The Digital Transformation Playbook: Rethink Your Business for the Digital Age

Access Strategy
The access strategy for business is to be faster, be easier, be everywhere, and 
be always on for your customers. We know that standards of speed, ease, 
and ubiquity may shift over time: where an access strategy might have once 
meant offering e-commerce for the first time, today it might mean provid-
ing a mobile-optimized website, more rapid delivery, or order tracking. My 
research on mobile showrooming with Matt Quint and Rick Ferguson found 
that the same customers may, at different times, choose to buy a product 
online or in a store (even choosing the more expensive option), depending 
on which method gives them greater convenience. And that convenience 
depends on context: Am I buying something I want to use right now? Is it 
something heavy that is easier to have shipped to my home? Can I afford to 
wait a day or two for delivery?
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The use of cloud computing, mobile devices, 
and location-based geo-targeting has brought a wave of new innovations 
that grant greater access to consumers and business customers alike.
Figure 2.4 
Five Customer Network Behaviors and Customer Network Strategies.
Customer network behaviors
Five customer network strategies
Access
Be faster, be easier, be everywhere,
be always on
Engage
Become a source of valued content
Customize
Make your offering adaptable to your
customers’ needs
Connect
Become a part of your customers’
conversations
Collaborate
Invite your customers to help build
your enterprise

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An access strategy may therefore take a variety of approaches, including 
mobile commerce, omni-channel experiences, working in the cloud, and 
on-demand service.
r
 Mobile commerce: Travelers are already accustomed to using QR codes 
on their phone screens as tickets to board planes and trains. Hotel 
chains like Starwood are developing room doors that guests can unlock 
with a swipe of their smartphone. Tesco launched its stores in South 
Korea by putting up posters of popular grocery items on subway plat-
forms and allowing customers to order home delivery right from their 
phone just by scanning the item they wanted (milk, biscuits, 32 oz. 
Snapple). With mobile payment systems and in-store targeting, cus-
tomers can receive discounts, redeem coupons, purchase, and recom-
mend, all from their small screen.
r
 Omni-channel experiences: Increasingly, businesses are recognizing 
that customers are looking for an integrated experience across all digi-
tal and physical touchpoints. Walmart, for example, has developed a 
mobile shopping app with different features designed for when cus-
tomers are in a Walmart store versus using the same app at home. An 
additional feature auto-detects when a customer opens the app while 
in one of its four thousand North American stores, to provide the right 
version. After implementing this enhanced mobile app, Walmart found 
that 12 percent of its online sales came from customers who purchased 
from Walmart.com while in the store aisle.
r
 Working in the cloud: With the shift from downloaded MP3s on iTunes 
to streaming music services like Spotify, consumers are quickly becom-
ing accustomed to paying for products that reside entirely in the cloud. 
Likewise, businesses are shifting more and more of their work pro-
cesses to the cloud with software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers like 
Google Apps, Salesforce, Dropbox, and Evernote. The result is much 
lower IT costs for businesses and greater flexibility for an increasingly 
mobile and collaborative workforce.
r
 On-demand services: Increasingly, services that used to require the cus-
tomer to be in a specific location at a specific time are now accessible 
to customers anywhere at any time. Retail banks that used to advertise 
the number of local ATMs they had are now touting all the banking 
services customers can manage via their phone (including scanning a 
paper check to deposit it). Start-ups like the Khan Academy, Coursera, 
and EdX are pushing the limits of on-demand education. Health care 
is just beginning to take advantage of telemedicine, where customers 

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receive nonurgent care and consultation remotely by text, e-mail, and 
live videoconferencing with a physician.
The keys to an access strategy are simplicity, convenience, ubiquity, and 
flexibility. Offering a product or service one step closer, easier, or faster 
helps your business to continuously create additional value for customers 
and win their loyalty.