About

TEAM

Digital Operating Partners (DOPs) is a collective of best-in-class digital operating executives to plan digital transformation projects and the most qualified technical partners to execute them. A custom team is assembled for each project based on our client’s functional, technical and sector needs. We find the most qualified people and companies for every job from our proprietary network.

DIGITAL OPERATING EXECUTIVES

Our operating executives comprise of Bruce Sinclair and an exclusive bench of senior consultants who have been trained and certified by Bruce through his ICIP program. Our digital operating executives are highly specialized and assigned to the firm’s digital transformation projects based on our clients’ needs. Sometimes they stay on and join their portfolio company as Chief Digital Officer.

TECHNICAL PARTNERS

We work with members of our proprietary technical network to find the right partners to execute our digital transformation projects, with priority given to partners who are ICIP certified. Digital Operating Partners’ ecosystem consists of 60 service providers, subject matter experts and vendors who have worked with or have an existing relationship with Bruce/DOPs, 600 companies who have contacted and registered with Bruce/DOPs and 6,000 technical professionals who have contacted and registered with Bruce/DOPs.

Members of our ecosystem have operated in every sector and have technical expertise in:

  • Additive Manufacturing
  • AI/Machine Learning
  • Analytics

  • Augmented Reality
  • Blockchain
  • Cybersecurity

  • Data
  • Digital Twin
  • Embedded Systems

  • IoT Platform/Cloud
  • Networking
  • Sensors & Actuators

MANAGING PARTNER

profile pic dops

Let’s talk. Contact me at bruce at digitaloperatingpartners dot c*m if you have any questions about our services.

Bruce Sinclair is a digital operating partner whose 30-year career has spanned technology, business and investment. Since 2015 he has focused all his experience on advising companies on how to use smart digital to create meaningful business value – first as an independent consultant and then as a full-time operating partner for a large mid-market private equity firm.

Bruce began as a mathematician and then a programmer, but quickly found his way to business through marketing. He worked his way through product marketing and brand management to be VP of Marketing for a large Microsoft subsidiary. After that he was the CEO of a number of software and AI companies before moving into consulting and then becoming a PE operating partner.

Bruce established himself as a smart digital transformation thought leader and influencer by drawing upon his consulting engagements to produce original content to teach enterprises and other consultants. This includes his best-selling book, IoT Inc, published by McGraw-Hill in 2017.

Bruce’s new book, The Private Equity Digital Operating Partner, has been recently published. He has also written for publications like Forbes and Computer World, keynoted at the world’s largest IoT conferences and produces an award-winning podcast on iTunes and Spotify. Additionally he has certified hundreds of students with his in-depth ICIP program and over 150,000 more professionals with his LinkedIn Learning courses on smart digital transformation. Bruce’s consulting students include professionals from Accenture, Bain, BCG, Capgemini, Cognizant, Deloitte, IBM, McKinsey, PwC and Tata.

SMART DIGITAL

WHY ADD SMART DIGITAL VALUE CREATION?

With most operational value levers becoming table stakes, and leverage, arbitrage and market inefficiencies hardly moving the needle, smart digital is a new value creation tool that helps funds deliver top quartile returns. Smart digital transformation has matured into a source of alpha applicable to most portfolio companies and independent of other operational improvements.

We use smart tech to make traditional companies like tech/software companies and to make tech/software companies like AI companies.

WHAT IS SMART DIGITAL?

Digital is technology, but in this context it’s useful to classify technology on a continuum by the incremental impact it can have on enterprise value. High (impact) tech, or smart tech, includes artificial intelligence, the digital twin, the internet of things (IoT), sensor fusion, additive manufacturing, augmented reality and blockchain. Mid (impact) tech includes RPA, automation, digital marketing and ecommerce. Low (impact) tech includes IT and biz systems (BI, CRM, PLM, ERP). More

WHAT IS SMART DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION?

Although digital transformation in private equity is almost synonymous with IT, nothing could be further from the truth. High tech (smart) digital transformation is the newest form of operational improvement. Although any type of technology (high, mid, low) can be applied to any type of company, smart digital transformation value creation refers to the process of using smart technology and science to transform companies into data driven companies.  More

WHICH SECTORS ARE MOST IMPACTED BY SMART DIGITAL?

Every industry sector is being impacted by digital.  Ask us to grade your company for smart digital value creation potential.  More

WHICH COMPANIES CAN BECOME DISTRUPTORS?

Digital disruptors become the most valuable companies in their sectors. Companies born digital can be made data-driven. Traditional companies are “virtualized” and then made data-driven. In both cases the same AI playbook used by the most valuable tech companies can be applied to create value.  More

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DIGITAL OPERATING PARTNERS OR TO SCHEDULE A FREE 30-MINUTE CONSULTATION …