The Dual OS of Business, Masterclass for NTT Data

December 3, 2025 at NTT Data

“The Dual OS of Business” is a masterclass about leadership mindset, strategy and structure, culture and performance. It combines ideas about delivering today while also creating tomorrow, aligning direction with experimentation, top down priorities with bottom up agility, delivering short term profitability and longterm value. And explores how some of the world’s best companies, like Amazon and BYD, Schneider and Spotify.

Delivering Today, Creating Tomorrow

The dual operating system represents a fundamental evolution in how organisations think, plan, and act in an era of rapid change. While traditional ambidexterity emphasises balancing exploitation and exploration, the dual operating system goes further: it enables organisations to deliver today while simultaneously creating the future, linking short-term performance with long-term potential in a coherent and mutually reinforcing way. This is not merely a management technique, but a comprehensive framework for strategy, innovation, client engagement, organisation, ecosystems, people, metrics, and value creation.

At the core of the dual system are two interdependent engines. The first is the operational backbone — the engine of execution. It focuses on exploiting current capabilities to deliver consistent value, maintain quality, and generate predictable financial results. This engine depends on repeatable processes, disciplined execution, and risk management. Global examples include Amazon, whose logistics and delivery systems, operational excellence, and data-driven customer service create consistent performance at massive scale. Similarly, Microsoft’s enterprise solutions deliver reliable value to clients, underpinning the financial and operational stability needed to support exploration.

The second engine is the innovation system, designed explicitly for exploration, experimentation, and long-term growth. This system operates with a different mindset: one oriented to learning, risk-taking, and creativity. It explores new technologies, markets, and business models that may not yield immediate returns but position the organisation for future relevance. Alphabet’s “Other Bets” — covering autonomous vehicles, AI, and health technology — exemplify how innovation can be pursued in parallel to a highly profitable operational core. Similarly, Tesla maintains its electric vehicle operations while simultaneously experimenting with energy storage, autonomous systems, and AI applications.

The value of the dual operating system lies in the connection between these engines. Innovation is not siloed; insights, prototypes, and learnings feed back into core operations, enhancing current products, processes, and customer experiences. Likewise, operational excellence informs innovation by providing data, customer insights, and market realities, ensuring that exploration is grounded and aligned to strategic purpose. This integration of exploitation and exploration allows organisations to remain agile, responsive, and strategically coherent in a fast-changing environment.

Strategy: Managing Dual Portfolios, to Exploit and Explore

Duality: Balance exploitation of current capabilities with exploration of future opportunities. Two overlapping strategic portfolios.
Difference from today: Traditional strategy focuses on near-term goals and efficiency; less emphasis on optionality and future bets.
Key tools: Portfolio mapping, scenario planning, real options thinking, dual KPIs for short- and long-term outcomes.
Alignment: Integrated governance, cross-functional review boards, dynamic resource allocation.
Example: Samsung — profitable consumer electronics while investing in semiconductors, AI, and biopharma.
Result: Sustained growth, strategic optionality, and ability to pivot into new markets while maintaining current revenue streams.

Within this dual strategic framework, leaders manage two overlapping portfolios. Operational portfolios refine products, optimise processes, and maintain market share, while exploration portfolios invest in experiments, strategic options, and disruptive innovations. This dynamic approach allows organisations to allocate resources responsively, adjusting priorities as insights emerge from both portfolios.

Innovation: Big Bets and Continuous Experimentation

Duality: Combine transformative big bets with many smaller iterative experiments.
Difference from today: Traditional R&D is often incremental and siloed; the dual system integrates learning and experimentation into strategy.
Key tools: Innovation pipelines, design thinking, agile experimentation, lean startup methodology.
Alignment: Innovation insights feed operational teams; operational constraints inform exploratory experiments.
Example: Amazon Web Services — started as an experiment, scaled into a major revenue engine.
Result: Faster learning, reduced risk, continuous pipeline of validated growth opportunities.

Innovation in a dual system operates at two levels simultaneously. Big bets target industry transformation, while small experiments rapidly validate assumptions and generate learning. ByteDance, for instance, evolved global content and recommendation platforms from early experimentation, illustrating the power of iterative, parallel approaches.

Customers: Delivering Today, Exploring Tomorrow

Duality: Deliver reliable products/services now while engaging clients in co-creation of future offerings.
Difference from today: Traditional sales focus on immediate transactions rather than ongoing collaboration and foresight.
Key tools: Customer journey mapping, co-creation workshops, predictive analytics, advisory services.
Alignment: Operational teams maintain service reliability; innovation teams gather insights to design future experiences.
Example: Apple — iPhones deliver today’s value, while AR/health experiments involve clients in future ecosystems.
Result: Stronger client loyalty, deeper insight into unmet needs, smoother adoption of new products/services.

Operational teams ensure reliability and quality, while innovation teams involve clients in envisioning future solutions. This dual engagement fosters loyalty, strengthens insights, and enables seamless integration of new offerings.

Organisation: Entrepreneurial and Operational

Duality: Maintain operational excellence while nurturing entrepreneurial agility.
Difference from today: Traditional structures prioritise hierarchy and efficiency; dual systems balance hierarchy with agile collaboration.
Key tools: Agile squads, cross-functional teams, rotation programs, dual leadership development tracks.
Alignment: Clear roles, governance for both operational and exploratory teams, rotation, and shared purpose.
Example: Spotify — squads manage core operations and experiment with new features simultaneously.
Result: Flexibility without sacrificing reliability; operational teams benefit from innovation insights, innovators understand operational constraints.

Embedding duality culturally ensures both mindsets are valued and supported. Teams can execute and innovate concurrently, creating a resilient and adaptive organisation.

Ecosystems: Capabilities and Collaboration

Duality: Operational teams rely on suppliers/partners for efficiency; innovation teams leverage external collaboration for exploration.
Difference from today: Traditional operations limit collaboration to contractual relationships; dual system embeds ecosystem thinking strategically.
Key tools: Strategic partnerships, co-development platforms, innovation networks, joint ventures.
Alignment: Cross-ecosystem governance, shared metrics, integration of external insights into internal processes.
Example: Microsoft Azure — operational cloud services plus developer and partner ecosystems for innovation.
Result: Accelerated learning, broader access to capabilities, faster scaling of innovations.

A dual operating system actively engages internal and external networks to amplify both current performance and future growth potential.

People: Performers and Transformers

Duality: Individuals operate in execution mode or exploration mode, or rotate between both.
Difference from today: Traditional talent management focuses on defined career tracks; dual system fosters cross-functional, dual-capability development.
Key tools: Rotational programs, dual career paths, continuous learning platforms, mentoring/coaching.
Alignment: Performance reviews and incentives recognise contributions to both operational excellence and innovation.
Example: Amazon/Tencent — leaders rotate between operational leadership and innovation ventures.
Result: Greater organisational agility, stronger pipeline of versatile leaders, enhanced capability to execute and innovate.

Investing in people with dual capabilities ensures that leadership and staff can navigate both operational imperatives and innovation challenges.

Metrics: Profitability and Value Creation

Duality: Track operational performance and innovation potential separately but coherently.
Difference from today: Traditional KPIs often prioritise short-term results over long-term strategic potential.
Key tools: Dual dashboards, balanced scorecards, innovation KPIs (learning velocity, validated ideas), operational KPIs (margin, efficiency).
Alignment: Incentive structures reinforce both operational and exploratory contributions; governance ensures metrics inform resource allocation.
Example: Amazon — product managers evaluated on immediate outcomes and long-term roadmap delivery.
Result: Avoids short-termism, encourages experimentation, strengthens long-term value creation.

By differentiating metrics, organisations ensure that both immediate operational results and long-term growth initiatives receive attention and recognition.

Value Creation: Winning Today and Tomorrow

Duality: Enterprise value = current profitability + future potential from innovation.
Difference from today: Traditional valuation prioritises immediate profits; dual system explicitly accounts for strategic options and long-term potential.
Key tools: Real options analysis, scenario modelling, strategic roadmaps, integrated financial and innovation reporting.
Alignment: Boards and leadership make investment decisions considering both operational ROI and strategic optionality.
Example: Tesla, Alphabet, Amazon — valuation reflects current operations plus anticipated disruptive innovations.
Result: Investors, employees, and clients understand dual value, encouraging long-term strategic thinking and investment.

The dual operating system reframes value creation, combining current execution excellence with a portfolio of future-oriented initiatives.

Leadership in a Dual Operating System

Duality: Leaders must simultaneously manage operational performance and future-oriented innovation, balancing day-to-day delivery with strategic foresight. They operate both as executors and as architects of the future.
Difference from today: Traditional leadership often focuses on operational efficiency, short-term targets, and hierarchical control. In the dual system, leaders must embrace ambiguity, uncertainty, and dual accountability.
Key tools:
- Portfolio dashboards for operational and innovation metrics
- Scenario planning and strategic foresight sessions
- Cross-functional leadership rotations
- Balanced scorecards incorporating both immediate and long-term KPIs
- Innovation governance boards to guide resource allocation
Alignment: Leadership teams coordinate across dual systems via shared vision, integrated planning, and incentives that reward contributions to both operational results and exploration efforts. Clear governance ensures decisions reinforce both engines rather than favour one at the expense of the other.
Example: Amazon’s senior leaders oversee both core operational excellence and emerging initiatives like AWS, Alexa, and experimental hardware. Similarly, Alphabet executives manage Search/Ads while guiding “Other Bets” divisions.
Result: Leaders who operate in this dual mode create organisations that are resilient, adaptive, and future-ready, fostering cultures where innovation feeds execution and execution informs innovation. It enables sustained growth, reduced risk of obsolescence, and stronger long-term enterprise value.

The Dual OS as Strategic Architecture

The dual operating system is more than a structural model; it is a philosophy of management, strategy, and leadership. It orchestrates multiple interdependent dimensions — strategy, innovation, clients, organisation, ecosystem, people, metrics, and value creation — into a coherent system. Mastery of this duality enables businesses to remain resilient today while actively shaping tomorrow. It encourages continuous learning, integrated experimentation, and strategic foresight.

Organisations that adopt this model are positioned to innovate continuously, deliver operational excellence, and capture value from both current performance and future potential. They can create platforms for growth, resilience, and industry leadership, turning complexity and uncertainty into strategic advantage. By connecting today’s execution with tomorrow’s possibilities, they build enduring enterprise value and the capability to shape industries rather than merely respond to them.

By embedding this system into strategy, operations, innovation, client engagement, organisation, ecosystems, talent, and metrics, companies transform themselves from reactive entities into proactive shapers of the future, ensuring sustainable growth, competitive advantage, and enduring enterprise value. This duality is no longer optional; it is a prerequisite for leadership and longevity in the modern business landscape.

The Dual OS in Action

There are many models of Dual OS in action, sometimes creating separate organisation structures, sometimes aligning within teams, and holding the duality in their mindsets. What is clear is that it is more that creating a separate team to explore the future, it requires an alignment of both perspectives so that the business thrives today and tomorrow, together.

Here are some examples:

Amazon … Dual OS to experiment at scale

Amazon integrates operational excellence with a rigorous exploration engine.

Exploit system: Retail logistics, inventory management, AWS infrastructure.
Explore system: Alexa, cashierless stores, drone delivery, and AWS expansions.
Tools and approaches: Leadership principles guiding experiments, controlled pilots, real-time telemetry, and clear scaling criteria.
Impact: Amazon converts experimental ideas into billion-dollar businesses without disrupting core operations.

BYD … Dual OS to simultaneously grow in multiple industries

BYD started as an automative manufacturer, then added battery manufacturing, the combined its expertise in both to become a leader in electric vehicles, renewable energy, and integrated mobility solutions.

Exploit system: Battery and automotive manufacturing operations deliver scale and reliability.
Explore system: Electric vehicles, energy storage solutions, and international market expansion.
Tools and approaches: Cross-functional project teams, rapid prototyping, vertical integration for experimentation, and agile supply-chain innovations.
Impact: BYD has scaled multiple business models in parallel, positioning itself as a global leader in both mobility and clean energy.

DBS Bank … Dual OS for digital reinvention

DBS evolved from a traditional banking model into a digitally-driven financial institution. This wasn’t just about automation but strategic reinvention – creating the invisible bank, transforming purpose and ways of working – helping people “live more, bank less” with an ecosystem model of embedded finance

Exploit system: Retail, corporate, and wealth management services remain operationally excellent.
Explore system: Agile squads use design thinking to prototype mobile banking solutions, AI-driven advisory, and integrated customer experiences.
Tools and approaches: Innovation labs, sandbox environments for rapid testing, iterative user research, and transition pathways to scale successful experiments.
Impact: DBS increased digital adoption dramatically, reduced operational costs, and launched new customer-centric services without compromising traditional banking performance.

Mercado Libre … Dual OS for continuous adaptation in emerging markets

Mercado Libre is Latin America’s largest e-commerce and fintech company. Marcos Galperin’s idea started on a Stanford exec education program, a project to create an eBay-type marketplace in Latin America. This then evolved into a full e-commerce platform and logistics business, and now into a leading financial services platform.

Exploit system: Marketplace and payment operations maintain scale and reliability.
Explore system: Fintech lending, logistics experimentation, AI-driven recommendation engines, and cross-border commerce.
Tools and approaches: Agile squads, data-driven decision-making, continuous experimentation, and localised market adaptation.
Impact: Mercado Libre thrives in volatile markets, rapidly iterating solutions that competitors struggle to match.

Philips … Dual OS to reinvent the business, from electronics to healthcare

Philips has continuously repositioned itself over decades. Once best known as a lighting business, it diversified into many sectors, and now has a refocus through divestment and innovation, as a health tech business.

Exploit system: Lighting, imaging, and patient-monitoring operations.
Explore system: AI-driven diagnostic tools, connected health platforms, and telemedicine services.
Tools and approaches: Customer co-creation, agile design teams, real-time market feedback, and strategic divestment of non-core businesses.
Impact: Philips became a health technology leader while reducing dependence on commoditised electronics.

Ping An … Dual OS to create a portfolio of new businesses beyond the core

Ping A shifted from a traditional insurer into a digital-first platform spanning insurance, banking, health, and mobility. Good Doctor, for example, is now the world’s leading healthcare platform, an ecosystem of many partners, where PingAn leverages it IP and network or relationships to thrive and grow:

Exploit system: Core insurance operations maintain risk management, compliance, and profitability.
Explore system: AI-powered health diagnostics, telemedicine platforms, fintech innovations, and mobility services.
Tools and approaches: Shared data platforms, advanced analytics, cross-unit innovation councils, and leadership forums.
Impact: Ping An now generates multiple new revenue streams while sustaining insurance profits, climbing several S-curves simultaneously. Its organisational culture embraces digital-first experimentation, with clear integration into operational decision-making.

Schneider Electric … Dual OS to shift from products to services

Schneider Electric moved from traditional electrical equipment to digital energy management solutions. The French company is repeatedly ranked as the world’s most sustainable company, accelerating the transition to clean energy:

Exploit system: Operationally excellent power and automation equipment production.
Explore system: IoT-enabled building management, AI-driven energy optimisation, and renewable energy solutions.
Tools and approaches: Digital twins, predictive analytics, agile development teams, and cross-market experimentation labs.
Impact: Schneider now captures digital revenue streams, improves operational efficiency, and accelerates adoption of sustainable solutions across markets.

Tata Group … Dual OS to orchestrate multiple horizons

India’s Tata Group operates across diverse industries, from automotive and power to digital platforms and consumer services – with brands as diverse as Range Rover and Tetley Tea.

Exploit system: Core industrial operations maintain global efficiency and scale.
Explore system: Tata Digital, Tata EVs, renewable energy, and AI-driven service platforms.
Tools and approaches: Strategic portfolio management, innovation hubs, and cross-company intrapreneurship programs.
Impact: Tata balances legacy operations with emerging ventures, continuously reshaping its portfolio for long-term relevance.

Spotify … Dual OS to drive agility and continuous innovation.

Spotify has been a genuine disruptor of the music industry, challenging the traditional dominance of record labels and fixed formats. It continues to innovate around artists and communities, curating its music content in innovative and dynamic ways. It has reimagined product development through the squad-tribe model.

Exploit system: Core music streaming service continues reliable delivery.
Explore system: New features, creator tools, podcast and audio innovation.
Tools and approaches: Distributed cross-functional squads, continuous A/B testing, metrics for engagement and adoption, rapid iteration cycles.
Impact: Spotify maintains a dominant music platform while rapidly launching new services and features aligned with customer trends.

How to implement a Dual OS

1. Define a Purposeful Ambition

Every Dual OS begins with a long-term ambition—a “north star” that clarifies why the organisation exists and what it aims to achieve in the next decade. This ambition anchors both exploitation and exploration. It ensures operational teams understand how their work contributes to the future and gives innovation teams direction and boundaries.

Purpose must shape strategic choices: which markets to enter, which capabilities to build, and which risks to embrace. It must also guide resource allocation, ensuring that exploration receives meaningful investment without undermining operational priorities.

2. Build Distinct Operating Models

Exploitation and exploration cannot operate with the same metrics, culture, time horizon, or governance. They require distinct operating models that reflect their fundamentally different purposes.

The exploit system prioritises operational excellence: predictable delivery, process discipline, and performance against established KPIs. The explore system prioritises learning, speed, and iteration. Success for exploration is not measured by revenue but by validated insights, customer adoption signals, technical feasibility, and strategic potential.

Companies must create autonomous teams for exploration—free from the constraints of core operational metrics—while ensuring alignment through shared ambition and governance.

3. Design Nexus Mechanisms

The nexus is where most organisations succeed or fail. It must include intentional structures that bring exploitation and exploration together. These might include:

Leadership councils that review both core business performance and innovation portfolio progress
Shared data and analytics platforms that enable a common understanding of customer behaviour
Governance processes that decide which experiments to scale
Cultural rituals that reinforce shared values and strategic alignment

The nexus ensures that exploration isn’t marginalised and that the core business doesn’t become ossified.

4. Create Transition Pathways

The transition from explore to exploit is where most innovation dies. To avoid this, companies must create clear, repeatable pathways for scaling new ideas.

They must define criteria for what constitutes a scalable innovation, use pilot programs to test assumptions, and assign cross-functional managers to oversee integration. They must document learnings, create playbooks, and build capabilities that allow successful transitions to become routine rather than exceptional.

5. Adopt a Portfolio Mindset

Organisations must manage multiple horizons simultaneously:

Horizon 1: the core business
Horizon 2: adjacent growth
Horizon 3: future bets

Capital, talent, and leadership attention must be allocated intentionally across horizons. A portfolio mindset ensures balance, resilience, and ongoing strategic renewal.

6. Embed Culture and Leadership for Duality

Culture is the foundation of the Dual OS. Leaders must create psychological safety, encourage experimentation, reward learning, and embrace iteration. They must model curiosity, openness, and humility.

Leadership in a Dual OS requires the ability to operate in two modes: disciplined execution and creative exploration. Leaders must encourage both, navigate tensions, and orchestrate collaboration across systems.

7. Use Technology as an Enabler

Technology underpins the Dual OS. AI, analytics, and digital platforms accelerate experimentation, improve decision-making, and enable real-time feedback. They connect teams, distribute insights, and reduce barriers between exploitation and exploration.

But technology is only effective when supported by culture and governance. It is the combination of all three—technology, culture, and structure—that unleashes the full power of duality.

Growth, Reinvention, and Sustained Value

The Dual OS is not simply a model for innovation; it is a platform for sustained growth and value creation. Companies that adopt it effectively rise above disruption. They ride multiple S-curves, turning uncertainty into opportunity, and reinvent themselves continuously.

Nvidia offers a powerful illustration. Its original GPU business represents the exploit system: a highly efficient, globally scaled operation. But its explore system enabled Nvidia to venture into artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, data-centre platforms, and generative models. These explorations created entirely new markets and catapulted the company to extraordinary heights. Between 2016 and 2025, Nvidia’s market cap grew from around £30 billion to more than £5 trillion. This was not luck; it was structural reinvention.

Similarly, the experiences of Ping An, DBS, Amazon, and BYD demonstrate that continuous exploration—aligned with operational excellence—is not only possible but essential. These companies deliver today while inventing tomorrow. They build resilience, unlock new value, and shape markets instead of reacting to them.

Dual OS … The Blueprint for the Future

The Dual OS represents a fundamental shift in how organisations think about strategy, structure, and leadership. It acknowledges that performance and innovation are not competing priorities but mutually reinforcing capabilities. It recognises that exploration and exploitation require different mindsets, metrics, and mechanisms—but can be orchestrated within one organisation. And it makes reinvention not a crisis response but a continuous, structural capability.

In a world of relentless change, companies must become masters of duality. They must be both disciplined and creative, efficient and adaptive, confident and curious. The Dual OS is the blueprint for organisations that want to thrive in this world—those that seek not just to survive disruption but to harness it as a source of enduring growth and value.

The organisations that embrace this model will outperform, out-innovate, and outlast those that do not. They will deliver today while creating tomorrow. And they will define the future of business.