Abstract
The entire digital ecosystem is disrupted due to disruptive innovation. Digital Transformation (DT) is the way of enabling businesses with innovative technology to either disrupt others in the ecosystem or protect the digital firm itself from disruption. Digital firms can either be failures or successful based on how they approach DT because DT is now at the heart of the business model of a digital firm. In the 21st century, organizations incline to implement DT, which is an exceptional means of achieving business excellence (BE) to achieve outstanding quality. Inspired by IoT’s “of the things” concept, DT-based excellence framework, “EoT – Excellence of Things™” can be developed that utilizes frameworks, platforms, services, and best practices related to BE to add value to digital firms. Thus, this study explores a theoretical model of DT-based BE. Also, the meaning of EoT™ for digital firms and DT-based BE components is explored through an in-depth interview. The Delphi method has been applied as a tool for data collection from a panel of experts from different educational and professional backgrounds. They are from several industries too.
The Nvivo application analyzed the responses acquired from the open-ended questions. The analysis generated a few ‘drivers’ that influence a digital firm to achieve EoT™. Moreover, based on the EoT™ framework discussed in this article, there are three enablers such as Corporate of Things (CoT), Lean of Things (LoT) and Data of Things (DoT). As per the participants’ responses, the significant aspects of EoT™ that have to be taken care of during the implementation of EoT™ to add value to a digital firm are supportive Organizational Culture (38%), Process Driven (23%), Strong Leadership (14%), Employee Motivation (8%), Quality Management (6%) and Excepting Digital Transformation (6%). However, other factors such as Management Commitment (2%) and Transparency (3%) are also considered aspects of EoT™ implementation. Finally, the relationship between drivers and the three enablers’ integration is discussed elaborately. The findings have implications for four principles of the EoT™ framework. Lastly, an EoT Reference Model (ERM) has been generated from the analysis. Other implications have been discussed too.
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