Critical Steps in the Digital Transformation & Analytics Journey

Przemek Tomczak, SVP, IoT and Utilities, KX

“Innovation” “Agility” “Transformation”

There were so many buzzwords, acronyms and broader business themes competing for mindshare — and market share — at the recent Industrial Transformation – Asia-Pacific in Singapore. But if you’ve been in technology (and business) for long enough, you will have seen these “new” terms applied to concepts, technologies and techniques to galvanize action before.

And with good reason.

Innovation, agility and transformation consistently sit among the leading challenges for business leaders, and today, the speed with which their organization can achieve these measures is becoming increasingly critical.

Speed as a Competitive Advantage

Speed is a competitive advantage, whether it is delivering product, time-to-market, or being more responsive to a customer or situation in the field.

Luckily, we’re now able to accelerate business processes, deliver insights for decision making, and take action – in real-time – like never before, whether that is to make a production process more efficient, make the world greener through more efficient use of energy, or provide data to internal users, other applications, and external customers.

The challenge — and opportunity — for businesses then is determining where acceleration can have the most meaningful impact for your organization and customers and how to unlock it internally. To do so, and to do so well, is key to any transformation or improvement initiative.

A Blueprint to Begin

Below is a simple blueprint to consider as you navigate the start of this journey:

• Step One: To understand what areas would have the most impact — whether you suspect it’s efficiency, waste, performance, etc. — you must first understand the current state. Collect a variety of data to provide richer context. This analysis will inform the kind of questions that will lead to real, constructive change.
• Step Two: Armed with this insight, create a vision. What are the suggested ideas for improvement? Are the outcomes clear, simple and measurable? Communicate the purpose of this process, and its targets, with clarity to better ensure its success.
• Step Three: Align this vision with others internally. Seek support up and across the organization. You may have best idea, but unless you have support, you’re likely to encounter roadblocks or friction. Secure the buy-in of key stakeholders – you can’t do it alone.
• Step Four: As you move ahead, commit to a continuous process of improvement. Test your ideas after implementation, measure results and adjust. Communicate progress and, where appropriate, invite feedback from the broader market.

Delivering Meaningful Change Dependent on People, Culture, and Data

Of course, speed is only one part of the equation. Business is characterized by constant, rapid change, but even those who respond quickly can fail if the input is inadequate. To fully unlock the power of this blueprint, consider, too, the collaborators, culture and quality of data available to you:

• Collaboration: Partner with companies with the technology and expertise to help you rapidly deliver on improvements. It’s perfectly ok not to build everything in-house; rather, faster-time to value is more important. The right collaborators can help you realize it quickly – and correctly.
• Culture: Just as you must commit to a continuous process of improvement, so too must you commit to a continuous learning culture. If this doesn’t already exist, this needs to be key focus of your teams — including management — in order to successfully drive the implementation of improvements.
• Quality: According to research from Gartner, poor data quality can cost companies more than 6.25% of annual revenue globally. Quality data, at the right place and right time, is key to the success of these initiatives, as are those with domain and data science expertise to make sense, interpret and glean insights from what the data tells you.

Innovation, agility and transformation will continue to be top of mind – and agendas – for years to come. The real question is, are you ready to take the steps needed to successfully achieve them?