Innovation is the successful introduction of new technology in an organization. It may consist of the successful introduction of new business models, products, business organization, processes, services, or new enablers of customer experience. We regard all of these as new technology, in other words as new ways of achieving a goal.

The key insight of our approach is that innovation is enabled by your ecosystem. An innovation may change the customers, suppliers and partners you work with. It may change their customers or suppliers, and it will change the competitive landscape. It may require actions by rule makers such as government and standards organizations. And it will change your relationships with actors in in your business ecosystem. Hence to be successful, innovation must be treated as the introduction of new technology in your ecosystem.

In this short course, we introduce the concept of an ecosystem business model, which consists of a value proposition, a stakeholder model, and a profit model. We explain how innovation affects the architecture of your ecosystem. At the strategic level, a value proposition, stakeholder model, and governance structure for the entire ecosystem must be defined. At the financial level, a profit model must be defined that ensures that actors in the ecosystem engage in mutually beneficial transactions that are financially viable in the long run. At the technical level, technology, processes and standards needed by the ecosystem as a whole must be agreed on.

We explain these concepts by means of a simple real-world case and discuss what this approach means for your organization.

Innovation is the successful introduction of new technology in an organization. It may consist of the successful introduction of new business models, products, business organization, processes, services, or new enablers of customer experience. We regard all of these as new technology, in other words as new ways of achieving a goal.

The key insight of our approach is that innovation is enabled by your ecosystem. An innovation may change the customers, suppliers and partners you work with. It may change their customers or suppliers, and it will change the competitive landscape. It may require actions by rule makers such as government and standards organizations. And it will change your relationships with actors in your business ecosystem. Hence to be successful, innovation must be treated as the introduction of new technology in your ecosystem.

In this two-day workshop, we present our approach to digital innovation. We present the TEAM framework for designing the architecture and governance of a business ecosystem that enables a digital innovation, and explain how to interpret e³value models of an ecosystem architecture. We use real-world examples to explain the concepts. The audience can work on a case they bring with them or on a case provided by us.

The schedule of the two days is as follows.

Day 1: Examples of ecosystems and of digital innovations of an ecosystem. The structure of ecosystem business models. Systematic approach to digital innovation. The TEAM approach to the design architecture and governance of ecosystems. Strategic ecosystem architecture and governance. Case studies

Day 2: Discussion of case studies. Value models of ecosystems: Reciprocity, cash flows and risks. Financial viability of an ecosystem value model in the long run. Application to case studies. Fraud assessment of an ecosystem. Technology and coordination in an ecosystem. Wrap-up of the case studies.

Business innovation requires digital innovation. This in turn requires alignment of the business model of the innovation with the IT that enables the innovation.  But this creates a communication problem: Those responsible for the business do not always understand the capabilities and constraints of IT systems, and conversely those responsible for technology do not always understand the requirements of the business.

The e³value language crosses this communication gap and ensures that business decision makers make well-informed decisions about their business, without making uninformed decisions about technology. Conversely, using e³value ensures that technologists make well-informed decisions about technology, and do not make uninformed decisions about the business.

Today’s IT systems are embedded in a web of digital systems within and across organizations.  We therefore take an ecosystem approach to digital innovation, which means that we consider how digital innovation may change the suppliers, customers and partners you work with, what it does with your competitive landscape, and how it changes the rules, norms, and standards of your ecosystem. E³value allows you to make a business model of the ecosystem of an innovation that shows decision makers what the strategic implications of innovation are, and that shows technologists what its technical implications are.

Day 1: Digital innovation, business ecosystems and business models. Modeling ecosystems with e³value. Value objects and value hierarchies. The Music case. Practical work constructing a value hierarchy.

Syntax and semantics of value webs. Multi-actor value webs. The Music case, extended. Practical work constructing a multi-actor value web. GameDev case, Google Play store case.

Day 2: Recap and discussion. Assessing economic sustainability. Practical work on the cases. Sensitivity analysis. Vulnerability to fraud. Practical cases.

Data requirements, coordination requirements, IT requirements from a value model. Practical cases. Summary, wrap-up and evaluation.

TVE teaches courses on ecosystem modeling and design using the TEAM approach and the e³value language. Our courses are in English or, if possible, in the language of the audience. The courses are given online or face-to-face in a convenient high-quality location.

This course trains teachers of TEAM and e³value. The training is concluded with an exam and successful candidates receive a certificate. Certified teachers can act as coach in our online courses and as teachers in our face-to-face courses.

TBD