter we will look at case studies of how organizations

have used digital technologies to build their digital enterprise. The fol-
lowing examples illustrate technologies that can enable digital workspace
platforms (see Tables 2.3 to 2.8)

Personal/Business Community Extended Travel – In-transit Automation

Personal Platform Travel-Transit Platforms

Community Platform Contextual Relationship Augmentation
Room/Facility Augmentation

Physical
Room/Facility Platforms Contextual Platforms Contextual
Knowledge Augmentation
Object Augmentation

Object Platforms Knowledge Platforms

figure 2.16 Digital workspaces as platforms

 99
table 2.3 Digital knowledge platform examples
Digital Workspace Examples of Digital Technologies enabling this Digital
Platform Workspace
Knowledge augmentation  Crowd knowledge – e.g. Wikipedia
 Real-time metrics dashboard visualization
 Multi-device data synchronization
 Augmented communication library – context of past
activity and associations
Knowledge platforms
 Live personal profile, lookup Bio image search and
knowledge access
 Co-innovation
 2D and 3D design visualization
 Location information support, e.g. nearest stock, person,
assistance

table 2.4 Digital contextual augmentation platform examples

Digital Workspace Platform Examples of Digital Technologies Enabling
this Digital Workspace

Contextual relationship augmentation  Automated identity recognition

 Location/local knowledge access
 Ideation, co-creation
 Preference-based communication routing
automation
Contextual Platforms  Location information support, e.g. nearest
stock, person, assistance
 Location information support, e.g. Nearest
stock, person, assistance
 Integrated work and user/device
 Knowledge augmentation “did you know... ?”

table 2.5 Digital transit platform examples

Digital Workspace Platform Examples of Digital Technologies Enabling this
Digital Workspace
Travel - In transit automation  Travel platforms
 Package transit tracking, transport management
platforms
 Workflow management
Travel-Transit Platforms  Transport event feeds
 Real-time performance management
 Smart connected transport scheduling
 Intelligent vehicle sensors
 Inter-network seamless identity management
 Real-time sourcing/supply chain integration
 Internetwork integration, e.g. wireless and Bluetooth
 0
10
table 2.6 Digital personal/business community platform examples
Digital Workspace Platform Examples of Digital Technologies Enabling
this Digital Workspace
Personal/Business Community  Personal platforms
 Community platforms
 Smart city energy grid
 Community information grids
 Real-time office/location activity
Personal Platform  Voice commands
Community Platform  Physical projection to multi-user eye
synchronization, auto zoom in/out, and location
 Real-time voice language translation
 Real-time living space ambient living
 Smart room – object environment integration
 Internetwork automated transfer
 Information personalization,
own viewpoint
 Bio signature scanning
 Furniture space sharing
 Smart energy management
 Integrated real-time diary-work scheduler
 Real-time multi-party work orchestration
 Crowdsource – ideation

table 2.7 Digital room/facility platform examples

Digital Workspace Platform Examples of Digital Technologies Enabling this
Digital Workspace
Room/Facility Augmentation  Room platforms
 Facility platforms
 Wall, surface gesture integration
 Transparent surface projection
 Virtual whiteboard
Room/Facility Platforms  Object physical virtual animation
 Solar energy, home grid
 Wide angle group projection, social interaction
 Spatial augmentation, virtual room
 Virtual location collaboration
 3D movement sensor
 3D stereoscopic measurement and digitization
 Object to Surface projection – interconnectivity –
virtual model adjustment, input
 Automatic proximity on/off sensing – body/
location/lighting/touch
 Room embedded physical sensors
 Office surfaces information augmentation
 1
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table 2.8 Digital object platform examples
Digital Workspace Examples of Digital Technologies Enabling this Digital
Platform Workspace
Object Augmentation  Wearables, devices
 Appliance/spare component specification augmentation
 Low-carbon materials
 Integrated object classification and semantic awareness search
 Multi-purpose device – dynamic use applications in context
Object Platforms
 Flexible substrate displays on physical objects, e.g. electronic
paper, smart cup
 Physical/virtual object integration
 Tablet/work device to virtual projection device integration
 Accelerometer sensors
 Physical object bio-sensing example: cup
 Multi-form factor modality support
 Life sciences integration
 Transport/item identity specification tags
 Movement three-axis gyroscope sensors
 Conduction battery charging
 Product cluster information
 CMB contact memory buttons
 NFC, QR, RFID tags

The Next Technological Era

The development of digital workspaces is part of a continuing evolution

of technology over the past decades. The earlier ideas of technology and
internet network-centric connectivity created a human-centric technology
vision. Information could pass between the “four walls” of the organiza-
tion to external entities and social networks.

But in a mere decade or less, this era is now long past: we have an explo-
sion of digital data and connectivity with mobile devices and sensors that
is ushering in a new technological era of immersive connected spaces.
The early innocence of the information economy has given way to a new
reality that promises new forms of digital intelligence. The human is no
longer the center of the digital universe. Devices, sensors, and smart
machines play a role in creating a multiplicity of physical and digital
experiences that we are only just starting to see the possibilities of. Our
challenge is that we make these systems what they are, and must direct
 2
Architecture in the Era of Digital Ecosystems

10
their development for the benefit of society and social and economic and
sustainability.

In Chapter 3 we will explore the reality of the digital enterprise today

through case study examples as we pass on this journey to the next
technological era. We will seek a definition of what it means to define
a digital enterprise, and the lessons needed in order to create successful
architecture for a digital enterprise.

Chapter Summary

In this chapter we have considered some of the basic academic founda-

tions of modern information theory in its construction of semantic
meaning and the contextual use of information from simple to complex
meaning. The journey of the practitioner in the real world has evolved as
the technologies available to develop new software and hardware capa-
bilities constantly change. This will continually challenge the practitioner
and the research theorist to keep up with the rate of change and make
sense of the new opportunities and potential threats they may bring.
II
pa
rt

Designing the Digital

Enterprise
 3 te
r
ap

Design Practices in the

ch

Digital Enterprise

Chapter Introduction

We have seen case studies of enterprises that have constructed digital

solutions. In this chapter we will explore how digital models can be devel-
oped using enterprise architecture modeling tools and techniques.

In this chapter we will cover:

Example of a business model and a digital business model

Modeling digital solutions in enterprise architecture
Architecting digital workspace examples
Design practices in digital enterprise
Modular scaling design
Ecosystem architecture

Example of a Digital Business Model Using Digital

Workspaces

Introduction
The modern hospitality industry has grown since the 19th century,
when only the rich and famous had free time and money to spend. As
5
10
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Designing the Digital Enterprise

10
industrialization began to emerge it gave rise to mass employment,
workplace automation, and by the 20th century to statutory employment
rights for workers to vacation and free time. The hospitality industry has
therefore been a barometer of economic activity. Private lodgings, pro-
fessional hotels, restaurants, public houses, wine bars, guest rooms, and
many related services from catering to building maintenance and cleaning,
have created jobs and indeed a whole industry.

The hospitality industry is not restricted to leisure time, and today is inte-
grated into the commercial activity of commuters and travel, being the
“glue” for a mobile workforce. This emerging role has widened, enabling
hospitality services often to represent the cultural expression of cities and
countries as they seek to promote tourism and their “brand” to a local,
regional, and global audience. Indeed, with national sporting events, fes-
tivals, arts, music, historical attractions, and environmental sightseeing,
these have become part of a wider ecosystem that encompasses national
identity and a social and cultural expression of quality of life.

In looking at the hospitality sector, therefore, it is also necessary to

consider its relationship to other industries such as tourism, which was
recently reported by the World Travel and Tourism Council as representing
3 percent of global GDP.1 In reality, though, across the many industries
that hospitality supports, such as distribution, transport, and other activi-
ties, it can more correctly be described as driving directly and indirectly
almost 9 percent of GDP globally, generating one in ten of all jobs.

Hospitality has grown into a multi-service phenomenon that has moved

beyond the basic concept of a room and a place to sleep and now includes
many integrated services, such as travel, tourism, and corporate events.
Private and public automobile travel, road systems, buses, rail and air
travel connecting to town and city hubs that are supported by hotels and
other service industry facilities all enable the economies of those regions.
Tourism has increasingly segmented to support many different customer
lifestyles, from family holidays to specialist explorer vacations, which
in turn have driven different types of hotel and hospitality services. The
development of corporate hospitality has become a significant sector in
 7
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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its own right, with business events and trade shows a significant growth
area for hospitality services. As a result, the perception of the customer
as a visitor has radically changed from the early days of leisure, and today
people may use hospitality in their employment or in their free time.

Hospitality is very much associated with the psychology of human

experience. Indeed, the design and management of modern hospitality
services seek to create a fundamental connection to human aspirations
and lifestyle, in what is termed the “needs and wants of the customer
guest.” The “customer experience” is consequently at the very core of
hospitality, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “the friendly and
generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers,”
This experience involves empathy and a personalization that reaches
many different aspects of the customer journey to and from a hotel or
restaurant, the experience of the visit itself, and the many associated ser-
vices surrounding the location and its context, as well as the initial reason
for the customer’s visit. The key is in understanding the customer experi-
ence outcomes and the hospitality operational performance outcomes
that support customers (see Table 3.1).

Geraldine Calpin, senior vice-president and global head of digital at Hilton

Worldwide, described this as “start with the dream, people have dreams
and how can we enable this to become a reality with our hospitality.”
It’s a wonderful aspirational take on the whole concept of customer
touchpoints and a good example of the hospitality role, which makes
the customer the core of service excellence. Not surprisingly this is also
reflected in the stated Hilton corporate vision: “To fill the earth with the
light and warmth of hospitality.”

table 3.1 Hospitality operational versus customer outcomes

Hospitality Operational Outcomes Customer Outcomes
 Volume of tourists and visitor traffic  Lifestyle aspirations
 Visitor spend  Enjoyment
 Service efficiency  Convenience
 Personalization and guest privacy  Employment
 Return visits  Cultural identity
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Hilton International is an American global hospitality company with a
turnover of $9,735 billion in 2013. It encompasses 4,200 hotels with over
690,000 rooms in 93 countries. Hilton own, manage, and franchise 11
brands with 168,000 direct employees and 162,000 franchise employees.2
Hilton continues to expand its hospitality assets with a further develop-
ment pipeline of 1,230 hotels, consisting of approximately 210,000 rooms
reported in the second quarter SEC filing in 2014.3 It was reported in the
second quarter of 2014 that Hilton has a successful loyalty card service
with over 40 million HHonorsTM members worldwide.

Digital hospitality leadership

Given the evolving connection of customer service and the extended
definition of hospitality to take in adjacent industries, how have digital
technologies been used to enable better hospitality?

Calpin explains that Hilton International has already established digital

solutions to enhance the hospitality experience and is working on new
areas in its future plans: “We see digital as essential to enabling hospital-
ity. In developing our digital strategy we look at it through every stage
of the customer journey. Our start point is the customer guest journey,
this is where people start to dream, then they plan, they shop, then they
book. Then they get ready to fly, to travel, then they arrive, then they leave,
they depart by a check-out. The last part is they share, which may include
social media and other forms to describe their experiences.” Indeed, this
idea of sharing to drive brand and service is in the Hilton loyalty scheme
HHonorsTM messaging: “Experiences worth sharing.” “What Hilton is
seeking to do with digital is to understand how it can enable, improve
and enhance the guest experience and support the revenues at every
point in that guest journey.” “Traditionally this has been through web
sites, mobile sites, and apps that create the booking capability and see-
ing it as the booking channel. The reality is that mobile and digital has
changed how things work. I describe it as the mobile phone is people’s
remote control to the world.” “The digital solutions need to be designed
around mobile and how it can be used to turn the customer experience
into the journey with this in mind.” Calpin illustrates this point with
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Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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an example of a customer who looks at the video of one of the Hilton
hotels in Hawaii, then goes online to book. The website can be linked
to an appropriate airline website. The day before she travels, checking
in by the guest may be enabled online, providing added convenience
and timesaving. There may also be online facilities to allow the guest to
choose the room she wants to stay in: Hilton International have mapped
300,000 of their 600,000 rooms in the same way that airlines have seat
maps for their aircraft cabins. They also have floor plans for most of their
hotels, while guests are even able to use their cell phone to open their
hotel room door: “In Hilton we recently announced a new service called
‘Hilton Straight-to-roomTM’ which enables the use of the mobile phone as
a remote key.” Calpin explains that in market research it was found that
84 percent of guests would like the option to quickly check in and to go
directly to their room on arrival.4

The use of digital services through mobile devices and apps is enhancing
the way Hilton meets its customers’ needs and desires. These technologies
enable a superior hospitality experience, empowering guests to select
rooms, room types, and room numbers, using their mobile phones. Calpin
says that in some of the Hilton brands, the Hilton mobile apps allow
guests to use their phone to order room service, or request a car rental.
In some hotels the same mobile app can act as a room environmental
control, enabling the guest to remotely open and close the window blinds
and control the room temperature. “It is about ‘digital hospitality’ and also
about ‘digital revenue’ but striking the right balance, our business is all
about hospitality so it is primarily about making the stay more hospitable
through enabling what the guest wants to achieve these outcomes.”

This is just the beginning of what digital technologies might enable in the
future (see Figure 3.1). Mobile is clearly a key strategy that is a central part
of delivering an enhanced customer experience for Hilton International
guests. Calpin explains that Hilton is a leader in many of these areas and
is planning to create even more hospitality enhancements through digital
technologies. “I can envision a situation where you are brushing your teeth in
one of the Hilton hotels in the morning and the mirror will light up with
a call from your partner; your schedule will appear displayed underneath
 0
Designing the Digital Enterprise

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figure 3.1 Smart hospitality – digital experience strategies

it. You are asked to pick up something on the way home and you can
add it dynamically into your schedule there and then and automatically
synchronize it back to your mobile phone and personal electronic diary.”

These have not arrived just yet, but a more immersive environment is the
great promise of digital enterprises. This theme is seen repeatedly in other
case studies drawn from a range of leading companies, which continue
to push the boundaries of what is possible with digital technology. The
connection between how to engage a customer and the lifecycle of digital
hospitality strategies has several lessons for us (see Figure 3.2).

In the area of data analytics, large amounts of information are generated

in many industries. Calpin describes this as an opportunity to enhance
service personalization. “The issue today is being able to measure every-
thing and having too much data. The challenge is often identifying which
of the metrics are important to measure performance of the business and
the impact of digital.”
 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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11
figure 3.2 Smart hospitality – digital delivery strategies

Big data analytics can support the commercial side as well as the supply
chain for operations and the delivery of services. Calpin explains that
there are many metrics that can be used to measure guest service usage,
such as the number of times they visit Hilton and partner websites and
the number of bookings. All these information points enable better
insight and potential service opportunities.

“The other thing digital will enable apart from making guests’ lives easier
is personalization with digital technologies. In the past we would use seg-
mentation to classify customers, but now with digital you can treat every
customer uniquely,” Calpin explains. “When a guest arrives at a hotel, the
service could be enabled to provide enhanced services through already
knowing what the guest likes and what preferences are. The concierge
service at the front desk in the hotel can better anticipate what the guest
might need and ask about past stays and provide a more tailored service
and advice to support the guest’s needs. Personalization enables better
hospitality and is a core aspect of the business strategy for Hilton.” Calpin
underpins this with the need for privacy of personal data across all channels
 Designing the Digital Enterprise

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11
that touch the customer. This forms part of the Hilton International Global
Privacy Policy, which covers how personal information is collected and
managed. It includes all aspects of the operation, including mobile and
location-based services that are part of the digital and operational strategy.5

In the area of digital innovation Hilton have used crowdsourcing via

crowd marketplace service provider companies, including Communispace
and IdeaConnection, to develop new ideas for business development,
feedback on product launches, websites, and other areas.6 Calpin explains
that there are also public community spaces that can provide ideas and
opinion. An example is flyertalk, which is a social network website forum
for frequent flyers.7 These sites provide real-time social network chat and
opinions from a range of potential and current customers, and can offer
very useful reactions to current and future products and service ideas.

Performance management
Understanding how the hospitality industry works and its differences
from other industries is a key point that Calpin reiterates: “Competitive
differentiation is different in the hospitality business to other industries
such as manufacturing or pharmaceuticals because in those industries it’s
more about managing the right process and supply chain distribution and
maintaining it once it’s in place. In hospitality no part of your business
is factorized, we have to constantly monitor and deliver at every point
because it is a service. We rely on people to smile and create that excel-
lent customer experience every time they meet the guest. While it is not
a low margin business, it is nevertheless a complex business to recreate
this experience every time the guest arrives and in every moment they
use our services. Digital technology does not cut people out of this, it
provides technology to employees to enhance the service to be more effi-
cient and effective for our guest. It helps us to know who you are, know
your HHonoursTM membership level and benefits, and to give a personal-
ized service to make the total visitor experience better end to end.”

Hilton have moved this concept to work up and down their supply chain
of operations to establish a connected hospitality experience.
 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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11
Digital system capabilities are essential in managing quality and performance
across a diverse range of locations and a mix of own premises and franchise
businesses. This also provides a useful lesson in best practice that underpins
Hilton International’s business model and global brand operation, which is
built on people and the hospitality they deliver.
The hospitality industry in the 21st century has become part of the global
economy, and today represents an important part of the integrated
services ecosystem. The use of digital technologies has and will continue
to create significant opportunities for new digital enterprises.

Modeling Digital Solutions in Enterprise Architecture

In the design of enterprise architecture we can develop digital enterprises

by using a modeling notation such as ArchiMate, an open and independ-
ent modeling notation for enterprise architecture from The Open Group,
an internationally recognized standards body.
There is a good explanation of the ArchiMate® language in the White
Paper ArchiMate® 2.0 – Understanding the Basics (see Figure 3.3).

figure 3.3 ArchiMate® notations symbol examples (copyright The Open Group)
 Designing the Digital Enterprise

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11
Practitioners in enterprise architecture will typically define a technical
reference model that describes the layers of an application architecture,
one of the oldest concepts in computing. The Open Group provides a
good example of this in Figure 3.4.8,9

Figure 3.5 is an example of an ArchiMate model that represents the same

concept using selected symbols from the ArchiMate modeling notation.

This representation has four layers that characterize the essential human
and machine physical components.

Role – the human actor or machine actor that is the user interaction of
the technology
Application – the software function and digital content that repre-
sent the digital service used by the role

© The Open Group

Applications

Application Platform Interface

Application
Platform

Communications Infrastructure
Interface

Communications
Infrastructure

Diversity

figure 3.4 Technical reference model concept (copyright The Open Group)
 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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11
Application Application
Operator User
business relation

is operated by

Application
is used by

is used by

Application
Platform

is used by

Application
Infrastructure

figure 3.5 ArchiMate® example of the technical reference model for an

application model (copyright The Open Group)

Application platform – the operating platform that supports the

application and content used by the role
Communications infrastructure – the internetwork structure that
carries the local and remote content and service

We will use this basic notation in our examples of a digital workspaces

design and digital enterprise model.

A second feature we need to show is how the combinations of roles and digi-
tal technologies are combined to create a business process flow, a key activity
of a business model. This will be done by using business process “swim lanes”
to describe the use of digital technologies in selected digital business model
examples (see Figure 3.6). The technology layers model defines a general
arrangement of enterprise architecture encompassing applications, platform,
 11
6
Technology Layers Process "Swim Lanes"
Social Consumer Provider Partners

Role Roles Roles Roles Roles

Applications Applications Applications Applications

Applications

Applications Applications Applications Applications Applications

Platform Platform Platform Platform Platform

Communications Communications Communications Communications Communications

Infrastructure Infrastructure Infrastructure Infrastructure Infrastructure

Diversity Diversity

figure 3.6 Enterprise architecture basic framework

 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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11
Roles

Experience There is
Social Consumer Provider Partners
Experience (workspace)

Mediation some form

mediation patterns

of experience
Applications mediation in
a space
that creates
value and
Platforms worth for
individuals
and
communities

Infrastructure

figure 3.7 Experience mediation role example

and infrastructure.10 For example, a mobile application may run on a mobile

device operating system that acts as a platform for the software and con-
tent that is delivered to the role user. The communications infrastructure
is the mobile device connectivity that may be used to transmit and receive
data. In enterprise systems and the wider marketplace there are many roles
involved, so we use the process swim lanes as a general modeling framework
to illustrate multiple user roles, devices, applications, and various platforms
and infrastructure that may come into play for a specific digital solution or
enterprise situation.

In the process swim lanes framework we can add a further role called
“Experience mediation”, which may be used in some of the digital busi-
ness model examples (see Figure 3.7). This illustrates how the digital
workspaces are created to enable different kinds of user and customer
experience. We will see many examples of these in the digital business
models created by digital technologies.

Architecting a Digital Workspace Example

Let us now explore an example of the digital business model using this
modeling notation.
 8
Designing the Digital Enterprise

11
We use the business process swim lane framework to develop examples
of digital technologies in selected digital business models. This example is
part of a hotel hospitality service that uses digital technologies to create a
“connected guest experience.” We will explore this in more detail later in
the chapter, but highlight here the key features we are capturing in the
framework model that is used. We have four different digital services:

1. A mobile app guest service for inquiries about hotel facilities and guest
bookings
2. A mobile apps marketplace for partner services related to the guest
stay and hotel
3. A guest arrival service that includes check-in, room configuration, and
booking service
4. A guest onward journey departure service that includes check-out and
onward travel planning

The following process model illustrates the concept we will use in the
ArchiMate modeling notation combining the technology layers and these
four digital services (see Figure 3.8).

The model also shows the digital platforms that may be built in support
of these digital services and user experiences.

Mobile Services “Meeting”

Mobile Service to Platform Partner Onward-Journey
to Context Hospitality
Partners Context Services Context
Experience
Experience (workspace)

Social Consumer Provider Partners

Mediation
Examples of digital
platform patterns
mediation patterns

Applications
Mobile Mobile Guest Guest
Service Partners Arrival Departure
Platform Platform Platform Platform

IoT IoT IoT IoT

OP3 OP3 Platforms OP3 OP3

Infrastructure

figure 3.8 Example of connected guest digital workspace

 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

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11
This is a conceptual view of the architecture; the specific physical
implementation will define the digital platforms that are used to support
these services. In Figure 3.8 we have four platforms: a mobile services
platform, a mobile partner apps platform, a guest arrival platform, and
a guest departure platform. In the example here, we use an “IoT OP3”
notation to depict the platform standard as an Internet of Things, Open
Platform 3 type of open digital service.11 This could also be a public cloud
platform, a managed/hosted private data center platform, or an appli-
ance installed physically on site.
The aim is to illustrate that the design of a digital workspace in an enter-
prise can encompass roles, services, and platforms that may be physi-
cally inside or outside the enterprise organization (or both). The digital
platforms in this example could be inside the digital enterprise or hosted
outside as a service that is used by the digital enterprise. For example, the
guest arrival and guest departure platforms could be one integrated plat-
form owned by the hotel business. This would be an Internet of Things
platform connecting hotel room sensors and services for guests to use on
arrival. This platform could also host a B2C or B2B platform and its associ-
ated community of customers and providers.
Our objective is to create a digital workspace for the hotel hospitality enter-
prise, an eHotel-connected guest experience. By bringing these together we
can start to visualize the digital workspace illustrated in Figure 3.9.

Digital Service
Digital Capabilities
Bu Worksropace Partner
s
sin nce vider
es Experie on
P
sR Mediati
mer Partner
ole Consu
Ap s Social Onward-Journey
pli “Meeting” Services Context
ca
tio Hospitality
ns Context
Mobile Services
Pl
at
fo
to Platform
r m Partners
s Mobile Service
Inf to Context
ra
str
uc
tu
re

s
orkspace
Digital W ble, Generative
r, S ca la
IoT OP3 Platforms Modula

figure 3.9 Modular, scalable, generative digital workspace

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Designing the Digital Enterprise

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figure 3.10 An eHotel digital enterprise architecture model example

A digital business model for the connected hospitality experience enables

a hotel enterprise to develop a set of connected digital workspaces that
can “follow” the guest through their visit lifecycle before, during, and
after their stay. In this way, a more contextual, personalized set of digital
services is constructed that enables guests, hotel staff, and service part-
ners to better connect with each other and optimize each others’ experi-
ence and product service offerings.
 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

1
12
Hotel Partner
Hotel Facility Hotel Shared Services
Services

Hotel Group
Hotel Business
Hotel Facility Shared Business relation Partner
Services

is operated by
is operated by is operated by

Hotel Smart Hotel Partner

Hotel Security
Mapping Services
Application
Application Application

is operated by is operated by
is operated by
Example Smart
Hotel Room Hospitality
Room Sensor Hotel Partner
Management Market
Services Services
Services

is operated by
is operated by

is used by is aggregated by
Hotel
Hospitality Hotel Partner
provides views of current status
“Lifestyle” OP3 Infrastructure
Platform
Room Sensor
Infrastruture

is operated by is used by

is used by is operated by

Room Sensor Hotel Partner

Door Sensor
Map Website API

The hotel room sensors could apply to

doors in the reception and hotel rooms.
These services are B2B and B2C
This could be used to provide entry and
market platforms
exit services to the hotel and the specific
room facilities, for example.

These digital workspaces can represent the whole hotel or just parts
of the organization. The aim is that each digital service is scalable and
modular, thereby fitting specific guest needs and able to generate mon-
etizable value as well as good guest experience.

Here are some examples of digital enterprise architectures using the nota-
tion we previously described. The models are rendered using the open
architecture tool ArchiMate.
 2
Designing the Digital Enterprise

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Example 1 – Digital Hospitality Enterprise
Architecture Model

Figure 3.10 is a conceptual architecture illustration of the eHotel digital

services we described in the previous section. In the example there are
two digital services platforms:

Hotel hospitality “front desk” IoT platform for checking in and hotel
room configuration and mobile app services.
Hotel hospitality “lifestyle” platform to provide hotel room services and
hotel partner services during the stay and onward journey support.

The following are more examples of conceptual architecture models that

are explored in the detailed case studies.

DIGITAL ENTERPRISE
eRETAIL
Illustrative Examples

Online - Customer Merchant - Retailer In-Store Customer

Web
Instore
Application Merchant Business relation Store Manager Business relation
Shopper
User

is operated by is used by is used by Business relation

is used by is used by

Merchant Partner
Social Web Collaboration Display Panel Mobile NFC
Application Application Application Application

is used by is used by is used by Example is used by

eRetail
Platform
Crowd Partner Instore Display Instore
Sourcing Embedded Management Payments
Platform Services Platform Platform

is used by is used by is used by

is used by Instore loT
OP3 Platform
Web Merchant
Application Partner Instore POS
Infrastructure Infrastructure Infrastructure
Instore Display
Infrastructure

is used by is used by is used by is used by is operated by

is used by

Payment
Mobile Device
World Wide Authorization
Sensor
Web API

Merchant retailer embedded

services in advertising websites of
in partner website marketplace
services, such as online product
catalogs and promotions

figure 3.11 An eRetail digital enterprise architecture model example

 3
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

12
Example 2 – Digital Retail Enterprise
Architecture Model

An eRetail set of digital services. The digital enterprise model example

shows three digital services examples (see Figure 3.11):

In-store IoT platform for connecting in-store advertising and informa-

tion display monitors to mobile apps in shoppers’ smartphones.
Online electronic payments platform providing digital payments pro-
cessing by the payment issuer. The platform could be used to develop
further issuer services to merchants and payment customers based on
data usage profile.
VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) platform that supports connected
services.

Payment Service Provider Vendor - Manufacturer,

Bank-
- Card issuer to Customer Producer, and/or Distributor of
Service Provider to Merchant
Buyer Produce and Services

Card Issuer Business Relation Acquirer Supplier

is operated by is operated by
is operated by

Payment Acquirer Vendor Managed

Authorization Payment Inventroy Service
Application Application Example VMI Aplication
Example Issuer Vendor
ePayments Managed
is used by Inventory VMI is used by
Platform is used by
Platform

Payments Payment Vendor

Provider Partner Inventory
Platform Instore loT Platform Partner
OP3 Platform
(copy) is used by
is used by Vendor Stock is used by
Trigger Management
OP3 Platform
Merchant Vendor Supply
Issuer Payment Management
Acquirer Bank
Infrastructure Infrastructure
Infrastructure

is used by is operated by
is used by

Store Stock
Payment API
Level API

Payment processing services for Dynamic stock monitoring and reordering

customers, linked to merchants and can be facilitated by VMI services
payment services between vendors and merchants
 4
Designing the Digital Enterprise

12
Example 3 – Connected Car Digital Enterprise
Architecture Model

A connected car set of digital services. The digital enterprise model spans
connectivity between the vehicle driver, owner to distributor, and back to
the original vehicle manufacturer and component suppliers (see Figure 3.12).

On-board vehicle sensor automation platform to support in-car ser-

vices that can include GRP, mobile app integration, information and
entertainment services, and other productivity- and service-related

Remote Car Mobile App Driver Personalization Vehicle Embedded Control

Service Services Systems

Web
Application Driver Vehicle
User

is used by is used by is operated by is operated by

In-Car Driver In-Car Driver

Car Mobile Assistance Management
Application Application Application

is used by is used by is used by

Example Smart
Driver Services
Car Mobile In-Car Cabin Vehilcle
Services Service Control
Platform Platform Platform
Vehicle Sensor
Automation
OP3 Platform
is used by is used by is used by
aggregate

Web In-Car
In-Car Cabin
Application Embedded
Infrastructure
Infrastructure
Infrastructure

is used by is used by Is operated by Is operated by

Is operated by

Vehicle Vehicle Sensor

Vehicle Display
Remote Embedded
Update API
Mobile API Software

Example of an integrated drivers experience between

the cabin services and the controls of the vehicle

figure 3.12 A connected car digital enterprise architecture example

 5
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

12
functions. The platform may also be embedded sensors in the car that
monitor vehicle control and maintenance tasks for oil, gas, tire pres-
sure, and other engineering functions.
Vehicle usage data collection platform for connected remote services
to car manufacturer design and service management. This may be used
for remote vehicle analysis, providing translation research data for
next-generation vehicle design.
Vehicle product lifecycle management to coordinate vehicle manufac-
turer and suppliers’ ecosystems to manage parts and product develop-
ment. Data and application code may be upgraded remotely back into

Vehicle Provider Services Vehical Supply Chain Services

Vehicle Vehicle Parts &

Provider Services
(Tier 1) Suppliers
Example
Enhanced
is operated by Product Design & is operated by
Services

Vehicle Software Vechicle Product

Version Management
Example Smart Management
Object Data Application Application
Service
Semantic Product
Match Apps Service is used by
is used by

Vehicle Software Vehicle Product

Publishing Specification
Platform Platform
Vehicle Usage Dynamic
Data Vehicle
Collection OP3 aggregate and specialist queries
Product is used by
Platform is used by Partner

Vehicle Software Data Management

Trasmission Database
Infrastructure Is used by Infrastructure
is used by

Is operated by

Vehicle Enterprise
Remote Product
Wireless Connector Management API

Example of Dynamic Software update services

 6
Designing the Digital Enterprise

12
the vehicle, providing in-service vehicle improvements and additional
driver, owner, and distribution services.

Design Practices in Digital Enterprise

From our exploration of building a digital enterprise, with case studies

and in-depth digital business models, there are several concluding obser-
vations for practitioners.

Modular scalable multi-sided platforms

Competition moving to the ecosystem level
The rise of digital ecosystem architecture
The future of intelligence workspaces
Digital workspace pattern catalog

Modular Scalable Multi-Sided Platforms

We have seen in these examples of digital business models that building

a digital enterprise involves creating digital technology solutions that can
support scalability through a “modular architecture” and a clear view of
“digital platforming.”

This is a common theme that runs through all the case studies and prac-
titioners’ lessons. Modularity is evident in the digital content, devices,
and application services, which can be a collection of networked devices,
social network communities, and shared digital content. This modular-
ity is a key feature that can scale through loose coupling to work across
many telecommunications networks, mobile devices, and compatible
operating system platforms. This is at the heart of digital business in
being able to scale in an incremental and often rapid way to reach distrib-
uted customers and businesses.

Secondly, the idea of digital platforms such as public clouds, telecom-

munications network services, mobile app marketplaces, and enterprise
application productivity tools enable collaboration and market-making
 7
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

12
around platform-supported marketplaces. We see this time and again,
from the “poster children” of the internet, Google, Amazon, Facebook,
Twitter, to the myriad of others that have mastered the art of platform-
ing digital content and services to a community.

The effect of modularity and platforming potentially develops four major

digital workplace strategies in the case studies we have explored. These
represent alternative trajectories for digital roadmaps (see Figure 3.13).

Encapsulated services that develop specific digital services in a work-

space. Several case studies involve the development of mobile apps,
data sensors that capture and provide services.
Loose-coupled services in the workspace expand to include more digi-
tal services. Several of the case studies involving digitization of rooms,
buildings, and cities included multiple digital facilities that provided a
range of services for different communities and individuals.
Expanding set of services platforms involving scaling the digital ser-
vices by hosting and managing them as a digital platform. Several of
the connected car, health, retail, and hospitality cases involved estab-
lishing digital platforms to collaborate customer and partner experi-
ence across the supply chain.

Loose coupling → Trends to operate across multiple platform coupling

Modularity

Encapsulated Expand to cross domains

Appliances

Self-reinforcing scalable architecture

Platform centricity

figure 3.13 Modularity and platform as a core practice for digital enterprise
architecture
 8
Designing the Digital Enterprise

12
Operating services across multiple operating systems and platforms
was seen in several connected mobile apps in government, retail, and
logistics that supported a range of commercial mobile devices able to
run on different operating systems.

For a practitioner, modularity and platforming are two key common

practices that enable the digital workspaces and the digital enterprise to
connect and build capabilities.

They also enable another key feature of multiple digital services and
devices in that they can work on different levels of a digital workspace,
from small physical objects to rooms, buildings, and wide connected
spaces. The fact that many sensors and much software code can also be
portable and embedded means that digital technologies and digital ser-
vices are “clusters” that can form nested systems.12

Competition Moving to Ecosystem Level

You have to think of digital technologies as nested systems of systems.

The resulting digital activity is many connected devices, data, and social
network events that occur inside and outside the enterprise. Competition
for digital connectivity and influence over the digital enterprise “has
moved to the ecosystem level” (see Figure 3.14).13

This means that along with modularity and platforming, the extent of
the digital enterprise has to consider how its own value network of digi-
tal content, connections, and services works with other physical and digi-
tal enterprises. We have previously described this as the value network
ecosystem (VNE) and it is more than a digital operating model (DOM),
which does not have the scope of the wider digital ecosystem we speak
of here. The “ecosystem domains of concern” need to consider how the
digital business model works in the wider span of digital workspaces that
perhaps cross-cut many digital enterprises. This may at first sight appear
complex, but in fact it is already well established in and around enter-
prises today. The case studies are practical proof that there are already
 9
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

12
marketplace platforms, mobile device sensors, and apps that are driving
everyone from start-ups to multinational companies. Digital barriers
to entry are falling as the “power of digital” is often in the hand of the
consumer and the buyer, as commodification and subscriber models push
technology into new on-demand services.

The Rise of Ecosystem Architecture

In defining these digital ecosystems we see many clusters of digital tech-

nologies that themselves represent systems of systems. We introduced
this concept early on in the book as a key idea that has been seen in the
wide variety of digital workspaces and case studies. Building a digital
enterprise involves understanding the concept of clusters, or the grouping
of digital technologies and the services and processes that they create:

Social clusters – the groups of individuals and communities inside

and outside the enterprise
Process clusters – how specific tasks and work get done through a com-
bination of human and technology or pure machine-driven automation
Technology clusters – the manifold digital technologies, content,
and application services
 0
Designing the Digital Enterprise

13
Architecting the digital enterprise becomes an awareness of how these
clusters, or ecosystems, will work with the digital enterprise. This intro-
duces the idea of a super set of architecture that we term “ecosystem
architecture,” which is perhaps a broader vision of systems of system
engineering beyond the classic view of enterprise architecture (see
Figure 3.15). This represents a set of nested architectures that together
define the digital enterprise and the digital ecosystems, the digital
economy, and the wider world in which we live.

Ecosystem architecture considers the continuum of architectures that

might be thought of as spheres or domains of physical and virtual work-
space activities.

Figure 3.16 seeks to illustrate this architectural continuum. In the enter-

prise technology stack, the PEC model may show specific technologies
and their arrangement for component architectures and enterprise
architecture.

When we introduce the notion of ecosystem architecture, this is more

concerned with the clusters of digital services that represent the digital
ecosystem perspective. This considers STC model issues of spatial and

Digital Ecosystem Architectures Continuum

“Spheres”

D Clusters, environments, communities,

I Ecosystem and enterprises that evolve and develop
G Architecture social, environmental, and economic
I value and worth
T
A
L
The structure of components, their
E Enterprise inter-relationships, and the principles
N Architecture and guidelines governing their design
T and evolution over time
E
R
P
R Assets and relationships that have
I Component functions and attributes to provide
S utility and agency in simple or combined
E Architecture
arrangements and environments

figure 3.15 Ecosystem architecture continuum

 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

1
13
D
I Ecosystem
G Architecture
I
T
A
L
Enterprise Architecture Digital Ecosystem
E Enterprise
N
T Architecture
E
R
P Contextual
R
I Component
Role S Content
E Architecture Social clusters

Applications Services
Process clusters

Application Networks Digital clusters

Platform

Communications Devices
Technology clusters
Infrastructure

PEC Model STC Model

figure 3.16 The role of clusters and the emergence of ecosystem architecture

temporal design of physical and virtual workspaces, and how digital

content, digital services, networks, and devices work together to enable
these workspaces.

The Future of Intelligent Workspaces

We have seen many examples of constructed digital workspaces and

used an enterprise architecture modeling notation to define these spaces.
The digital workspaces can span a number of different areas inside and
outside the enterprise. The digital enterprise by definition includes its
business environment, as the mobile and social networks, the cloud, data
analytics, sensors, and telecommunications networks reach out beyond
the four walls of the organization.

The next phase will see many digital workspaces become augmented
services for “intelligence” that is applied to the workspace. As custom-
ers, employees, and enterprises increasingly use digital enterprise, they
will seek further ways in which to increase automated system responses
 2
Designing the Digital Enterprise

13
to exploit this digitization phenomenon. The line between human and
machine interaction will become more blurred as information becomes
aware of its context, regarding place, time, and personalization.

Digital Workspaces Pattern Catalog Example

Building the future for the digital enterprise will involve the creation
and use of digital workspaces that meet the needs of participants in the
enterprise and the wider ecosystem.

In the case studies and digital business models, we saw many digital
workplace pattern examples. These can form the basis of a kind of digital
pattern catalog showing what is possible in an enterprise.

Table 3.2 provides examples of digital services and digital workspaces

that can be considered as design patterns.

The notation we have used for the pattern catalog includes:

Industry market – this typically references the type of industry data

identity and metadata that describe data services and objects found in
that industry.
Class – the term “class” refers to the type of digital platform. While
there are no formal standard schema, terms such as ERP and other de
facto standard naming systems can be used. In this example we use
IoT to denote an Internet of Things.
Standards – the architecture standards used for designing the digital
workspace and impacting the interoperability and portability of the
services and platforms involved. This may typically range from pro-
prietary standards for a single operating system to open standards for
shared and open source design. In our example, we have used OP3 to
denote Open Standard, Open Platform 3.0 as the architecture design
developed by The Open Group Standards forum. The idea is that
systems and digital workspaces conforming to these standards can
interoperate and support portability options.
table 3.2 Example of digital workspaces patterns catalog
Digital Workspaces Pattern Catalog
Industry Market Class Standards Digital Workspace Service Examples Digital Workspaces Examples Ecosystem Clusters Examples
FMCG IoT OP3 Mobile services to context Digital shop IoT platform Social clusters
IoT OP3 Mobile to platform partner services Digital VMI platform Process clusters
Digital franchise services Knowledge clusters
Hospitality IoT OP3 “Meeting” hospitality services Digital “front desk” services Social clusters
platform Process clusters
IoT OP3 Partner “onward journey” services Digital guest services platform Process clusters
Knowledge clusters
Financial services IoT OP3 Identity security assurance services Access and Authentication Process–knowledge clusters
Standards platform
IoT OP3 Mobile digital wallet services Embedded mobile platform Social clusters
Process clusters
IoT OP3 Partner finance added value services Finance context analytics platform Knowledge–process clusters
City IoT OP3 Sensor–control services Digital building energy Process-technology cluster
management IoT platform
IoT OP3 “Visitor” market services Digital “visitor” geospatial Social clusters
platform Knowledge clusters
ALM–PLM IoT OP3 Sensor – process optimization Vehicle management platform Social–process cluster
IoT OP3 Semantic product match automation Product management platform Knowledge Cluster
Process cluster
IoT OP3 Dynamic software version update Research translation platform Process–tech clusters
IoT OP3 Dynamic partner services Logistics management platform Process cluster
eHealth IoT OP3 Patient care services Mobile care platform Social clusters
13
Process clusters 3
IoT OP3 Clinician support services Service support platform Knowledge–social cluster
IoT OP3 Medical research Research translation platform Knowledge process cluster
 4
Designing the Digital Enterprise

13
Digital Workspace Services – that support specific or many enter-
prise activities.
Digital Workspace – supporting one or many enterprise activities
and ecosystem clusters.
Ecosystem clusters – groupings of open and/or proprietary social or
business processes, knowledge, technology, and other actors, entities,
and networks involved in the digital workspace.

Conclusion

We have seen several business models enabled by digital technologies in

this closer examination of the digital enterprise.

The enterprise is more than specific solutions or individuals but a col-

lection of capabilities that can evolve over time driven internally and
externally by processes, competitors, products, and services as well as
technological change.

Customer experience and digital workspace experience

A key aspect of change that we see in the case studies is the evolution of the
customer experience journey as we travel through digitized environments.
These connected spaces have the potential to create more immersive experi-
ences that can transform how digital enterprise will work in the future.

The customer touchpoints along the supply chain or in a store both

physically and online have become further connected by the digital
workspaces that can join up different spatial and timeframes of experi-
ence. UX to CX has further developed into Digital Workspace Experience
(DWX), and these together represent the digital enterprise journey (see
Figure 3.17).

Toward building digital ecosystems

While digital workspaces are constructed environments, the net effect
of objects, connections, and experiences is the evolution of digital
 5
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

13
Customer Touchpoint Journey Digital Enterprise – Digital Workspaces
Travel – in-transit automation
Enter restaurant

Select and order meal Extended Contextual

Personal/business relationship
Mobile app generates payment community augmentation
code for use with meal

Contextual
Meal prepared and delivered Physical
to table Room/facility Knowledge
augmentation augmentation

Consume meal
Object
Mobile app pays for meal augmentation

figure 3.17 Transaction touchpoints to experience touchpoints

ecosystems that transcend how we might think of a modern enterprise.

The earlier discussion on value chains including double- and multi-sided
marketplace platforms is clearly evident in the case studies.

There is a further journey beyond the digital workspaces into the world
of ecosystems, and how digital enterprises will build their digital plat-
forms and experiences.

We have seen the early evolution of Web 2.0, with web apps and the
internet now becoming more connected with mobile devices and sensors.
Our case studies indicate that these digital technologies will combine
into digital workspaces that form two-sided marketplaces or multi-sided
marketplaces, and ultimately establish their value network ecosystems in
the digital enterprise (see Figure 3.18).

Building digital enterprise design practices

How practitioners work to build digital capabilities will have an impact
on the overall enterprise business model and its position and performance
in its chosen marketplaces.

In the Hilton International case study we saw many examples of digital

strategy and delivery that augment and enhance the guest experience
and drive enterprise performance.
 13
6

Multi-sided Value
Two-sides
Web apps Mobile apps Market Network
Market
Platforms (MSPs) Ecosystems (VNEs)
Platforms (TSPs)

Multi-sided
Platform

Horizontal Vertical
Value Chain Value Chain

Two-sided
(Converged Multi-channel) Platform
Financial Services – Healthcare –
Web Catalogs Mobile Gaming Translation to Bench Smart City
Online Payments
mHealth Monitoring
Social Networks Mobile Geo-presence Connected Car
Citizen Services – News – Media – Entertainment
Identity Management Education - MOOC
Content Mashups Mobile Adverts Smart Hotel
Retail - eMarketplace

figure 3.18 Toward digital ecosystems

 7
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

13
We can use this to illustrate a simple digital enterprise that brings
together two major digital strategy examples: hospitality experience and
hospitality delivery.

PEC model viewpoint

From the PEC model perspective of physical technology and extensions
there are many opportunities for digital enhancement. Figure 3.19 pro-
vides a set of examples.

These technology solutions can be placed into the enterprise IT portfo-

lio of the digital enterprise to create digital services, but the real power
comes in understanding their alignment to the business outcomes. This is
where the idea of digital workspaces considers the context of services and
experience.

STC model viewpoint

The digital enterprise becomes a set of digital workspaces that can aug-
ment a physical enterprise and its relationships to the industry value
chain and markets. Enterprise customer outcomes can be driven not
by the technological building blocks we see in the PEC model but by
how these work in the space and time locations in physical and virtual
workspaces.

Both PEC and STC model perspectives are needed, but the illustration
here shows that in the design of physical workplaces and digital work-
spaces, the consideration of user experience and customer experience is
paramount.

Digital workspaces bring a experiental design approach into how the

digital enterprise will operate and generate new customer experience and
operational performance.

Driving outcome-based thinking with digital enterprise

In the eHotel example we saw the hospitality operational outcomes of
the hotel enterprise seeking to meet guest and partner outcomes.
 13
8

Spatial- Digital Enterprise

Temporal
Experiences Hospitality Experience Hospitality Delivery
Guest On Property
Experience & Services
Privacy
People, Location Object, Room, People, Location
Workspaces Facility, Location Workspaces
Hospitality Workspaces Hospitality

Loyalty & Location & Performance Guest

STC Models Digital Booking
Data-Driven Room Management Choices
Channels
Personalization Experience Experience
Context, Strategies Digital Delivery Integrated Guest Service
Knowledge People, Location Strategies Supply Chain System
Workspaces Object, Location People, Transit
Workspaces Workspaces
Physical- Workspaces
Mobile Partner
Extended Services Services
Solutions PEC extensions

Crowd Smart Partner Smart Door, Guest Hotel Business

Hotel Capacity Partner Services
Sourcing Promotions Booking Room Sensors “Front Desk” Sustainability
Management (Air, Taxi, Gifts.., etc)
Innovation Services Services Management
PEC Models
Customer Facility Geo- Guest Arrival Guest Guest
Loyalty Embedded Guest Partner
Privacy Mappings Personal Departure – ”Lifestyle”
Programs Booking Apps Services
Services Forward Services Services

figure 3.19 Digital enterprise with PEC and STC views

 9
Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

13
In the case of the digital technologies, practitioners can select and imple-
ment smart doors and room sensors, and connect these to mobile apps
and front desk and onward partner services. But, as we saw in the Hilton
International case study, as with others, they successfully use these in the
locations and the spaces where guest and service provider come together
to deliver the customer experience.

We can draw examples from the case studies showing how the out-
comes of the service are driven by the design and performance of the
digital enterprise. The digital workspaces can be thought of as methods
that manage the contextual conditions of the enterprise and its wider
ecosystems.

A useful way to consider this is by viewing the impact of contextual

design on the overall performance of the enterprise (adapted from
Henfridsson and Bygstad, 2013).14

Contextual conditions – how the enterprise situation is supported by

digital workspaces to enable contextual conditions. How the specific
conditions enable customer, employee, and partners to be contextually
relevant to the situation.
Mechanisms – what specific design features do we have to drive
contextual conditions and outcomes? The example in Figure 3.20 is
functional design aspects.
Metrics – how do we measure effective outcomes to assess the feed-
back and direction of the experience?
Outcomes – what are the overall desired outcomes of the enterprise,
the customer, and wider environment that we seek?

This experience is in the objects, rooms, facilities, employees, partners,

customers, and the transport and travel that define the eHotel digital
enterprise business model.

Each digital technology plays a part in the total digital workspace experi-
ence, and together they seek to increase guest satisfaction and brand loyalty,
which then helps to drive value in hotel capacity and partner services.
 Digital Enterprise
14
0
Facilities Digital
Digital Workspaces
Workspaces Objects
Rooms Knowledge Facilities
Rooms Contextual
Objects
Communities

Example
CONTEXTUAL
Mobile app purchases
CONDITIONS % Guest satisfaction
% Mobile sales
Social media discounts,
brand cross-sell, up-sell
% Brand sales
% Partner sales
Better personalized
choice and room
configuration MECHANISMS METRICS % Spare capacity
% Waste energy &
Faster check-in and consumables
responsive service,
arrival, stay, and
departure % Guest service
OUTCOMES throughputs

Hospitality Operational Outcomes Customer Outcomes

• Volume of tourists and visitor traffic • Lifestyle aspiration
• Visitor spend • Enjoyment
• Service efficiency • Convenience
• Personalization and guest privacy • Employment
• Return visits • Cultural identity

figure 3.20 Designing digital workspaces that drive digital value

 Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

1
14
Measurement of economic and social value outcomes then become the
key goals in measuring true digital enterprise and digital economy value
(see Figure 3.20).

Chapter Summary

We have explored the concepts of digital workspaces and their position

in the ideas of digital enterprise and the design of connected business.

The case studies demonstrate real examples of these practices and how
they may create a new kind of reality which digital convergence is creat-
ing all around us.

The next era of technological ecosystems will need to address effective

digital solutions that combine new kinds of experiential design thinking
that traverse the user, customer, and living spaces.

The practitioners of today and tomorrow will be the architects of the new
digital enterprise.
Notes

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 3
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intels-former-chief-architect-moores-law-will-be-dead-within-a-decade.
28. “Twitch hits one million monthly active broadcasters,” Twitch the Official
Blog, February 10, 2014. http://blog.twitch.tv/2014/02/twitch-hits-one-
million-monthly-active-broadcasters/.
29. “A letter from the CEO,” Twitch, August 25, 2014. http://blog.twitch.
tv/2014/08/a-letter-from-the-ceo-august-25-2014/.
 4
Notes

14
30. M. Siegel and F. Gibbons, “Amazon enters the cloud computing business,”
Stanford University School of Engineering, Casepublisher.com, May 20, 2008.
http://web.stanford.edu/class/ee204/Publications/Amazon-EE353-2008-1.
pdf.
31. R. Caldbeck, “5 marketplaces that will work in 2013,” Forbes, January
2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryancaldbeck/2013/01/10/5-marketplaces-
that-work/.
32. J. Hamari, M. Sjöklint, and A. Ukkonen, “The sharing economy: Why people
participate in collaborative consumption.” SSRN working paper, 2013.

1 – Trends of Technological Ecosystems

1. “Digital Economy – Innovate UK,” Technology Strategy Board. https://www.

innovateuk.org/digital-economy.
2. “Digital Economy – Facts & Figures.” Directorate General, Taxation and
Customs Union. European Commission, working paper, March 2014. http://
ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/resources/documents/taxation/gen_info/
good_governance_matters/digital/2014-03-13_fact_figures.pdf.
3. Internet live stats. http://www.internetlivestats.com/total-number-of-
websites/.
4. Number of registered website domain names. Verisign Domain Name
Industry Brief, April 2013. http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/08/internet-
passes-250m-registered-top-level-domain-names/.
5. W3C Semantic Web activity, December 2013. http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/.
6. “What is Web 2.0? How Web 2.0 is defining society,” about technology.
http://webtrends.about.com/od/web20/a/what-is-web20.htm.
7. T. Berners-Lee, J. Hendler, and O. Lassila, “The semantic web,” Scientific
American Magazine, May 17, 2001.
8. “Web 4.0: The ultra-intelligent electronic agent is coming,” big think,
March 28, 2013. http://bigthink.com/big-think-tv/web-40-the-ultra-intelligent-
electronic-agent-is-coming.

2 – Digital Workspace Concepts

1. The modern usage of the term pragmatics is attributable to the philosopher

Charles Morris (1938), who was concerned to outline (after Locke and
Peirce the general shape of science of signs, semiotic (or semiotic as Morris
 5
Notes

14
preferred). Within semiotics, Morris distinguished three distinct branches of
inquiry:
a. Syntactics (or syntax), being the study of “the formal relation of signs
to one another”
b. Semantics, the study of “the relations of signs to the objects to which
the signs are applicable” (their designate),
c. Pragmatics, the study of “the relation of signs to interpreters” (1938:6).
2. C. W. Morris “Foundations of the Theory of Signs,” International Encyclo-
paedia of Unified Sciences 1(2), Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1938.
References to W. Nöth (1990), Handbook of Semiotics. Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Press, 1990.
3. R. Stamper, Information in business and administrative systems. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
4. Noam Chomsky, Syntactic structures. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 2nd edition,
2002.
5. Sematic Web, W3C. http://www.w3.org/standards/semanticweb/.
6. Tim Berners-Lee quote on Web 3.0 – Victoria Shannon, “A ‘more revolutionary’
Web,” International Herald Tribune, June 26, 2006.
7. “Introducing the concepts of Web 3.0,” Tweak and Trick. http://www.
tweakandtrick.com/2012/05/web-30.html.
8. Chandler, D., Semiotics: The basics. London: Routledge, 2002.
9. Adapted from Paul Ambrose, Arkalgud Ramaprasad, and Arun Rai,
“Managing thin and thinly distributed knowledge in medical genetics
using the Internet,” Logistics Information Management, 16 (3–4) (2003),
207–14.
10. The babel fish: “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” bbc.co.uk. http://
www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/guide/babelfish.shtml.
11. J. Gaskin, N. Berente, K. Lyytinen, and Y. Yoo, “Towards generalizable socio-
material inquiry: A computational approach for zooming in and out of socio-
material routines,” MIS Quarterly, 38 (3) (September 2014), 849–71.
12. Levinson, Stephen C., Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1983.
13. M. H. Kennedy and S. Mahapatra, “Information analysis for effective plan-
ning and control,” Sloan Management Review, Winter 1975, 71–83 (esp 73).
14. G. M. Marakas and J. J. Elam, “Semantic structuring in analyst acquisition
and representation of facts in requirements analysis,” Information Systems
Research, 9 (1) (1998), 37–63.
15. P. Bera, A. Burton-Jones, and Y. Wand, “Research note: How semantics and
pragmatics interact in understanding,” Information Systems Research, 25 (2),
401–19.
 6
Notes

14
16. “The efficient cloud: All of Salesforce runs on only 1,000 servers,” Techcrunch,
March 23, 2009. http://techcrunch.com/2009/03/23/the-efficient-cloud-
all-of-salesforce-runs-on-only-1000-servers/.
17. Google Data Centers locations. http://www.google.co.uk/about/datacenters/
inside/locations/.
18. “50 things you didn’t know about Google,” UK.complex.com, February 22,
2013. http://uk.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/02/50-things-you-didnt-know-
about-google/20-petabytes.
19. “Google: There are 900 million Android devices activated,” Business Insider,
May 15, 2013. http://www.businessinsider.com/900-million-android-devices-in-
2013-2013-5.
20. “Google play hits one million Android apps,” readwrite, July 24, 2013. http://
readwrite.com/2013/07/24/google-play-hits-one-million-android-apps.
21. M. van Rijmenam, “Walmart makes big data part of its DNA,” Smart Data
Collective, March 17, 2013. http://smartdatacollective.com/bigdatastartups/
111681/walmart-makes-big-data-part-its-social-media.
22. R. Moss, “Walmart.com’s improved search engine powered by ‘Social Genome’,”
retailwire, September 10, 2012. http://www.retailwire.com/discussion/16260/
walmart-coms-improved-search-engine-powered-by-social-genome.
23. “Walmart get on the shelf.” https://getontheshelf.walmart.com/.
24. G. Kearns, “Innovative strategies to leverage big data – Drive co-brand and
core business sales,” MasterCard, Group Executive, Information Services, March 19,
2013. http://www.slideshare.net/morellimarc/mastercard-big-data-2013.
25. “M2M applications: Are connected cars the new smartphones?” Mformation
Blog, n.d., http://www.mformation.com/mformation-news/mformation_blog/
m2m-applications-connected-cars-new-smartphones/?utm_source=twitter&utm_
medium=social&utm_content=4242079#.VBWob_ldV8F.
26. “Data, data everywhere,” The Economist (February 25, 2010). http://www.
economist.com/node/15557443.
27. P. Delort, OECD ICCP Technology Foresight Forum, 2012. http://www.oecd.
org/sti/ieconomy/Session_3_Delort.pdf#page=6.
28. D. Goodman, “This week in the internet of things: Connected cars, smart
home controls, gesture-based sensors and big data processing. Skyhook
Wireless, March 14, 2014. http://blog.skyhookwireless.com/this-week-in-
the-internet-of-things-connected-cars-smart-home-controls-gesture-based-
sensors-and-big-data-processing-.
29. Fujitsu, “Solving the big dilemma of big data.” http://www.fujitsu.com/
downloads/TEL/fnc/whitepapers/BigDatawp.pdf.
30. David Thornburn, “Web of paradox.” Cited in his introduction to the confer-
ence: Democracy and Digital Media and subsequently published in American
 7
Notes

14
Prospect, September–October 1998, 78–80. http://web.mit.edu/comm-
forum/papers/thorburn-web.html.
31. Live Blog: World Retail Congress, October 8, 2013, Finextra. http://www.
finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=25289&topic=innovation.
32. “BPM is NOT software engineering,” bpm.com, November 30, 2008. http://
www.bpm.com/bpm-is-not-software-engineering.html.
33. Artificial intelligence programming language. http://www.britannica.com/
EBchecked/topic/1473945/artificial-intelligence-programming-language#
ref1069879.
34. Allan Gottlieb and George S. Almasi, Highly parallel computing. Redwood
City, CA: Benjamin/Cummings, 1989.
35. D. Shiffman, “The nature of code: Simulating natural systems with processing,
December 13, 2012, Amazon. http://natureofcode.com/book/chapter-10-
neural-networks/.
36. J. Kelly III and S. Hamm, Smart machines: IBM’s Watson and the era of
cognitive computing. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.
37. G. Beni and J. Wang, “Swarm intelligence in cellular robotic systems.”
Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Workshop on Robots and Biological
Systems, Tuscany, Italy, June 26–30, 1989.
38. J. Bartlett, “No, Eugene didn’t pass the Turing Test – but he will soon,”
Daily Telegraph, June 21, 2014. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/
jamiebartlett/100013858/no-eugene-didnt-pass-the-turing-test-but-he-will-
soon/.
39. Hiroshi Ishiguro, “Android science,” Cognitive Science Society, Osaka, 2005.
40. A. Adshead, “Big data storage: Defining big data and the type of storage it
needs,” Computer Weekly (April 2013). http://www.computerweekly.com/
podcast/Big-data-storage-Defining-big-data-and-the-type-of-storage-it-needs.
41. C. Sliwa, “Understanding stripped-down hyperscale storage for big data
use cases,” TechTarget Search Storage (March 2013). http://searchstorage.
techtarget.com/podcast/Understanding-stripped-down-hyperscale-storage-
for-big-data-use-cases.
42. Chris Anderson, “The Long Tail,” 2004–14. http://www.longtail.com/about.html.

3 – Design Practices in the Digital Enterprise

1. “Global travel & tourism industry defies economic uncertainty by outperforming

the global economy in 2012 – and predicted to do it again in 2013.” World Travel
and Tourism Council. http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4059643.html.
 8
Notes

14
2. Hilton International global website. http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/about/.
3. Second quarter business results – Hilton International, June 30, 2014.
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20140801005062/en/Hilton-
Worldwide-Reports-Strong-Quarter-2014-Results#.VDFA-_ldWSo.
4. “Hilton revolutionizes hotel experience with digital check-in, room selection
and customization, and check-out across 650,000-plus rooms at more than
4,000 properties worldwide,” Hilton International press release, July 28, 2014.
http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/27192.
5. Hilton International global privacy policy – code of practice. http://hhonors3.
hilton.com/en/promotions/privacy-policy/english.html.
6. Partnership development for Hilton Hotels – an open innovation solution to
help Hilton Hotels develop its business. http://www.ideaconnection.com/
open-innovation-success/Partnership-Development-for-Hilton-Hotels-00140.
html.
7. FlyerTalk. http://www.flyertalk.com/.
8. ArchiMate®, an Open Group Standard, is an open and independent mod-
eling language for enterprise architecture. http://www.opengroup.org/
subjectareas/enterprise/archimate.
9. ArchiMate® Download Center. http://www.opengroup.org/archimate/down
loads.htm.
10. Technology Reference Model TRM, Figure 43-1, TOGAF 9, The Open Group.
http://pubs.opengroup.org/architecture/togaf9-doc/arch/chap43.html.
11. The Open Group Open Platform 3TM forum. http://www.opengroup.org/
subjectareas/platform3.0.
12. Y. Yoo, O. Henfridsson, and K. Lyytinen, “The new organizing logic of
digital innovation: An agenda for information systems research,” Journal of
Information Systems Research, 21 (4) (December 2010), 724–35. http://
dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1923786.
13. Youngjin Yoo, “Digitization and unbounded innovation,” Slideshare http://
www.slideshare.net/yxy23yoo.
14. O. Henfridsson and B. Bygstad, “The generative mechanisms of digital infra-
structure evolution,” MIS Quarterly, 37 (3) (2013), 907–31. http://misq.org/
the-generative-mechanisms-of-digital-infrastructure-evolution.html?SID=7nt
dq5gqhaegskupgqomh3l9j4.
International Technical and
Business Standards Bodies
and Suggested Further
Reading

A selection of active standards bodies exist in the field of digital enterprise and
digital ecosystems development. There are many active initiatives; the aim here is
to provide an illustration of some of the key themes.

You can find details of these at http://building-the-digital-enterprise.com/

international-technical-and-business-standards-bodies-and-suggested-futher-
reading. 9
14
Index

3D printing 39 Business to consumer (B2C) 23, 30,

36, 119
Actions 59 Bring your own device (BYOD) 16
Advanced Technology Transformation
Engineering 39, 41 Case studies
Aesthetics 16 Amazon 22, 68
Agility 15 Allautowares.com 23
Application platform 115 Apple 18, 19, 20
ArchiMate® 113, 115 BMW 23
Architecture 1, 2, 25 Carnegie Mellon 3, 4
Architecture building block 20, DoD 3, 4
67 Ford 70
Architecture definition 1, 2 Hilton International 105, 135
Architecture paradigm 8 Intel 17, 21
Architecture practice 114 Kiva 24
Architecting digital workspace 117, Liazon.com 23
119 MasterCard 69, 71
Example of connected guest digital NATO 3, 4
workspace 118 OpenTable.co.uk 23
Architecture ecosystem model Salesforce.com 68
examples 120, 124 SkypeTM 61
eHotel model 120 TradeB2B.com 23
eRetail model 122 Twitch 22
Connected Car model 124 Walmart 69
Wikipedia 24
Big data 76, 77, 78 Cluster 48
Business context 65 Co-presence 31
Business to business (B2B) 23, 30, Command and control 4
36, 119 Commodity 14
0
15
 1
Index

15
Communications infrastructure 115 Digital platforms 22, 72, 97, 98,
Confidentiality 46 127
Connected automobile 29 Digital knowledge platform 99
Connected enterprise 28 Digital contextual augmentation
Connected self 47 platform 99
Consumer to consumer (C2C) 36 Digital transit platform 99
Contextual conditions 139 Digital personal/business
Contextual spaces 44 community platform 100
Contextualization 7, 57, 59, 61, Digital room/facility platform 100
68 Digital object platform 101
Crowdsourcing 24 Digital privacy 46
Customer experience (CX) 16, 62, 63, Digital self 47
64, 98, 134 Digital technology 1, 14, 27, 37, 45,
Cyber threats 47 47, 48, 49, 64, 139
Digital transactions 115
Design thinking 20 Digital transformation 81
Devices 11, 12 Digital transition 87
Digital architecture 2 Digital workspaces 18, 49, 50, 60, 64,
Digital artifacts 9 67, 68, 79, 89, 90, 93, 94, 97, 98,
Digital business model 105 105, 119, 133, 134
Digital capabilities 67 Biological workspaces 92
Digital continuum 10, 11 Business community workspace 95
Digital convergence 70, 87, 88 Context Relationship workspace 96
Digital disruption 19 Knowledge workspace 96
Digital economy 1, 10, 28 Object workspace 94
Digital ecosystem 10, 25, 28, 31, 81, Personal workspace 95
85, 89, 93, 128, 134, 136 Physical workspaces 92
Digital entanglement 62, 63, 66 Room and facility workspace 94
Digital enterprise 22, 28, 30, 48, 64, Transit workspaces 92
67, 93, 103, 105, 113, 135, 137, Travel and transition workspace 95
138 Virtual biological workspaces 93
Digital enterprise architecture model Virtual physical workspaces 92
examples Virtual transit workspaces 92
Connected car model 124 Digital workspace experience
eHotel model 120, 139, 140 (DWX) 134
eRetail model 122 Digital workspace patterns
Digital hospitality 105 examples 132, 133
Digital life 45 Digital workspace services
Digital markets 5 examples 133, 134
Digital operating model (DOM) 128 Digitization 1, 7, 9, 10, 17, 18, 21,
Digital personas 45 22, 63
 2
Index

15
Ecosystem 1, 30, 89, 128 Influence at a distance 8
Ecosystem architecture 129 Information ecosystem 32
Ecosystem architecture continuum 130 Information technology 1
Role of clusters in ecosystems 131 Information theory 58
Social clusters 129 Intelligence workspace 131, 132
Process clusters 129 Internet 11, 70
Technology clusters 129 Internet economy 27
Ecosystem clusters 134 Internet of Things (IoT) 27, 119
Embedded technologies 42 Internetworking 11
Empathy 16 Interoperability 3, 4, 5, 42
Enterprise architecture 3, 113 ISO 2
Enterprise architecture basic IT infrastructure 15
framework 116
Enterprise software practice 68 Knowledge augmentation 66
Enterprise systems vendor Knowledge context 66
technologies 44 Knowledge networks 7
Experience mediation 117
Experience touchpoints 135 Local cluster 48
Loose coupling 4
Facts 59
Feedback 17 Machine learning 69, 79
Field of view Machine-to-machine (M2M) 69, 79
Semantic field of information Metadata 84
view 84, 85 Meta language 56
Spatial field of information view 83 Metrics 139
Temporal information field of Military operations 3
view 86, 87 Mobile apps 136
Mobile device management (MDM) 16
Generative mechanisms 139 Modality 56
Generativity 21, 139, 140 Modularity 19, 20, 119, 126, 127
Geographic positioning 7 Monetization 21, 22
Geospatial 18 Monetization mechanisms 22
Moore’s Law 21, 70
High-frequency trading (HFT) 69 Multiplexing 37
Human–machine interface 51, 52, 53 Multiplicity 37
Hyperconnectivity 1 Multi-sided platform (MSP) 28, 126, 136
Hyperdata 84, 85
NATO 3
Immersive feedback 17 Networking continuum 11
Immersive sensing 17 Network topologies 12
In context 8 Non-contextual 59
 3
Index

15
Objects 55, 59 Social graph 6
Open and proprietary technology and Social influence 69
platforms 42 Social spaces 44
Open Platform 3.0TM 119 Software and hardware development
Open technical architecture techniques 72
standards 42 Data analytical software
Outcomes 139 development 76
Fifth-generation software
Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) 37 development 74
Peer-to-peer (P2P) 24 Fourth-generation software
PEC (physical, extended, contextual) development 68, 72
model 80, 89, 137 Spatial 51
Physical data 85 Spectrum frequency 12
Physical workspace 28 STC (spatial, temporal, contextual)
Places 59 model 82, 89, 137
Platforms 22 Stereoscopic augmentation 18
Portability 3, 4, 42 Super cluster 48
Pragmatics 56, 57, 60 Supply chain network and
Privacy 46 technology 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38
Privacy, confidentiality, security, trust Syntax 55
(PCST) 45 System of systems 3, 5
Prototyping 15, 16
Proximity 66 Tagging 61
Purposeful 59 Technical reference model 114
Technological ecosystems 27, 31, 32, 39
Regulation 47 Advanced technology
transformation engineering 39
Scaling 127 Enterprise systems vendor
Security controls 47 technologies 44
Self-driving car 30 Information ecosystem 32
Semantic web 55 Open and proprietary technology
Semantics 7, 51, 55, 60, 67, 85 and platforms 42
Semiotics 54, 59 Privacy, confidentiality, security,
Semiotics ladder 53, 54 trust (PCST) 45
Sensor and actuator 11, 12, 44 Technology in the supply chain
Sharing economy 23, 24 network 33
Shift in mindset 1 Technology in the workplace 43
Smart automobile 29 Technological era 101
Smart hotel 28, 29 Temporal 51
Smart TV 64 Theory of being 57
Social context 65 Theory of knowledge 57
 4
Index

15
Things 8, 57, 59 Value chain 6
Tight coupling 4 Value network analysis 6
Touchpoints 135 Value network ecosystem (VNE) 81,
Experience touchpoints 135 128, 136
Transaction touchpoints 135 Vehicle to vehicle (V2V) 30
Transformational thinking 14, Virtual organization (VO) 36
15 Virtual supply chain 37, 38
Transforming spatial thinking 40
Transforming temporal thinking 40 Wearables 66
Transmutation 87 Web 1.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0,
Trust 46 Web 4.0 33, 55, 56,
Two-sided market platforms 135
(TSPs) 136 Web apps 136
Web paradox 70
User Experience (UX) 16, 62, 63, 64, World Wide Web Consortium
73, 98, 134 (W3C) 32