10X Supports Dominican Companies’ Peek into Silicon Valley

From November 4-7, 2019, twenty top-executives from the Dominican Republic took part in a corporate innovation program in Silicon Valley, the tech capital of the world. The goal was to strengthen Dominican companies' position in the growing Dominican market by learning about the latest in AI, Predictive Analytics & other disruptive technologies.  By coming to Silicon Valley, they gained insights from world-leading entrepreneurs from renowned companies including Amazon, LinkedIn, Google & Cisco, and are now able to use these experiences to accelerate their own companies' digital transformations. Seeing the latest technology trends in action gave them a more holistic and tangible understanding of what the future will bring as well as a roadmap for how succeed.  

Jonathan Price, Associate Manager, Executive Briefing Center at DocuSign

With the highest concentration of tech startups in the world, there are many opportunities to get exposure to cutting-edge innovation by visiting Silicon Valley, which impacts Dominican companies as much as American ones. DocuSign, a prime example of a company that is continuously going through digital transformation on a global scale, is where Dominican executives learned how Docusign is staying ahead of the curve in leading a paperless future. 

Continuous Knowledge is King

Another highlight from the program was the visit to Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, where 10x Innovation Lab’s co-founder, Professor Aaron McDaniel, was ready to greet the executives. He shared his insights on the ‘Silicon Valley way’ of doing business, the importance of creating a strong entrepreneurial mindset within the organization, and the crucial steps to take to enable change. His stance was that intrapreneurship accelerates innovation, providing more impact and a lower cost, but that it only works if the organization allows failure and pivots.

Aaron McDaniel, Co-founder, 10X Innovation Lab

Gauthier Vasseur, Berkeley Haas Fisher Center of Business Analytics

Next up was Professor Gauthier Vasseur who taught the group how to analyze and interpret big data. There’s a lot of buzz out there around big data, so sometimes debunking those statements can be more valuable than anything else.

Many of the participants asked him questions like this:

“We know data is the new oil, so should we value our data in the balance sheet?”

And Professor Gauthier’s answer was crystal clear – ‘your data is worthless if it’s not clean, taken care of and organized with a purpose in mind’. How data is harnessed is what truly matters, but the analysis is unfortunately often not prioritized in organizations. Also, the level of fluidity in raw data is essential to ensure that the database can be correctly understood in all software. Hence, the data needs to be prepared, stored, and analyzed from the bottom up in order to ensure value. Forget about big data in volume and velocity - only one aspect really matters; the variety of data, but not in the way one might think. Prof. Gauthier argues that real data analytics have been misunderstood and have become a myth. An executive doesn’t need real-time data because real-time data is simply too sensitive and fluctuating. The Executives need to focus on the bigger picture and be able to connect the dots.

Joel Barbier, Director of Customer Transformation, Cisco

Lastly, but certainly not least, the group visited Cisco - one of the world’s major players in computer technology and cybersecurity. Joel Barbier, the company’s executive focused on customer transformation, shared how Cisco enables and creates disruption. A lot of people believe disruption is about technology – indeed, technology makes it possible - but Cisco’s research states that it is actually a lot about Business Model Innovation. What they found in their research is that it is not only cost value or experience value that matters – but the often forgotten true value is the platform value. It creates the network effect, a very powerful tool in creating disruption. He then went into what Cisco calls Value Vampire - a disruptive player that has a strong focus on cost value. These players bring prices down so much that they are draining the industry and making it unstable. These vampires are taking value out of the market. So how do we deal with them? He showed the group the Digital Response Strategy Playbook and how to alter it to be successful in different industries. More about Joel Barbiers research can be found in his book “Orchestrating Transformation: How to Deliver Winning Performance with a Connected Approach to Change”

In conclusion, there are many ways to get the latest insights, but at 10X Innovation Lab, we believe the best approach is to see for yourself through hands-on experience. If you want to know which technological breakthroughs are looming around the corner, which radical new business models will disrupt your industry and how to gain insights into how the fastest and most agile startups work and have successfully disrupted the world's largest companies  - then a 10X Innovation Lab Corporate Program is a worthwhile investment.

Comments from our Participants

“The entire Silicon Valley trip was everything — enlightening, educational, exciting etcetera. If I had a choice, I might have stayed in Silicon Valley. It was all too beautiful, and I’d do it all over again if given the chance.” — Bryan Henriquez, AES Dominicana

“Exportable knowledge and experience to transform our companies and our country, making our country competitive globally!” — Vivian Peña Izquierdo, Vice President, AMCHAMDR ICT Committee

“10X Innovation Labis a very concise and clear concept platform to design a Digital Transformation Strategy for companies and individuals” — Jorge Ivan Ramirez - President of Intransforming Consultants