Go-to-Market Strategy
ABOUT THE PROJECT
Thoroughly analysing the self-driving market to shape the best go-to-market strategy
The client, a global leading provider of cloud services, wanted to have clearer visibility of the company vision in order to understand where to focus its efforts and how to position its services for success.
Although the client had some thoughts regarding the key areas where it could direct itself, they needed a team of Business Strategy Consultants to quantify the growth of these areas and recommend the players with whom to partner for their Go-to-Market Strategy.
While my colleagues have analysed other areas where the client could extend (payment industry, digital media and retail banking), I was responsible for the thorough analysis of the self-driving car industry.
ROLE
Business Strategy Consultant
CLIENT
Accenture Strategy & Global Cloud Service Provider
HOW I HELPED
In the capacity of Business Strategy Consultant for Accenture Strategy, I led the analysis of the self-driving car market and recommended how the client should market its cloud services to best target the to-be main players in this emerging market.
The client engagement has required a thorough analysis of:
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the enabling technology
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the self-driving car industry
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the start-up ecosystem
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the societal impacts
1. THE ENABLING TECHNOLOGY
Understanding the key technologies enabling self-driving has been the first step to estimate how much time the client had in order to be ready to interact with key players once this emerging market would have picked up.
Two main technology approaches emerged: the one used by Tesla, which leverages a combination of radars and cameras, and the one used by Waymo, which relies on Lidars and other sensors.
The difference in the data processing and computational power of the two approaches was particularly relevant in the understanding of how to best position the client's cloud services
01. Enabling technology_v0.02
2. THE SELF-DRIVING CAR INDUSTRY
An increasingly complex competitive landscape has emerged, with established OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturer) forced to compete on multiple fronts, new entrants aiming to seize profits that are shifting from products to services, tech players having both the financial flexibility to invest heavily and the talent advantage, and autonomous vehicle expertise being limited to a small group.
In such a context, established OEMs are altering their workforce, forming standalone subsidiaries and increasing R&D to compete in the new competitive environment.
At the same time, a fervent partnering activity has emerged, with OEMs, tech players and startups increasingly forming partnerships to fill gaps.
3. THE START-UP ECOSYSTEM
A heterogeneous ecosystem rotates around the self-driving industry: investor groups, top VC investors, small start-ups and medium enterprises.
Providing a deep analysis of the key players was fundamental to signal potential key players by 2025 for a successful go-to-market strategy.
4. THE SOCIETAL IMPACTS
My analysis has not only included the business and commercial aspects, but has comprehensiveley reviewed the potential consequences on the whole society, being the self-driving industry so disruptive for the job market.
The main topics have been the changes to the legislation, job displacements, consequences in the industries of freight, logistics, insurance, real estate and travel.
WHAT DID I LEARN?
BEING CRITICAL IS DIFFERENT FROM BEING ANALYTICAL. BOTH MATTER
CONSIDER A WIDE RANGE OF SOURCES
Analysing an emerging industry means understanding the assumptions behind certain estimates. Being critical means challenging those assumptions if new information is available and adjusting the estimates accordingly. This is fundamental when dealing with emerging industries and when recommending a strategy that has an impact on the positioning of a global business
From Subject Matter Experts to industry reports, from leading consulting firms to company annual reports, from CEOs to start-up founders, analysing an emerging industry requires a thorough understanding and the inclusion of a wide variety of points of view. While the quantification exercise is always useful in understanding what is happening, interviews and stakeholders' inputs shed light on why that's happening
COLLABORATION MAKES THE DIFFERENCE
Although I was ultimately responsible for the full analysis and the consequent recommendations, this does not mean doing everything by myself. Requesting a colleague's opinion and being challenged on some of the initial outputs has certainly contributed to raise the bar of the final deliverable and making sure I had data that corroborated the final recommendations and allowed me to defend those even with senior executives.
ASHLEY LOWNDES
Strategy Senior Manager at Accenture
Giammarco Rizzo has been an employee with Accenture for nearly 5 years and was part of the Communications, Media and Tech Business Strategy team when we met. During this time I have worked with Giammarco on several projects, both for clients and for internal Accenture leadership.
Giammarco has delivered on everything asked of him and to a high quality. He impressed me with his creativity when solving problems and his ability to proactively pick up activities to deliver things quickly. Our jobs involve solving business problems in a structured and value-driven approach, and managing stakeholders. Giammarco was repeatedly exposed to this and had to influence teams and leadership with presentations, business cases and ideas.
His professional environment at Accenture requires attention to detail, a self-starting attitude to problem-solving, and finding the best answers through collaboration. People wanted Giammarco in their teams because he had a good track record in these qualities.
Above all I enjoyed working with Giammarco because he is a fantastic people person, he works really well in a team - even under pressure - and brings friendliness and cohesion to teams.