Connected By Design: 7 Principles of Business Transformation Through Functional Integration

In a world of fierce global competition and rapid technological change, traditional strategies for gaining market share and achieving efficiencies no longer yield the returns they once did. How can companies drive consumer preference and secure sustainable growth in this digital, social, and mobile age?

The answer is through functional integration. Some of the world's most highly valued companies—including Amazon, Apple and Google—have harnessed this new business model to build highly interactive ecosystems of interrelated products and digital services, gaining new levels of customer engagement. Functional integration offers forward-looking brands a unique competitive edge by using transformative digital technologies to deliver high-value customer experiences, generate repeat business, and unlock lucrative new business-to-business revenue streams.

Connected By Design is the first book to show business leaders and marketers exactly how to use functional integration to achieve transformative growth within any type of company. Based on R/GA's pioneering work with firms at the forefront of functional integration, Barry Wacksman and Chris Stutzman identify seven principles companies must follow in order to create and deliver new value for customers and capture new revenues. Connected By Design explains how functional integration drove the transformation of market-leading companies as diverse as Nike, General Motors, McCormick & Co., and Activision to establish authentic brand relationships with their customers, enter new categories, and develop new sources of income. With Connected by Design, any company can leverage technological disruption to redefine its mission and foster greater brand loyalty and engagement.

About the Authors

Barry Wacksman is executive vice president and chief growth officer at R/GA, a full-service digital advertising and marketing consultancy headquartered in New York, with offices across the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia-Pacific. During his 15 years with R/GA, Barry has helped shape the vision of the agency and advised dozens of Fortune 500 companies on digital strategy. He received a BA in philosophy from Ohio State University.

Chris Stutzman is managing director of the business transformation practice at R/GA, where he helps companies transform their businesses for the digital age by leveraging technology to create new products, services, business models, and organizational capabilities. Prior to joining R/GA in 2012, he was a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research. Chris received an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a BA in English from Bucknell University.