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Optimizing Your Digital Business Model

March 19, 2013 | Peter Weill, Stephanie L. Woerner | Strategy

A company's digital business model describes how the enterprise interacts digitally with its customers to generate value. Without a digital business model, your customers may leave you behind. A great digital business model will often challenge the status quo in the company: It can cause an organization to change how work gets done, who does the work and where it invests to best serve customers online. A digital business model often cannibalizes or changes the company's physical channels.

And that is true whether the company is a born-on-the-Web company like Amazon, a large oil company or a local business just starting to focus on the best way to connect with customers online.

This article presents a framework to help enterprises compete digitally with three capabilities: their content, customer experience and platform. The framework is illustrated with case studies of top performers like Amazon, Apple, LexisNexis and USAA and results from an effective practices survey.

The article also includes a self-assessment tool to help with next steps.

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