The digital revolution requires that both established companies and startups are ready to respond to the challenge of creating value with strategies and tools adapted to the new context. The first response to which they are called upon is a profound organizational change. Digital is not a channel to be added to the physical world, nor is it a value chain that is added to the current dual functions, divisions and processes: digital technologies activate a new organization that is reflected in the need to renew skills and processes for an immediate synthesis between real and virtual. The second answer is a strategic change. The digital enterprise no longer focuses on the products and services sold, but on the customers served: the marketing function will become more and more quantitative and algorithmic, but next to it everyone, starting from the CEO, will have to become familiar with the logic of user experience, customer journey and marketing funnel. The third answer involves a redesign of the value chain, starting from a new dynamic concept of frames such as open innovation, e-commerce and CRM. The fourth and final answer lies in a cultural change: in the light of key words such as sustainability and corporate purpose, the efficiency of the machine will have to combine with he humanism of creativity. There are still few scientific certainties on this point. But one thing is certain: the complexity of tomorrow’s challenges can only be faced by a new manager-entrepreneur in a new human digital enterprise.

Emanuela Prandelli, Gianmario Verona