A Beautiful, Human Challenge

I took part in a recent round-table event where an executive described digital transformation as a “beautiful, human challenge”. This phrase really struck a chord for me.

The theme was about business resilience in an age of uncertainty, and the human side of digital transformation was at the heart of the conversation throughout. Whether it was talk of change management, the rapid adoption of digital tools in response to limited movement during the pandemic, or the source of business resilience, we kept returning to the role and importance of people.

The Cheese Priest

One food & beverage exec, from a cheese producer, explained: there is sometimes a highly experienced and valued ‘cheese priest’, whose job it is to ‘sniff the air’ and make calculations and changes concerning the production environment, to ensure quality and yield. Replacing that role with data-driven algorithms is not easy – that is a senior position of huge value and heritage, so there is resistance.

However, the data model can consider more inputs, control quality even more precisely, and – here’s the kicker – offer a 10% improvement in yield. No matter how important the ‘cheese priest’ may be, if the producer does not digitalize, they will not be able to compete in the future. As the executive put it, “I think there will be big winners and big losers, and very little in between.”

The Middle Manager

In a similar way, another executive, this time from a household-name pharmaceutical company, talked about the impact on power structures when digital tools are freely available throughout the company. The move towards autonomous teams within a company, that have access to data and insights, reduces and perhaps negates much of the role of the middle managers who were responsible for bringing together information and insights and implementing plans and procedures.

That’s all very well, she says, but who does a company need to help implement the systems and adoption of digital transformation technology? The middle manager. Another very human challenge concerning change management and company structure.

Ambitioning

In my experience, successful digital transformation has a lot to do with how companies approach ambitioning. The pandemic showed us what is possible when the motivation is there. The sheer speed and scale of vaccine production was a remarkable achievement. So how do we get people to sign up to digital transformation and get involved? How do we motivate people? Because the tech is there, it’s just a question of willing.

I see customers who struggle to change because they can’t see it and others who have really embraced change and have that motivation. Even a company such as Rockwell Automation, which is at the leading edge of industrial digital transformation technologies, was forced to change how it worked very quickly during the pandemic. Like many companies, Rockwell brought in new digital communication tools and systems in a matter of days, which might otherwise have taken years to adopt – because the motivation was huge.

In my view, the most successful companies in digital transformation adoption are ones where the motivation comes from the top down and the leaders get in front to use, embrace, and show why digital transformation is so important.

Two Sides to The Coin

The scale and reach of digitalization can make it seem like a mountain to climb. Aside from motivating the leaders, how can companies begin to implement digital transformation? I believe there are two sides to this coin.