Derek duPreez provides the words for this show. Links to appropriate content:

How do you solve a problem like identity?

Government-as-a-Platform agenda

Going global with G-Cloud

We still don’t know how to effectively manage a contract and the Public Accounts Committee released a damning report

Elsewhere, Derek says: If you’re going to read a blog this week, read Richard Pope and James Darling’s Medium post about where we are at in terms of progressing digital government.

This is a shortened and slightly nuanced version of the 2,500 word opus I penned yesterday on the topic - SAP’s restructuring – Hunger Games, Game of Thrones or both? - there's a lot to digest. 

Target goes to prove that its omnichannel strategy is working - and that Stuart was right. Bonus points for this additional story:

Delivering digital growth – how Target’s store-as-hub strategy paid off

Plus an upbeat Salesforce as it targets (sic) $28 billion in revenue.

Then we have the idea of 'gated offerings' as a way of personalizing for customers. Hmmm...I'm a tad skeptical as personalization is very tough to get right. 

As an added extra, I talk about this week's reorganization at SAP. The company seems to have taken a strange position on those who stay and those who leave. There is confusion and the picture is not entirely clear. However, I think SAP is making a mistake in some cases. Check my Tweetstream to find out more. 

We've had a lot of retail coverage recently. Much of it has been unfortunate. 

• Old Navy widens the gap between its omni-channel future and The GAP’s legacy retail present

and our Breaking Bad just has to be seen to be believed

Phil Wainewright's XaaS positioning has gained considerable attention in the last year. Here is a precis of his first update to our d·book The XaaS Effect.

Included links are: 

XaaS virtuous cycle of engage-monitor-improve.

How Bosch has replaced its old 7-layer hierarchy with a matrix of 54 separate teams of less than a dozen people each and fintech startup Monzo is a showcase for rapid decision-making enabled by its use of Slack. Here too, cross-functional teams have become the norm.

It may be fashionable to demolish hierarchies, but the trend toward flat organizations already faces an academic backlash

Writing in Forbes, Unit4’s Claus Jepsen says Service organizations need to put their XaaS hats on and engage with their customer ecosystem.

If you’re attending UNLEASH19 in London later this month, catch Phil's session at 11:45am on the 20th, when I’ll be speaking on Frictionless Enterprise, Digital Teamwork and the Future of Work. It’s a perfect opportunity to talk XaaS in person!

This is a podcast that talks to the newsletter that Derek duPreez curates. It includes stories about data sharing in the context of the NHS, an interview with Karl Hoods CDIO at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and some thoughts about Matt Hancock's recent bans on pagers and fax machines. 

Derek also shares a few tweets that come from alternative voices. Check this status update.

On today's agenda - construction, media streaming and open source. Includes a hard-hitting customer story. 

And...such important news...

In this 26 minute conversation, Den speaks with Robert Townley, a deeply experienced ERP consultant who, in the last 5 years has turned his attention to cloud deployments. Why? They deliver value and that is something that is seen as important from, of all places, the PE market. 

Robert is a firm believer in what BYD offers but like others he wishes SAP did a better job of helping the partner ecosystem. 

 Much of what is discussed here is about the change in training needed to help IT people better understand the business. Lo-code and No code may be fashion mots du jour but they count for little if the developer doesn't have a good sense of what business problem is at stake. Simply asking to help with digital transformation doesn't cut it. 

On today's agenda, Marks & Spencer's tilt at Ocado, manufacturing excellence (aka dumping the spreadsheet), motoring mayhem in the modern city and a ministerial meerkat. You have to be British to get this last one but trust me, it's worth it.