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How trust accelerates transformation


Trusted data and technology fuel new ways of working. Just ask Microsoft Xbox’s gaming ecosystem. 


In brief

  • Trust is an essential ingredient for accelerated transformation and innovation.
  • Unless organizations anticipate and close the potential trust gaps, customers, markets and regulators will not embrace their new tech-driven innovations.
  • To close trust gaps, organizations must embed trust in data and technology from the outset, using an approach we call Trusted Intelligence.

A version of this article was first published in MIT Technology Review in December 2020.

We are living in a time of increasingly intelligent technologies, when an organization’s ability to be trusted really matters. But the way data and intelligent technologies such as AI are being used is creating significant trust gaps. For example, the public feels that intelligent technology is moving too fast and that regulators can’t keep up, as documented in the 2020 Edelman Trust Barometer.

There are plenty of high-profile examples of data misuse and unintended outcomes from AI usage that have contributed to these gaps. One small example took place this June when an AI tool to reconstruct pixelated photos turned a photo of Barack Obama into a white man. It became a matter of hot debate in the AI community: was the bias towards creating more photos of white people than people of color the result of incomplete data or indicative of the racial bias baked into AI from non-diverse datasets and development teams?

Trust gaps have reframed the question of “Can tech do this?” into “Should tech do this?” It’s no longer about capabilities. It’s about trust in the intelligence that a business uses, and that customers, markets, regulators and ecosystems rely on. Can companies and government organizations ensure the outcomes of their technologies? Do they have reliable methods for identifying, tracing and correcting unintended outcomes? Without trust, the ability of an organization to operate and innovate is reduced and slowed down.

Trust in data and technologies results from action. There are methods and techniques that embed trust into data, trust into systems, trust into business models to create sustained value and empower transformation. At EY, we call this Trusted Intelligence.

Trust is not something you can bolt on. It has to be designed into data and intelligent technologies from the outset.

“Trust is not something you can bolt on. It has to be designed in from the outset,” said Marco Vernocchi, EY Global Chief Data Officer. Trusted Intelligence embeds trust in a tangible way that embraces behaviors, processes, business models and outcomes as data moves through technology and the organization — accelerating transformation and the creation of long-term value.

 

Trusted Intelligence in action: the Xbox ecosystem

With thousands of developers, publishers, authors, designers, production houses and distributors, Microsoft’s Xbox gaming platform is a complex ecosystem of relationships. Collaboration across this ecosystem is key to producing a high-quality product that attracts the best talent and satisfies consumers – but Microsoft recognized there were points of friction that needed to be addressed.

 

A multitude of manual processes and siloed systems meant that developers and publishers couldn’t link complex calculations for royalties to the underlying data. As a result, they had to spend time and resources reconciling, validating and tracing back the transactions, then recalculating royalties to verify accuracy. Distributors found it difficult to reconcile data from different sources.

 

To cut through complexity and increase trust in the data, Microsoft and the EY organization partnered to co-develop the solution. The result was the first blockchain-based financial system of records for processing end-to-end royalty transactions, from contract creation through to integration with SAP for payments. The blockchain solution provides near real-time access to authentic trusted transactions data from source systems to game publishers, who can click and drill-down from transactions to source contract terms agreed with Microsoft.

The upshot? Publishers can access information on royalties earned in just 4 minutes instead of 45 days after month end. Royalties administration costs have been slashed. Increased trust in the royalties intelligence has given the ecosystem greater visibility of the underlying data. Microsoft benefits from faster, more efficient processes and lower operational costs.

With trust, everything moves more smoothly. Collaboration is easier. Innovation drives value. Technology can be deployed at speed.

Embedding trust

Looking at the Xbox story, we can see that trust has been embedded into the intelligence of the business in a variety of ways:

  • Data from a multitude of manual workflows and unintegrated systems has been replaced with trusted data
  • Trusted data is also created by automating complex royalty calculations, product tokenization and onboarding smart contracts using AI based on secure cloud technologies
  • Trust is maintained through the blockchain-based system of record that generates invoices and statements with integration to SAP for settlement and processing of payments, as well as post-accounting journals
  • And finally, trust is embedded into how people work by applying clear rules and transparent processes

As businesses strive to carve out competitive advantage, applying Trusted Intelligence is creating a new frontier of opportunities to accelerate a distinctive digital transformation.

Accelerated transformation

While digital transformation was well underway prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 stepped up the pace. In a recent EY webcast on the impact of COVID-19 on customer experience with nearly 2000 participants, 82% said they were accelerating digital transformation.

 

This confirms what we’re experiencing with our clients in the market. We know that those achieving radical and exponential value creation are responding to three key drivers:

  • The ability to put humans at the center of what they do: When it comes to customers, value creators have shifted their orientation from “How do we get more customers to buy what we make or do?” to “How do we give customers more of what they want?” This change in mindset is backed by truly engaged employees who feel motivated and energized by their company’s purpose.  
  • Deploying technology at speed: In other words, moving at the speed that today’s customers and employees expect and demand. This means automation through AI and other intelligent technologies, as well as cloud-based services. It means using agile methodologies and technology that helps you respond to dynamic conditions.
  • Innovating at scale: Organizations need to innovate on two levels – survival today and success tomorrow. It’s like a muscle that needs to be continuously flexed. Collaboration is the name of the game, for example through leveraging ecosystems of partnerships and alliances. To turn innovative ideas into value that is embraced by customers, citizens, markets and societies, it has to be built using large volumes of data, intelligent technologies and cloud infrastructure that are trusted.

Each of these drivers is amplified by Trusted Intelligence. Embedding trust into data is how data links to value, and how organizations can reduce trust gaps and accelerate their digital transformation.  

Trusted Intelligence

Trusted Intelligence is a value-first approach that reframes how organizations obtain, manage, use and scale data

Related article

How blockchain helped a gaming platform become a game changer

Microsoft Xbox and EY implemented a transparent blockchain network so game publishers, creators and asset owners can focus on the future.

    Putting Trusted Intelligence onto your agenda

    Trusted Intelligence and value are inextricably linked, so if you want to create more value, build more trust. There are some fundamental questions that organizations and governments need to address to close trust gaps, take advantage of transformation and earn competitive advantage:

    • Do I trust my data, technologies and automated processes?
    • Do I trust my ecosystems’ data, technologies and automated processes?
    • Does my ecosystem trust my data, technologies and automated processes? 

    These questions are important because they will define the strategies, investments, actions and culture of businesses and governments as they reshape their operating models.

    Summary

    As businesses and governments transform to meet new challenges, it’s essential to embed Trusted Intelligence into the core of their operations. As the Xbox example shows, trusted data and intelligent technologies such as blockchain can increase speed, transparency and agility.

    Enterprises powered by trust will be able to deliver on all three transformation drivers: people, technology and innovation. They’ll be able to leapfrog their competitors. To shape new markets. To lead into better futures.


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