What do the Automobile industry and digital strategies have in common?

Innovation in the automobile industry of the 80s and the 90s was primarily driven by the engineering departments. Each year, industry leaders exposed new models at international fairs and emphasized hard-core technical innovations: safer cars through better passive and active security, more powerful and better built engines with increased energy efficiency, silent cars, rust-free chassis, etc. Engineers were the stars, looked after and headhunted like highly paid football players. Today, emphasis is on ergonomics, design and style, and designers have taken the spotlight away. A car and its underlying technology are now commodities, mature and highly evolved, and available at a relative low price. Technical innovations have become enablers of good looks and a smooth user experience, which are now the key differentiators. Focus is on highly styled, confortable and easy to use cars. Technology is hidden below modern and sleek minimalistic dashboards, smooth gearboxes, ergonomic user interfaces requiring minimal driver's attention; lights and wipers turn on and off when necessary, drivers and passengers have what they need when they need it. Cars are getting bigger to accommodate the aging and taller population, and carry children with more safety than ever (which also takes more space then in the 80s). The recent success of smartphones, mobile applications and the new Windows 8 user interface shows that the IT industry is moving along the same path; Apple is no more the niche leader of the pack. Underlying technology such as development frameworks, operating systems, databases, ERPs, CRMs, Search, enterprise collaboration tools and publishing systems have become commodities and - relatively - easy to operate and implement. This level of maturity makes it possible to focus more on user experience designs and application ergonomics. Adapted development frameworks have allowed to roll out fast, simple to use and good looking apps, offering short and consistent user journeys with great results. Immediacy is now key, offered through a compelling user experience requiring as little clicks as possible. Users do not want to navigate through complex web site structures, and use Google instead. The "digital natives" generation that emerges expects direct access to what they look for, and nothing more. Facebook and Google, leading the pack, respond very well to such needs. Companies who ignore this will sooner or later be bypassed and become irrelevant. Such evolutions offer opportunities. We help our clients identify and exploit them through the development of digital and multichannel strategies. The impact of these changes on corporate structures and organisations should not be underestimated; customers are interested in a good user experience, not the structure of the company they buy from. A user centric approach is the best angle to tackle such initiatives and can eventually lead to the digital transformation of entire organisations. Addressing such complexities is the DNA of OWT, and we bring our expertise to our clients so that their customer experience gets ahead of those offered by competitors, just like some car makes offer a better user journey than others.