Latitude 55° Consulting was established by Omar Valdez-de-Leon. He is an experienced digital transformation practitioner and advisor. Over the years he has worked in and with companies such as Ericsson, CGI, Honeywell, Cemex, Bosch, Vodafone, STC, Anglian Water, Bell Canada, Mobilink, Telenor, Hempel, Unilever, Transport for London, ECCO, with a focus on new business initiatives grounded in emerging technologies.
His experience ranges from advising service providers on how to develop new digital services and revenue streams, utility companies on smart grid strategies through to devising digital innovation and growth plans for multinationals and smaller start-ups. He has also led teams that built, launched and grown multi-million Euro digital solution portfolios in industries such as utilities, transportation and FMCG. He has delivered advisory services in Telecom, Cities, Retail, Manufacturing, and others. He has worked and lived in four countries and delivered projects and solutions in more than twenty.
Omar has written widely about digitalisation, including how to develop digital ecosystems, organising for digital and more. He also developed the Digital Maturity Model as a framework to help develop digitalisation roadmaps.
Omar holds an MBA from Manchester Business School, an MSc in Technology & Innovation Management from SPRU at University of Sussex in the UK, and has been a chartered marketer by the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.
Select publications
“Understanding how digital ecosystems are created”
Global Peter Drucker Forum
This article is one in the “shape the debate” series relating to the 11th Global Peter Drucker Forum, under the theme “The Power of Ecosystems” taking place on November 21 & 22, 2019 in Vienna, Austria… Read more
“Hvor digitalt moden er jeres virksomhed? (How digitally mature is your organisation?)”
Børsen Ledelse
Opportunities brought by technological change are invariably seized by those that are more digitally mature. This means building and fostering the capabilities that enable a more agile, unafraid, digitally-savvy business. And this also means going beyond trendy technologies. It is about changing the way things are done all across the organisation… Read more
“Key Elements and Enablers for Developing an IoT Ecosystem”
IEEE, Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is one of today’s most widely discussed technology topics. From smart agriculture through to smart cities to smart factories, the expectation is that IoT will be transformative. The 4th industrial revolution. However, the reality is that IoT still remains a promise. And, more significantly, IoT remains fragmented. Indeed, most of the applications that do exist are vertical solutions that do not represent a dynamic, interconnected world that the name, internet-of-things, would suggest. One key cause is the lack of true IoT ecosystems… Read more
“A Digital Maturity Model for Telecommunications Service Providers”
Technology Innovation Management Review
This article presents the findings of a research project to develop such a framework: the digital maturity model for telecommunications service providers. The model aims to offer a structured view of digital transformation that is specific to the context and challenges of the telecommunications industry and that can be used as a standard to help communications service providers benchmark themselves against peers or themselves as they advance their transformation… Read more