Digital transformation and the role of customer-centric innovation: Interview with the chief value officer, Thales

Andreas Hinterhuber and Stephan Liozu discuss several salient aspects of the digital transformation of traditional industrial companies. Stephan Liozu is chief value offi cer (CVO) of Thales, one of the world’s largest aerospace and defense companies that has invested heavily in digitalization. Digital transformation requires new business models that are frequently located in a separate organizational unit. The digital transformation requires a shift from single products to the ecosystem. In order to implement the digital transformation successfully, several issues are key: superior customer insights and true customer orientation; acquisition of new, digital analytics capabilities; partnerships; fi nally, a careful balance between broad experimentation and a few, narrow bets that deliver results and prove the viability of digitalized solutions.