Digital Transformation Comes Down to Talent in 4 Key Areas
Over the years we’ve participated in, advised on, or studied hundreds of digital transformations. In doing so, we’ve gained a perspective on just how difficult true digital transformation really is and what it takes to succeed. Digital transformation is not for the faint of heart — the unfortunate reality is that, to date, many such efforts, like transformation programs in general, have failed.
Success requires bringing together and coordinating a far greater range of effort than most leaders appreciate. A poor showing in any one of four inter-related domains — technology, data, process, or organizational change capability — can scuttle an otherwise well-conceived transformation. The really important stuff, from creating and communicating a compelling vision, to crafting a plan and adjusting it on the fly, to slogging through the details, is all about people.
More than anything else, digital transformation requires talent. Indeed, assembling the right team of technology, data, and process people who can work together — with a strong leader who can bring about change — may be the single most important step that a company contemplating digital transformation can take. Of course, even the best talent does not guarantee success. But a lack of it almost guarantees failure.
Let’s explore the talent needed in each of the four domains in turn...
Source: Harvard Business Review
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How Small Businesses Can Embrace Digital Transformation
Digital transformation has been one of the most talked-about topics in business the past couple of years, and for good reason. A way for companies to leverage innovative new technologies to significantly reduce costs and improve operations, performance, safety and, ultimately, their bottom line sounds like a must-have for all businesses.
While many of these stories center around large companies (because they can cite larger gains given their size, and they often invest in the latest technologies), I believe small and medium-sized manufacturers need to realize they, too, can use digital transformation technologies to realize tremendous benefits.
My company did just that, and we are a family owned, 60-employee, almost 70-year-old, small- to medium-size business in the manufacturing industry. In fact, through digital transformation, we were able to achieve significant improvements in the efficiency of our manufacturing shop floor, returns and sales quote-to-close ratios — and those are just our first-round results.
So if you are a small to medium-sized manufacturer and you think digital transformation is only for the bigger corporations, it’s time to think again. I learned a few lessons along the way that I believe can help other small businesses get started on their own digital transformations...
Source: Forbes
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When Digital Transformation Is The Only Way
Manufacturers have long relied on advanced digital technologies that enable remote monitoring and assistance to protect workers in 4D — dull, dirty, dangerous and distant — environments. While no one expected this would one day include the effects of a healthcare crisis, it’s more important than ever today to remotely execute tasks that keep essential facilities operational while also protecting workers.
Confronted with the harsh realities of fewer employees able to work in the traditional hands-on manner, companies have been forced to adopt newer, better and more productive methods — remote and virtual technology tools — and will never look back.
In the industrial manufacturing world, this has certainly proven true. Here, digital transformation has always been about automating manual tasks, enabling access to information, using analytics to drive decision-making and upskilling the workforce — all powerful tools to enable remote work.
Let’s look at some examples...
Source: Forbes
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