Blog | Digital Transformation

CIOs: a Consultative Approach to Digital Transformation

There’s a truism in industry: data is useless until it is turned into information. It speaks to the need for data to be contextualised and analysed before it can be useful. This means that the Chief Information Officer (CIO) has never been more crucial to the success of a company. Information is, after all, their lot.

But it wasn’t always like this – in fact, the role of the CIO has changed very quickly from being a board member representing a cost centre as IT hardware and software needed cyclical updating, to the person right at the heart of the company’s innovation and competitive advantage.

The CIO now represents a resource centre on the board.

This change has happened quickly, as the true potential of the connected enterprises unfolds. Any CIO worthy of the title is taking a lead role in their company’s journey, but digital transformation is not solely the responsibility of the CIO. In fact, while assuming a share of responsibility, it’s important for CIOs to take a consultative approach that includes the rest of the C-suite, the rest of the staff, and a whole external ecosystem of trusted partners.

Super Networks

The technologies and trends that define digital transformation bring disparate data together to inform better decisions for improved productivity and efficiency, shape innovation in products and process, and can even revolutionise business models.

Digital transformation is built around the flow of data through an organisation and in this sense, it might be considered a super-network that brings together every business function and reaches beyond the enterprise, including both upstream and downstream of the supply chain.

The principle is not complex, but the reality involves making big changes to long-established ways of doing things and bringing legacy architecture (both hardware and software) into an open, unified, enterprise-wide model.

The Consultative Approach – Breaking Down Enterprise Silos

Almost no corner of the enterprise is left untouched by digital transformation and every job role is affected. It is vital to understand the challenges throughout the company, the wants and needs that departments have, the changes and strains that will come with new ways of working, the skills that are short, the opportunities that exist, and the resistance that may be met.

We are talking about change so fundamental to the enterprise that it requires a change management mentality. The scale of digital transformation and its true potential for a company is why innovation, ideation and foresight should always be right at the heart of the strategy.

From an IT perspective, unlike what came before, this era is not about technology that can just work a bit faster or handle bigger loads. And it is not limited to where you apply it – by which I mean that, for example, a new edge computing platform won’t just make the operational equipment more efficient, it will open avenues to improvement throughout the enterprise when connected to the MES layer and on into the cloud. Digital transformation approaches and technologies have an exponential effect on each other.

Through digital transformation, your enterprise will redefine its approach to business, redefine its relationship to customers and suppliers, change what it makes, become more efficient, more flexible, and more productive than ever before.

Bringing about change on this scale requires you to bring people, processes, and technology together.

Super Networking

During a round table of leading CIOs at the CIO Leadership Summit, earlier this year, I heard first-hand from top CIOs about their own digital transformation journeys.

The conversation that transpired highlighted the changing responsibilities of CIOs and remarkable consensus around the challenges they face and best practices to overcome them.

Three consistent challenges were evident. A skills issue, an understanding of where to start, and the complexities of scaling enterprise wide.

The Consultative Approach – Leveraging Your Trusted Ecosystem

Best practices in meeting these challenges require a consultative approach that reaches beyond your business. In setting clear objectives for the company, it pays dividends to really invest time in understanding the implications.

While every company will experience different challenges and must forge its own unique path to digital transformation, there is no substitute for real-life experience. As industry moves beyond early-adopters and into broader adoption, your ecosystem of vendors, suppliers, systems integrators, service providers, and supply chain is developing a wealth of experience.

And they too, are digitally transforming. Many bring new business approaches, such as servitisation options that can reduce the CAPEX impact of changes, or bridge skills gaps.
Importantly, your trusted ecosystem will have the benefit of experience, including – as is the case with Kalypso, a Rockwell Automation company – direct consultation on your own digital transformation journey. This can help you understand change implications for your business from every angle; help you marshal the internal consultation and undergo the change management process; and help you identify where to start, which technologies to use, and how to deliver ROI.

Stay Flexible

Wherever a company is in its digital transformation journey, a consultative approach is vital to its ongoing success. Regular checkpoints should involve representation from throughout the enterprise and from every level – operator to C-suite. And it should also bring the full potential of your trusted network to the party. A good transformation pathway sets end goals and frequently refers to those compass headings, seeking the most effective and direct route, depending on the ever-changing lay of the land. Often, that will include asking friends for directions.

You can find out more about the role of the CIO on the digital journey, along with a wealth of other resources for executive industrial decision-makers, at the Management Perspectives hub.

Published July 21, 2021

Sarah Dana

Head of Information Solutions, North Europe, Middle East & Africa

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