The Digital Transformation has been structured in three key areas: (i) Customer Experience, (ii) Operational Processes and (iii) Business Models. In this new blogpost, we'll highlight some experiences regarding the key area number two: “Operational Processes”.
Dear readers,
First of all, I sincerely wish you an amazing 2018, full of joy and success!
Second, it's time to reopen our Digital Transformation Journey. As we have commented before, executives from global companies are digitally transforming three key areas of their enterprises. In this first blogpost of 2018, we're going to highlight some experiences regarding the key area number two: "Operational Processes".
Digital Maturity: How to transform Operational Processes
Although transformed Customer Experiences are the most visible - and arguably the most exciting aspects of transformation (subject addressed during the previous blogpost), companies are also realizing very strong benefits from transforming internal processes through Process Digitization, Worker Enablement and Performance Management.
2.1. Process Digitization
Automation can enable companies to refocus their people on more strategic tasks. A manufacturer has begun to centralize the HR function, allowing economies of scale through self-service while freeing HR people to “focus on enlarging manager skills, rather than counting days off.” A specialty materials company has automated many R&D processes: automation allows researchers to focus on innovation and creativity rather than repetitive efforts; also, it creates streams of data that can be useful in later data mining efforts.
One paint manufacturer has created fully automated plants that significantly reduce labor requirements, improve product quality and enhance environmental, health and safety performance. An apparel company has moved to digital design processes when collaborating with manufacturing partners; Going digital eliminates most need to ship physical prototypes back and forth, reducing the product development lifecycle by 30%.
2.2. Worker Enablement
Individual-level work has, in essence, been virtualized separating the work process from the location of the work. A financial services business rearranged its headquarters so that nobody had an assigned desk, even the CEO. Employees now work from home one or two days per week and, when they are in the office, sit near people with whom they are temporarily collaborating. Meanwhile, the company’s collaboration and networking tools allow employees to talk with anyone in the organization from wherever they are sitting. This is setting the stage for further changes related to globalization.
The tools that virtualize individual work, while implemented for cost reasons, have become powerful enablers for knowledge sharing. Salespeople and frontline employees, for example, are beginning to benefit from collaborative tools in which they can identify experts and get questions answered in real time. They are also increasingly gaining access to a single, global view of the company’s interactions with a customer.
2.3. Performance Management
Transactional systems give executives deeper insights into products, regions and customers, allowing decisions to be made on real data and not on assumptions. This is happening in both internal processes and customer-facing processes. The level of detail is also increasing, allowing managers to compare status across sites or reallocate product manufacturing capacity in ways they could not do before.
Beyond being better informed, digital transformation is actually changing the process of strategic decision-making. Top executives in a medical device manufacturer used the company’s existing collaboration tools to extend strategic planning sessions from 12 people to more than 300 of the business’s top managers. This enabled better input into the process and better uptake of the vision after decisions were made.
Next week we'll explore the key area number 3 of Digital Transformation: Business Models. Stay tunned!
Source: Digital Transformation: A Roadmap for Billion-Dollar Organizations
