Digital transformation is a trendy but still not fully understood term. What does it include and why does it concern not only programmers? We understand together with the curator of the Faculty of Digital Transformation of the Moscow School of Communications MACS Maxim Grigoriev.
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Breakthrough technologies and business capitalization
Digital transformation is a profound transformation of the products, business and operating model of an organization with the help of disruptive technologies.
What is breakthrough technology? We have been hearing about them everywhere over the past few years: blockchain, the Internet of things, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and much more. In English, by the way, technologies are called destructive, “Disruptive Technologies”. But, in Russian, this word clearly has a negative meaning, we call them breakthrough. They are called so because they radically transform the economy, business segments, organizations, relationships in society and the people themselves. At one time, such technologies were the steam engine, electricity, computers and the Internet.
Why are disruptive technologies adding value to a business? Everything is simple. They do not just optimize the efficiency and increase the productivity of the company, they, like a powerful lever, allow you to create fundamentally new value chains, come up with new products that are more profitable and useful to the client. Accordingly, the company's profit and investment attractiveness are growing. Today, the potential for economic development is largely due to breakthrough technologies. According to McKinsey forecasts, the share digital business will reach 34% of global GDP by 2020. The process of digital transformation is relevant for any area of our life. Mobile application of the tax service, online banking, blockchain registries in insurance companies, technical support for a cleaning company in the form of a chat bot, targeted advertising and medical diagnostics using big data and artificial intelligence, shopping marketplaces - all these innovative “chips” are far from complete a set of examples of the use of modern digital technologies.
For companies that have not given much importance to the use of these technologies, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete with the digital elite. So, for example, a bright representative of the digital economy Uber has absorbed almost all small services taxis, and Airbnb is causing more and more losses to the classic hotel business models.
Digital transformation and communications
Many entrepreneurs believe that for the digital transformation of a business, it is enough to hire programmers to develop websites, mobile applications, electronic wallets and chatbots in addition to what is already there. It's a delusion. Digital transformation is not just automation (i.e., the introduction of technology into existing production). It implies a change in the business structure, business development strategy, corporate culture, sales system, team management and processes in general, as well as even more radical changes when completely new products, services and even entire industries are created.
There are three areas of digital transformation: customer experience, operational processes, and business models. Typically, companies do not follow all three at once. Some choose a growth strategy through a better understanding of the client and increasing points of contact with him. Others - through the digitalization and reengineering of internal processes and increasing the productivity of workers. Still others are changing the boundaries of business models, creating digital products and service add-ons, and exploring new markets.
At least two of the three areas of digital transformation are directly related to communications - internal and external.
In particular, the tasks of CEOs and HR directors are changing significantly. The organizational structure of the company becomes more flexible. New positions are emerging, including top-level ones, such as CDO (Chief Digital Officer), Digital Transformation Director or, for example, Director of Digital Recruitment. The requirements for the competencies of “old” employees are changing: the director of development increasingly has to master technology, and the content producer has to work with statistics and attention analytics. Narrow specializations cease to be valued. The value of additional vocational training and retraining.
The key task of internal communications is to set up the cultural code of the brand among employees. technical work"HR" is at the mercy of programs based on big data and machine learning. In his place comes an HR expert focused on the company's human capital and employer brand development. The task of the CEO is no longer only general management and increasing the capitalization of the business, but the formation of a vision of the company in the digital universe and the confident transmission of this image to employees and stakeholders.
It is difficult to imagine the success of transformation in an organization that relies on strict subordination, conservative decision-making models, and bureaucratization of processes. Maximum collaboration, joint creativity, communication on an equal footing and strengthening horizontal ties within the company are much closer to the modern, digital world.
On the other hand, big data technologies and artificial intelligence are transforming the user experience and can dramatically increase profits. This means the emergence of new tasks for external communicators: marketers, PR and sales specialists. The role of attention analytics, targeted work with the client and digital marketing is growing.
In particular, PR-specialists and marketers can measure the effectiveness of communication based on business indicators and adjust the information campaign to the accuracy of each emotion of an individual user.
“External communication has become more than just positive or negative – it has become smart. Digital transformation has made it possible to combine PR and analytics. Brand strategy can now be measured both qualitatively and quantitatively.” Anastasia Polonskaya, ex-head of the press service of the FinTech Association and teacher at the Moscow School of Communications MACS.
Another observable effect of the transformation is new formats and places of presence of content associated with the fact that the audience spends more and more time online.
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The most demanded technical competencies (hard skills):
- creation of new business models (platforms, ecosystems, networks);
- data analysis ( data science);
- integration with partners through an open programming interface (open API);
- digital security at the level of system design (security by design);
- possession of at least one of the breakthrough technologies (artificial intelligence, robotics, 3D video, cloud services, virtual and augmented reality, Internet of things, blockchain)
- e-management, i.e. highly effective management organized with the help of information technologies;
- possession of modern management practices (Lean, Kanban, 6 Sigma, SCRUM, DevOps).
With regard to hard skills, competencies in the field of system architecture and breakthrough technologies are equally important. These two aspects are like a field and board game pieces: digital transformation can only be effective if both are taken into account. The market needs knowledge more than ever innovative models work. Specialists with such competencies are expected to take the positions of change managers, innovation managers and e-leaders.
The most demanded soft skills:
- design thinking, i.e. user orientation in the development of products and services;
- digital psychology, i.e. behavioral economics, taking into account the analysis of big data;
- emotional intellect;
- communication skills.
Challenges of Digital Transformation
Difficulty one - critical shortage of competent specialists. In September of this year, the Moscow School of Advanced Communications MACS is launching the first fundamental program "Digital Transformation" to train certified communicators in business transformation. The curator of the program Maxim Grigoriev is the former head of the Center for Financial Technologies of the Central Bank. Among the educational disciplines are trend analytics, digital system architecture, building effective operating and business models, digital marketing and managing the digital transformation process. The school provides discounts for training corporate clients and comprehensive programs for solving company problems.
“The main skill of digital transformation specialists is the constant updating of knowledge and tools, lifelong learning. No technology, especially digital technology, lasts forever. Relevant fundamental education plus the ability to quickly retrain are the main success factors in the digital era,” Nadezhda Makova, Director of the Moscow School of Communications MACS.
Complexity the second - restrictions of speed of transformations. An organization does not transform overnight, and some digital time products exist in parallel with analog ones. The operating model of the organization must allow both classic and innovative modes of operation in order for change to take place with minimal risks. Often there is competition between the digital and traditional departments of the company. The responsibility for solving the problem lies with professional management.
“At the Bank of Russia, we first prepared the operational landscape and implemented project management, which is effective both in the classical waterfall paradigm and in the flexible model. Only after that the program of reengineering of business processes and formation of the target business model was launched," - Maxim Grigoriev, ex-head of the Center for Financial Technologies of the Bank of Russia.
Difficulty three - top management conservatism. Digital transformation involves additional expenditure of time, effort and money, and not everyone is ready for this. And the main KPIs, on which bonuses depend, are often aimed at achieving momentary financial results. The key to success is the flexibility of management and the willingness to empower those employees who have the necessary digital competencies. And it is very important, real, and not in words, understanding of the potential of breakthrough technologies and the inevitability of transformation.
Digital transformation is a long, complex and expensive process. But its effect on productivity and business efficiency can justify all the costs. Up-to-date skills and tools, coupled with professional and flexible leadership, are the key to a successful transformation in the market. The main thing to remember is that it is always easier to invest in the development of a company when there are still resources for this.
Why is there so much talk in Russia about digital transformation, but few decide on it, and only a few bring the process to the end? , creator of Anti-Slavery, published in his Facebook, short abstracts from the speech at the Open Innovations forum.
Why don't digital transformers take root in business? And what should we all do about it? No, I'm not talking about transformers as devices. I'm talking about people and processes, of course.
Why doesn't it work? (main problems)
Cargo-cult of request. In reality, business does not want and is afraid of digital transformation (although outwardly it broadcasts the opposite): “They will come, and they will break everything,” but they are forced to implement it as an “order from above.” Therefore, they try to “secure” any person who comes to “transform” from all sides, conducting an insane amount of approvals and additional deterrents. In fact, this paralyzes any implementation. And a year later they are fired with the wording "Didn't do anything, just chatted."
Moreover, this very “security” is of three types:
- the first person itself (rare);
- the second level of tops (as often as possible);
- mixed: the first person says "Yes, I want", but does not give authority: "negotiate with the tops yourself."
Misunderstanding of the term (process) itself. By digital transformation, different businesses and owners understand completely different things: from the introduction of SAP to, God forgive me, groups in VK. Without understanding, they most often choose exotic people with incomprehensible competencies and begin to change their requirements and attitudes after each top trip to an industry conference or reading an article in Vedomosti.
Hype of the industry. Digital transformation is being talked about everywhere these days. Therefore, a large number of unsuccessful CIOs and digital directors, who are actually with a black ticket in their industries, are reformulating their resumes and selling their experience into digital transformation. And since they are objectively not successful (someone is lazy, someone is thieving or something else), then a year later they are fired with a big scandal. And then comes the opinion: all this digital transformation is just chatter in order to dilute the owner for money
There are no people with full competence. How do tops usually get hired? Preferably with extensive successful experience and from the same industry. The problem is that we have only five years of digital transformation. And in most industries, there is no successful completed experience of this process yet. Therefore, it is impossible to take the ideal one from your industry. They search for years and do not find. Further, see point three - they are burned on impostors who only know how to sell themselves.
What to do?
It is necessary to understand and explain that without the will of the owner (long-term), a unified strategy that does not change in the process, and trust, there will be no digital transformation - the process is not fast and painful, affecting the entire business.
- Explain to business what digital transformation is and make a competency map.
- Explain that this is a cross-platform competence (you need to search from those industries where the transformation entered first. You won’t believe it, but, for example, this is media as an industry).
- To create some kind of branch-based part-time MBA for people who can be quickly trained to this competency.
- Talk publicly about the stages and complexities and reference points of large transformations.
Bart Banche – Partner and Managing Director, Head of TMT (technology, media and telecommunications) and Digital The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) practices in Russia and the CIS, has been implementing transformational and strategic projects in the information and communication technology sector for over 17 years , digital media and telecommunications in Europe, USA, Japan, Russia and the CIS.
WHAT IS DIGITALIZATION?
Digitization = business challenge + data + technology
By digitalization, we mean the fullest use of the potential of digital technologies in all aspects of business - processes, products, services and approaches to decision-making. For digitalization, it will never be enough just to have technology as such. In order for the digitalization process to be complete, clearly articulated business objectives and data are required. Digitalization is impossible without three dimensions: the formulated business problem, the availability of data, and the technology itself.
WHAT TASKS DOES DIGITALIZATION SOLVE?
On the basic level Digitalization allows you to optimize operations, reduce costs, and improve the decision-making process. There are three main stages of digitalization that it is important for leaders to be aware of.
The first stage is the introduction of not very large and not very risky, independent initiatives or products. The main goal of this stage is to create technological solutions without a radical revision of related business processes.
The next stage is the transition from disparate initiatives to a broader transformation of the company's operating model. Business processes are part of the changes here, organizational structure, KPI ( key indicators efficiency) and staff skills. At this stage, full integration with basic systems organizations. Such changes already require a comprehensive management program.
The final stage digitalization is a change in the way we interact with external suppliers, customers and counterparties: new ways of positioning and promoting existing products and creating new ones. At this stage, digital technologies are "part of the DNA" of the entire organization and are aimed at creating new ecosystems and partnerships. At their center is a digital platform that embodies the unique competencies and know-how of the organization's business model. Successful examples that have passed all three stages of digitalization on a global scale are General Electric and Daimler.
GLOBAL CASE: McDonald's
*not a BCG case
McDonald's began its digital journey to speed up and simplify customer service in 2004, when touch-screen machines were introduced at a Florida restaurant that allowed guests to self-order. Experimenting in this direction for several years, the company found out that the average check when a person places an order on their own is 30% more. In addition, 20% of customers do not take drinks if the cashier forgets to offer them. The machine, of course, never forgets to do this.
However, a large-scale installation of McDonald's self-service machines began in 2016 and continues to this day. In 2016, self-service machines appeared in 2,600 restaurants around the world, at the beginning of 2017 mobile app McDonald's App. According to the company itself, installing one device costs the company $ 60 thousand. Company representatives have repeatedly noted that cashiers will also continue to take orders. Those employees who are replaced by technology will not be fired, but will help the team in the kitchen to place orders faster.
At the same time, the founder and director of Bersin by Deloitte ( analytical structure researcher for Deloitte) Josh Bersin is convinced that completely replacing cashiers and baristas with vending machines at chains such as Starbucks, Peet's, or Philz Coffee, and even McDonald's will not be effective, since ordering from a vending machine is not as exciting, and customers always there must be a choice.
FOR WHICH COMPANIES DIGITALIZATION IS NECESSARY FIRST?
Digitalization is an inevitable process that happens in one way or another in almost all industries. But in different sectors it goes with different speed. According to BCG analysis, B2C sectors have historically led the way in terms of digital adoption: for example, media, which has already undergone fundamental changes, as well as retail, telecommunications, insurance and banking. Digitization has already significantly affected these industries, but the final result remains to be determined.
Media, trade, insurance and banking
And, for example, metallurgy, the oil and gas sector, the electric power industry and mechanical engineering are lagging behind: the impact of digitalization in these industries is still aimed mainly at internal improvements, it is difficult to fully assess it, and cardinal changes are yet to come.
WHAT BUSINESS UNITS DO DIGITALIZATION BEGIN WITH?
First of all, digitalization concerns all areas of the company's business related to productivity: it is cost control, return on investment. As a rule, the first wave of digital changes in most companies concerns the management of production assets - for example, predictive analytics for maintenance and repairs, as well as planning investments in production assets. This is especially true for infrastructure companies with a large number of physical production assets and the costs of their creation and operation - telecommunications, transport, electricity, etc.
The impact of digitalization is not limited to these areas. For example, the implementation of predictive analytics allows an organization to achieve new business growth opportunities, more accurately understand the opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling to existing customers, which is already being done, for example, by many telecommunications companies, including Kazakhstani ones.
KAZAKHSTAN CASE: Kazpost
*not a BCG case
Kazpost's transformation program was launched in June 2014. The state-owned company had a global task to become a modern and client-oriented postal service, so it was planned to introduce a category-based procurement management system, the main enterprise management processes - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), a common service center (SSC) for accounting and tax accounting, a single operating window for the operator, a new model for managing logistics flows, post.kz online service, payment card processing, agency services, e-commerce, direct mail and more. There were also projects that directly affected the quality of customer service: the modernization of post offices, an electronic queue, parcel supermarkets and post offices, a situation center, a parcel tracking service, and SMS notification. All this looks very large-scale, and the transformation is not over yet. However, in a number of areas there is already a tangible effect.
Thus, more than 1,180,000 parcels have been distributed through parcel supermarkets since the start of the project in 2015 to date. Since the launch of the project in 2014, about 670,000 parcels have been sent through parcel lockers. Thanks to the launch of these services, 1.6 million parcels were delivered to Kazakhstan in Q1 2017, which is twice as much as in Q1 2016.
The post.kz service is an online branch of Kazpost. Since its launch in 2016, more than 1 million customers have already used it. About 30,000 unique users visit the site daily. The site allows you to find a convenient location of the post office, change the delivery address of the parcel, calculate the cost of delivery, pay for any services, and even make money transfers. During the transformation, Kazpost launched 12 mobile branches and by the end of the year it is planned to install 17 more mobile branches.
IS A MACHINE MORE EFFICIENT THAN A HUMAN IN BUSINESS?
Robotization, automation and artificial intelligence, as components of digitalization, are already widely used in various industries - in manufacturing, in the transport and banking industries, in the service sector. The global robotics market is growing very rapidly and continuously: according to BCG, by 2025 its volume could reach $87 billion, despite the fact that just three years ago the forecast for 2025 was $67 billion.
Now robots are used mainly to replace people in routine operations in manufacturing, banking and other industries. Robotization virtually eliminates errors associated with the attentiveness of living employees. Artificial intelligence can also be used to optimize the decision-making process, in particular, with the help of "machine learning".
IS DIGITALIZATION NEEDED FOR SMEs?
For SMBs, digitalization means scaling and growing faster and easier. For example, the development of e-commerce opens up new sales channels for SMEs and also potentially reduces the size of the gray economy. According to a joint study by BCG and Samruk-Kazyna, at the beginning of 2017, the share of e-commerce in retail in Kazakhstan was less than 1%, for comparison: in Russia - 3%, in China - 8.3%. We expect that if the Kazakhstan e-commerce market in retail will grow at the same pace as the Russian one, then by 2020 its volume will reach $750-800 million.
Systematic efforts are being made in Kazakhstan to introduce digitalization in small and medium-sized businesses. For example, at the beginning of this year, a project for the implementation of the Open Digital Platform for Small and Medium Business, developed by NCE Atameken with the infrastructural support of Kazakhtelecom JSC, was presented in Astana. It is expected that it will work on the principle of Chinese Alibaba and American Amazon and increase trade in the country by 30%.
GLOBAL CASE: Pony Express
*not a BCG case
Pony Express at the very beginning of its journey in 1992 was exclusively engaged in the delivery of documents and goods "from door to door". In 2014, the company changed its strategy, deciding to become a universal logistics operator in the CIS. The implementation of the strategy took place in 2015-2016 and cost the business 1 billion rubles (about $15 million, this amount includes not only IT costs, but also the construction and equipment of warehouses, replacement of the vehicle fleet, etc.).
The company decided to go in this direction after studying the needs of customers in the logistics market. “Businesses understand that the scheme in which one company delivers to the warehouse, another is responsible for storage, the third sorts and packs, the fourth delivers to the client, etc., has become obsolete. With such an organization of the process, the quality drops sharply, and the costs grow,” explains the motives of the head of the company Georgy Alikoshvili.
As a result, over the past 2 years, Pony Express has become more active in the field of e-commerce, created a constructor for online stores (which allows not only transporting and delivering, but also storing, tracking goods in a warehouse, etc.), updated the platform for cross-border delivery . All this required the development and implementation of a number of IT solutions: event management systems, courier transport logistics systems, trunk transport logistics systems, billing systems, CRM (Customer Relationship Management - customer relationship management system).
HOW MUCH DIGITALIZATION COSTS
The digitalization budget can be very different in different companies and industries. Recent trends are that large organizations constantly increase their investments in IT and digitalization, as it can give them a serious competitive advantage. At the same time, if we talk about SMEs, the development of digital technologies makes it much easier for them to automate their own activities and its cost: for example, the emergence of cloud solutions for SMEs (Salesforce.com and the like) gives them the opportunity to use ready-made modern solutions for automation key processes with minimal investment.
BUY OR CREATE?
In the short term, acquiring off-the-shelf technology and leveraging the experience of more digitally advanced countries can be an effective solution to accelerate organizational transformation. But in the medium and long term, it is necessary to have our own solutions to control strategic industries and technologies.
DIGITALIZATION IN STATE MANAGEMENT
In Kazakhstan, as you know, a project is being developed state program"Digital Kazakhstan", which provides for the formation of a proactive "digital" state. One of the main objectives of this program is the digital transformation of government agencies. It is expected that this will increase the competitiveness of the economy and the quality of life of people, for example, by providing citizens and companies electronic services, automation of processes in state institutions, the introduction of a "single window" system, the full implementation of electronic document management, increasing the transparency of work government agencies and institutions.
HOW DIGITALIZED IS KAZAKHSTAN?
In Kazakhstan on this moment there is a good basic access infrastructure for the further development of the digitalization of the economy. The level of involvement of the population is also quite high: 54% are Internet users. According to the BCG e-intensity index (tracks the development of the digital component of the global economy in 85 countries), the average annual growth rate for Kazakhstan is 23%. This is a positive indicator. However, Kazakhstan still lags behind the average of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), where the growth rate is 27%.
Therefore, the main task in the coming years is to increase the growth rate of digitalization. At the same time, digitalization should become part of the strategic agenda not only of government agencies, but also of national companies and private businesses. There are basic conditions for this. First, the relatively favorable macroeconomic situation. Secondly, attention to this issue on the part of the state: for example, such initiatives as the implementation of the state program "Digital Kazakhstan", the creation of the Astana International Financial Center, the creation of a hub for startups and development advanced technologies– international technopark of IT start-ups AstanaHub.
"Corporation" is a joint project of the Government and "Samruk-Kazyna", in which leading experts tell the audience about modern methods business management. The idea of the project is to show Kazakh businessmen on local and international cases how new approaches change production, logistics, marketing and planning in companies of different sizes.
Rajiv Sivaraman, Vice President of Development - Data Services & Head-Plant Security Services, Siemens
"Digitalization" or "Digitalization" (from English.digital,digital) can already be entered into dictionaries as a homonym, due to the large number of meanings. But the main thing is that this concept has already got into the agenda of meetings of the boards of companies. To put it simply, digitalization is what is required to make production more flexible, adaptable to the realities of the modern day and competitive in the emerging “digital world”. Digitization is the means to achieve the desired outcome, namely agile production that delivers superior results for customers and higher profits for owners. Digital transformation is the process of transferring an enterprise to a “flexible” state from the current one.
A digital enterprise can take advantage of the opportunities of convergence, where product data is available at all stages of its life cycle - from development to maintenance. This allows the company's management to more informed decisions, perform transformations for "quick implementation" in terms of market entry, flexibility, quality, safety & operational efficiency, as well as creating new business opportunities.
The Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) and its associated opportunities only reinforce the need for such a digital “transition.” The German government's Industry 4.0 initiative also emerged in response to the need for horizontal and vertical integration in industry, ensuring effective use information and data to make development an ongoing process along the entire value chain. It must be clearly understood that every progressive industrial enterprise must actively use digital technologies. In the modern world, you either destroy the business of others, or others destroy your business.
The term "digital" generally refers to the storage of data or information in the form of digital signals. They are presented in the form of logical signals 1 or 0 (yes, no). In this sense this term and is used mainly in areas such as data storage, or digital music, etc. etc. It describes the process by which other forms of representation are converted into a digital format. In the business context, "analytics" can be considered the further digitization of information, the generation of new understanding, representations - on the basis of which more effective management decisions can be made.
The term "digitalization" is used to describe a transformation that goes beyond just replacing an analog or physical resource with a digital or information one. For example, books do not just turn into electronic books, but provide a whole range of interactive and multimedia experiences. Accordingly, on industrial enterprise processes can become online dialogues between parties that did not even directly communicate before.
So in a business context, an organization that wants to go digital should focus on automating processes to make them more efficient. In contrast, a company focusing on "digitalization" should aim to capture the value of these processes more effectively through greater customer engagement.
Let's look at the American market: most companies here dream of growth, but invest in efficiency! Matt Reilly made some interesting points about the US market in his blog "CEO Briefing -The Global Agenda: Competing in a Digital World". He noted that “87% of the companies featured in the study plan to increase investment in research and development - and a significant part of this investment is directed to digital technologies such as mobility, cloud computing, analytics, social networks, e-commerce and M2M communications. Sounds good: "New investment in innovative technologies» can be a great topic for a report or presentation.
However, Reilly also mentioned that most American companies research does not usually consider digital technologies as a means of growth. In fact, “68% indicated that investments in digital technologies are mainly focused on process efficiency and cost reduction, and only 25% mentioned that investments are aimed at helping to establish relationships with customers. So the focus is on higher operational efficiency, not on sales growth, creating new sales channels or developing new products and services.”
Based on this review of the US market, the term "digital" is still more popular than the term "digitalization" today. However, judging by the conversations with most of the leaders, they are already beginning to aim for “digitalization”. This is absolutely necessary so that enterprises can answer the question: “How to use customer engagement in order to transform the business and get the most out of improved business processes and growth?”.
It is very important to “figure out” exactly what businesses want to achieve in order to help them achieve it. Siemens described 5 main areas that need to be changed in the manufacturing sector so that the company can “blow up” the market:
- Speed to market
- Improved security and reliability
- Improved Flexibility
- Enhanced quality
- Increased efficiency.
Where does today's enterprise begin?
First you need to conduct a comprehensive study. Business owners need to be aware of the impact of emerging concepts and technologies on their business. You need to know the current capacities and capabilities, the results of the work that require changes, as well as the target state of the enterprise, in which the required results can be achieved. The gap between current capabilities and the target state becomes a roadmap that can be implemented based on business and operational priorities.
Today manufacturing enterprises face new and sometimes daunting questions that must be answered in the process of “digitalization”:
- Who in my organization is driving digital transformation?
- What can we achieve?
- What are the goals?
- Is digitizing everything a digital project or something more?
- Where to start?
- Who is responsible for conceptualization and execution?
- Where are we today in terms of opportunity?
- What can we do ourselves, and why do we need to hire specialists?
- How to ensure the flexibility of large ecosystems?
- How can I take advantage of the technological evolution associated with the layers of technical architectures and avoid the proprietary trap?
There are other dimensions related to investment decision making (Do we need a new ERP/MES system or an ICS/network upgrade?) and how to combine them in the context of “digital transformation”.
Every organization should go through this introspective project to define business goals and the main tools to achieve them. This will allow you to stay relevant and successful in a changing environment. The organization then needs to connect its current state of "readiness for flexibility" with the desired, target state by this process. Readiness is then determined by assessing the maturity of the enterprise in key areas, and transformation milestones are set. These key areas can be identified using the key elements of the business value chain, such as:
- Control life cycle product.
- Production and product management.
- Business analytics.
- Connectedness and data management.
- Safety.
- Corporate culture and the people behind it.
- Measurements of processes and technologies.
This process allows you to connect digital transformation with the overall strategy of the enterprise, as it relates to the main business indicators. It also helps to justify current and capital costs in the context of digital transformation. This allows you to evaluate any activity in terms of the long-term goals of the "digitized" organization.
The digital transformation project is best complemented by using a “digital maturity model” as a basis for defining the current state and the desired state, in terms of key areas key to a sustainable business.
