7 world awards in 3 years
World's Best Bank

WORLD’S BEST BANK

A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation

ROBIN SPECULAND

Learn from two years of exclusive interviews with the C-suite, how to
transform your technology architecture | become customer obsessed | create a startup culture.

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World's Best Bank

Translated into five other languages

Japanese
Chinese
Indonesian
Limited Edition
Vietnamese
Traditional Chinese

Amazon Reviews

Transform your organization from traditional to digitally driven

Jaw Droppers

While interviewing, researching and writing the book, at times my jaw literally dropped after seeing DBS Bank’s digital achievements. Capture these “jaw droppers” exclusively here. (They’re not in the book.)

FREE download: Top 21 Jaw Droppers
Jaw Dropper

Sample Jaw Dropper

Purpose

Your transformation agenda needs to be driven by a purpose – in DBS, that’s “Making Banking Joyful.” This was at the root of everything DBS Bank did, but interestingly, you will not read those words often in the book, as they were not mentioned by the leadership team. That’s not because they were not living the strategy, just the opposite. “Making Banking Joyful” is so embedded in the mindset, measures and actions across DBS that every business just got on with it.

Customer Obsessed

DBS does not focus on creating products. Rather, its people keep experimenting to identify the best solutions for its customers.

Stop Counting Experiments

By 2017, DBS stopped counting the number of experiments going on; doing so had become too cumbersome. It had been tracking numbers not because they were important in themselves but to catalyze various experiments. Now that the program is embedded into DBS’s culture, continuing to count the experiments is not necessary.

Book launch event in China

This book is for leaders involved in digital transformation and people who wish to understand the story of how DBS bank transformed from a traditional bank to the world’s best by leveraging digitalization.

“Many leaders around the world are working through the challenge of how to digitally transform their organization. In Robin’s new book he shares how DBS completely transformed every part of the organization and shows how all the different moving parts required for digitalization come together. I recommend reading this book for any leader involved in digital transformation to not only avoid common mistakes but also adopt best practices”

Rita McGrath, No 5 in Thinkers 50 in 2019, Associate Professor, Columbia Business School; Best-Selling Author of Seeing Around Corners

Benefits to You

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Adopt best practices to transform your technology architecture, customer experience and organization culture.
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Discover how every part of an organization transformed under a singular digital ambition.
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Learn the secrets for success where fewer than one in three organizations succeed.
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Read about an inspirational journey that revolutionized an industry.
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Realize hard-won insights, proven practices, provocative questions and relevant anecdotes.
Learn & Assess
Digital Maturity Index
40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark
Execution Box Set
Case Study

Bundle offer for 10 purchases $1,059 $959

(All prices in Singapore Dollar & excludes shipping)
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Learn & Apply
Keynote
Course

Bundle offers start from $27,200

Includes 30 limited edition hardback copies and 40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark

(All prices in Singapore Dollar & excludes shipping)
BUY NOW
Learn, Assess & Apply
Digital Maturity Index
Execution Box Set
Case Study
Keynote
Course

Bundle offers start from $26,000

Includes 50 limited edition hardback copies and 40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark

(All prices in Singapore Dollar & excludes shipping)
BUY NOW
AMAZON PURCHASE
PURCHASE DIRECT
PLATFORM OFFERS
To receive a signed copy and limited edition paperback and hardback upgraded design, go to “PURCHASE DIRECT”.

“In an ever-changing, increasingly disruptive business environment, Robin’s new book provides the intricate tools and success factors to develop a strategic road map for any company navigating its digital transformation journey. The DBS digital transformation success story sets a fantastic benchmark to aspire to—a must read for transformational business leaders.”

Ben Robinson, CEO, Raffles Quay Asset Management Pte Ltd

The Story

In 2014, DBS leaders identified an opportunity. Banking was considered a painful experience by many people. The technologies driving the fourth industrial revolution provided the bank with a unique opportunity—to not only take the pain out of banking but also to make banking joyful. How? By using technology to make it invisible to the customer. This aggressive purpose drove the whole organization’s digital transformation.

  

How the Book is Organized

Asia Wave

The book’s introduction focuses on the first strategy under the stewardship CEO Piyush Gupta, now referred to the Asia Wave. This wave focused on improving customer service and processes while laying the groundwork for the second strategy.

Digital Wave

The book concentrates on the second strategy – the Digital Wave. Because fewer than one in five digital transformations succeed, this section highlights the bank’s lessons, best practices and hard-won insights.

The central core of this strategic guide explains how to digitally transform and includes:

  • How the bank’s digital purpose—Making Banking Joyful—aligned and inspired everyone.
  • Why customer journey mapping is at the core of everything DBS does.
  • How the technology architecture transformed with DevOps, agile and GANDALF.
  • How a data driven culture was adopted to change employees’ mindsets.
  • How adopting agile created a learning organization and transformed the bank.
  • How digital customers became twice as profitable as traditional customers.
  • How ecosystems were designed—even enabling customers to buy cars on the bank’s website!

At the end of each of the three strategic principles 1) Become Digital to the Core, 2) Embed Ourselves in the Customer Journey and 3) Culture by Design discover “Questions for Consideration”.

Sustainability Wave

The third wave was launched in 2019.

The bank changed its vision from being the best bank in the world (BBIW) to being the best bank for a better world (BBBW). Its leaders are striving to create a vision that is bigger than the bank itself. This change led to the launch of the Sustainability Wave—an initiative that focuses on inequality, new social norms and the future of our planet.

World’s Best Bank is not only about implementing a digital strategy; it’s a rallying call for an industry revolution and a strategic guide for overcoming your challenges in implementing digitalization.

Platform Experiences

World’s Best Bank shares an exciting digital transformation story and also provides interactive platform experiences for leaders.

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Keynote: The Story and Lessons from a World Class Digital Transformation

This keynote shares how DBS Bank transformed from a traditional bank to the world’s best bank by leveraging digitalization. It highlights how the bank created a 30,000-employee start-up, transformed its technology core and became customer obsessed—the bank’s three strategic principles for digital transformation. Woven throughout the keynote is what the bank did differently to implement its strategy. This keynote features best practices from Speculand’s newest book, World’s Best Bank.

Conduct this keynote for your organization. Email bridges@bridgesconsultancy.com.

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40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark

This best practices benchmark allows you to assess your organization against the key building blocks of digital transformation. You can benchmark yourself against 40 of DBS digital transformation activities in these four sections: Strategy, Technology, Customer and Culture. Then take the right action to accelerate and succeed in your digital transformation.

Purchase the 40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark for your organization for only S$499.

video vault

Video Vault

Contains 32, 3-minute videos with key lessons from DBS bank digital transformation. This is ideal for an organization looking to succeed where two-thirds of current digital transformations are failing, by adopting best practices and sharing them with employees in an interactive and engaging format, view sample.

As well as the 32 videos you receive the 19 page video vault guide that explains, for teaching, the key message, the essential question or best practice and the page reference to the book for more information.

Purchase the Video Vault and Guide for your organization for only $299. Email bridges@bridgesconsultancy.com.

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Digital Maturity Index

This is a six-minute online self-assessment that reveals an individual’s level of digital maturity and position on his or her digital journey.

After completing you immediately received a report with your score and learning recommendations for improvement.

Purchase the Digital Maturity Index for only S$40 per person.

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Course: DBS Making Banking Joyful

This absorbing, informative and enlightening, four virtual modules, explains in-depth how DBS achieved its remarkable transformation to become the world’s best bank. It features exclusive insights, best practices and stories.

This course is for leaders looking to understand how to be successful in digital transformation. They learn from one of the leading digital transformations in the world. Its content provides a strategic guide, provocative questions and best practices.

The course includes the Harvard-listed university DBS case study (co-authored by Speculand) and two pre-course assessments.

Conduct this course for your organization. Email bridges@bridgesconsultancy.com.

Execution Box Set

Speculand’s trilogy book set guides leaders on how to overcome the high failure rate of transformations. Books included in the set are:

Learn “HOW” to: Excellence In Execution – How To Implement Your Strategy:
Equips business leaders with the components and “how to” needed to be successful in strategy execution.

Answer “PROVOKING” questions: 182 Questions for Digital Execution – Strategy Implementation Starts with the Right Questions
Prepares leaders to develop a comprehensive execution plan during their organization’s strategy planning by asking the right questions stated in this book.

Discover “HARD WON” insights World’s Best Bank – A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation
Explains how a whole organization digitally transformed itself with key learnings and best practices that are easy to adopt.

Purchase the Execution Box Set for only S$49.99 per person.

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DBS: Digital transformation to Best Bank in the World – Harvard-listed case study

Transfers digital transformation lessons through case study teaching and is ideal for educating your team. The case focuses on 1) re-architecture technology 2) becoming customer obsessed 3) creating a startup culture

Purchase the DBS: Digital transformation to Best Bank in the World – Harvard-listed case study for only S$4.25 per participant.

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Strategy Implementation Online Course & Certification

Digital transformation involves not only the adoption and integration of technology but also the implementation of the strategy. To support employees and set them up for success this three-month part time, online course provides the tools, tips and techniques and the knowledge to succeed in strategy implementation. There is also the option of being certified as a recognized Strategy Implementation Professional.

The course is offered by the Strategy Implementation Institute which was co-founded by Robin Speculand and Antonio Nieto-Rodriguez.

Become a certified Strategy Implementation Professional for only S$950.

AMAZON PURCHASE
PURCHASE DIRECT
PLATFORM OFFERS
To receive a signed copy and limited edition paperback and hardback upgraded design, go to “PURCHASE DIRECT”.

Endorsements

“Many leaders around the world are working through the challenge of how to digitally transform their organization. In Robin’s new book he shares how DBS completely transformed every part of the organization and shows how all the different moving parts required for digitalization come together. I recommend reading this book for any leader involved in digital transformation to not only avoid common mistakes but also adopt best practices.”

Rita McGrath, No 5 in Thinkers 50 in 2019, Associate Professor, Columbia Business School; Best-Selling Author of Seeing Around Corners

“Understanding the human transformation underpinning the digital change interested me greatly, happy to see that Robin has ensured the voices behind the tools being used bring the change journey to life. A fascinating look behind the scenes of a leading digital transformation success story.”

Jean MacAskill, Corporate Team Coach, EMEAR, Cisco

“This book will give leaders food for thought on their own organization’s digital transformation. Although every transformation is unique, there are common lessons for everyone. Robin succeeds in transferring the energy and excitement of DBS digital transformation into every page of the book.”

Karen Lim, Managing Director, Digital Solutions, Standard Chartered Bank

“While the subtitle of the book is ‘A Strategic Guide to Digital Transformation,’ the book is in fact very human. Congrats, Robin, for the detailed interviews conducted throughout the book’s writing. You have done something amazing here, capturing the voices of so many in sharing the digital transformation journey of DBS, the world’s best bank. I am sure many companies will benefit from the knowledge shared by the transformation talent in the book.

“Robin has captured not just the importance of technology and talent to successfully transform the bank digitally, but also the importance of building trust among the leadership team and all employees, partners, and customers of the bank. This book allows you to hear the voices come alive in DBS’s transformative journey.”

Annie Koh, Professor Emeritus of Finance (Practice) – Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University

World’s Best Bank skillfully narrates the transformation of DBS from a local bank to becoming the world’s very best. With enjoyable page-turning style, this book takes you on a journey of hard-won insights and proven best practices to transform your organization from traditional to digitally driven. If you are—or want to become—a leader in digital transformation, you can clear the hurdles and avoid the pitfalls by applying Robin Speculand’s real-world experience and advice.”

Ron Kaufman, NY Times Best-Selling Author and Global Customer Service Thought Leader

“Robin takes his lifelong pursuit of transformation success to the next level in this book. We’ve known for a long time that transformation is difficult under any circumstance. As the world becomes more connected, digital transformation requires that companies design and deliver strategies in a far more dynamic and responsive manner.

Digital transformation is not just about digitizing what you have done in the past. It requires a nuanced understanding of the digital landscape within which you are operating and leveraging digital technologies to build the agility and responsiveness within your organization to maintain relevance within an ever-evolving digital ecosystem. Thankfully, Robin is here to show us how to do just that.”

Dr. Tony O’Driscoll, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University

“In an ever-changing, increasingly disruptive business environment, Robin’s new book provides the intricate tools and success factors to develop a strategic road map for any company navigating its digital transformation journey. The DBS digital transformation success story sets a fantastic benchmark to aspire to—a must read for transformational business leaders.”

Ben Robinson, CEO – Raffles Quay Asset Management Pte Ltd

“Strategy implementation and digitalization specialist, Robin Speculand, brings to life the astonishing journey of the world’s best bank, DBS, as it transformed its entire business through adopting digital. Robin’s narrative is compelling and entirely relevant to the challenges many organizations are facing today. It acts as a practical how-to manual for those in the midst of their own transformational journey. In fact, it is the first book I have come across that explains how an entire business was transformed by leveraging digitalization.

“A unique, excellent piece of work and a must-read for business leaders and executive boards alike.”

Jeremy Blain, CEO – Performance Works International, author of The Inner CEO: Unleashing leaders at all levels

“Organizations and especially airlines are currently being challenged. One of these critical challenges is how they deal with digitalization. Robin has written the definitive strategic guide based on the story and lessons from DBS Bank. I recommend all leaders read it.”

Shashank Nigam, Founder & CEO – SimpliFlying

“Robin is deeply passionate about strategy implementation and about helping leaders and organizations benefit from best practices. Through this lens, he captures DBS’s compelling transformation story and offers a clear articulation of its building blocks.”

Marvin Tan, Senior Executive in Singapore

“Humankind has used great and captivating stories over millennia, to distill wisdom and amplify insight. In the world of business, what DBS has achieved over its recent history is one such example. To me, it is this story of banking reinvented, coupled with the captivating storytelling of Robin Speculand, which makes this book a very compelling read”

Gyan Nagpal, Best-Selling Author of Talent Economics and The Future-Ready Organization

About the Author

Robin SpeculandRobin Speculand

Strategy & Digital Implementation Specialist

Robin Speculand passionately lives and breathes strategy implementation. He continually creates new approaches to supporting leaders in transforming their organizations and is one of the world’s most prolific writers on the subject.

Robin has founded three companies and three business associations and is the CEO of Bridges Business Consultancy Int. Singapore Airlines was among the first organizations to embrace this new field and engaged Robin to support its global strategy implementation.

He is known for his breakthroughs on implementation methodology and techniques, including the Implementation Compass™, a proprietary framework built on the eight areas for excellence for execution; Readiness2Execute Assessment; IMPACT, a toolkit for implementing actions in 90 days; Ticking Clock© Model a framework for digitalizing an organization; Digital Maturity Index, a self-assessment that reveals a person’s level of digital maturity and the 40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark.

Robin also co-founded an online education forum—the Strategy Implementation Institute—that provides leaders with a community, online courses and online certification in the field.

In 2015, Robin recognized that implementing digitalization was markedly different than previous strategy implementations. He researched the challenges globally and, in 2018, co-authored the white paper Transforming Your Company into a Digital-Driven Business.

Robin has published five books on strategy implementation. His pioneering work has been featured in media worldwide including BBC World and Forbes. He is a TEDx speaker and an educator for Duke CE, IMD, and an adjunct member of Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore. He is an award-winning case writer and a GlobalScot appointed by the First Minister of Scotland.

Outside of work, Robin competes in ironman events around the world and calls Singapore home.

AMAZON PURCHASE
PURCHASE DIRECT
PLATFORM OFFERS
To receive a signed copy and limited edition paperback and hardback upgraded design, go to “PURCHASE DIRECT”.

Corporate Order Discount

For large orders, please email bridges@bridgesconsultancy.com

  • Preorder 50 books –  receive 10% discount and an electronic copy of 40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark to assess your organization against the key building blocks of digital transformation
  • Preorder 100+ books – receive 15% discount and a complimentary 1-hour webinar facilitated by Robin Speculand on digital implementation plus the electronic copy of 40 Digital Best Practices Benchmark

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