5 Keys To Digital Transformation
- 1. 5 KEYS TO DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
- 2. CONTENTS 1. The route to transformation 2. Executive support is critical - but not enough 3. Start small, celebrate fast and scale faster 4. Embrace failing forward 5. Early adopters always win 6. Management of Change is critical for success 7. Start your journey 8. About TrendMiner 2
- 3. 3 INTRODUCTION Digital transformation is everywhere. You can see it emerging in marketing, sales, HR, supply chain and finance - but also in domains such as plant operations and maintenance. Digital transformation is opening up new opportunities, challenging the traditional methods and changing the way we think and act. In essence, it is a massive disruption and for companies that want to become the new leaders it offers a remarkable opportunity. Digital maturity equals 26% more profitability, 9% more growth and 9% higher market valuations according to Accenture and MIT. These are promising numbers, but according to a recent article in Forbes, 84% of companies currently fail to achieve digital transformation. THE ROUTE TO TRANSFORMATION 1
- 4. 4 BREAK DOWN BARRIERS At TrendMiner, we assist many global process manufacturing companies in their journey to transformation. Our software helps to deliver the operational intelligence that is needed to inform continuous improvement, but we know that software alone is not enough. That’s why we also actively support our customers in achieving next generation productivity and creating a digital enabled workforce. Due to this core focus, we spend a lot of time talking to potential customers to understand their needs with relation to transformation and digitalization. Those discussions frequently spark new ideas to further improve our software, but they also reveal some recurring trends and challenges. The best way to overcome these barriers to successful transformation is by using proven best practices. 5 KEYS TO SUCCESS In this feature, I’m going to dive deeper into some of the most important and interesting concepts that are crucial to achieving a successful digital transformation, such as: 1. Executive support is critical but not enough 2. Start small, celebrate faster and scale faster 3. Embrace the concept of failing forward 4. Technology adoption is only going faster and faster 5. Management of change is critical for success Some of these may seem like counterintuitive or irrelevant considerations, but in practice they are not. By understanding how these concepts affect your transformation initiatives, you can increase your chance of success more easily than you may imagine. Bert Baeck, CEO & Founder of TrendMiner
- 5. 5 IT IS NO LONGER A QUESTION OF WHETHER OR NOT TO TRANSFORM The only question is when to get started and how to ensure success.
- 6. 6 USE YOUR ENTIRE TEAM There is no question that having buy-in from the top is a must, but in addition, the whole organization should be engaged in the journey. To initiate a successful transformation, decision-makers need to believe in the potential value of analytics and operational intelligence. However, a frequent challenge to this support is the tendency of leaders to demand a proven Return on Investment before being willing to commit budget to a new and speculative program. Often the economic questions that leaders ask cannot be directly answered at the onset. When this approach of “proof before investment” is pursued, it can easily become a showstopper – killing the potential opportunity. Visionary leaders can instead support the beginning groundwork by helping to tear down internal barriers and supporting the potential gains. By promoting transformation as a positive change for all, executives can attract bottom-up acceptance throughout the organization – and this is the key to success. EXECUTIVE SUPPORT IS CRITICAL - BUT NOT ENOUGH 2
- 7. 7 Instead of only pushing a vision down, top leaders will identify champions and advocates who can help them generate momentum through cross-functional teams. These teams can be established and with the visible support of the executive, can be given a clear mandate to get things done and sufficient resources to enable the program. Their responsibilities within the transformation program can form a part of their yearly KPI’s, formalizing their contributions in a transparent way. KEY 1: TRANSFORMATION WORKS BEST WHEN ALL LEVELS OF THE ORGANIZATION ARE ENGAGED
- 8. 8 START WITH SUCCESS From a strategy standpoint, starting small and celebrating fast with an eye to scale quickly is the best formula to implement change. This approach offers multiple benefits, such as: • A smaller first scope makes starting the project easier to initiate. • A quick success is encouraging. It attracts momentum and gets more people on board. • An early proof of achievement helps overcome speculation about total value. • The most successful parts of the initial project can be copied to all subsequent scopes. • Learnings from the initial project can be quickly applied in future to optimize larger scale success. The single greatest advantage of this approach is the flywheel effect, and this is the key to scaling fast. START SMALL CELEBRATE FAST AND SCALE FASTER 3
- 9. 9 MAKE IT POSSIBLE When a transformation program is first described, it can be difficult for stakeholders to imagine it in practice, like being shown a huge static wheel and told that it could be set in motion. However, when that wheel starts to move – even a little – you can imagine it spinning faster, and it becomes easier to believe the next step is possible. Likewise, the credibility that a quick success generates makes every subsequent step (such as scaling out to multiple plants) much easier to achieve. KEY 2: DELIVER A POSITIVE RESULT SO THAT OTHERS CAN BELIEVE IN THE VISION AND WORK TOGETHER
- 10. 10 TRANSFORMATION IS A STATE OF MIND
- 11. 11 FACILITATE CHANGE For many people, the word failure is a negative – so why offer this as a best practice for success? Simply put, it’s because failing forward is not about embracing failing; it is about achieving success. Failing forward is also called intelligent failure, and it is a concept that aims for innovation, agility, learning and resilience – all of which are advantages during transformation. Essentially, when you accept that (small) failure may inevitably occur, you make room for innovation and change. By removing the fear of failure, organizations can respond more productively, learning more from mistakes and making greater steps forward faster. So this best practice is about cultivating an attitude that facilitates change. EMBRACE FAILING FORWARD 4
- 12. 12 BE OPEN TO CHANGE There is a big difference between the DNA of many large corporations and start-ups. For start-ups, it may be easier to embrace failing fast and often in order to fail forward, because they are constrained by limited resources, so they are more open to risk. Within the culture of many large corporations, failure is often avoided. Such companies will go to great lengths to avoid the risk of even partial failure, but without the opportunities to learn from mistakes, their progress can be hampered. When it comes to digital transformation, an open attitude to uncertainty becomes crucial to success. There is still a lot of hype around the promise of big data, analytics and the connected enterprise, and no-one has all the answers yet. The benefits cannot always be neatly quantified upfront – but if the fear of (partial) failure is too strong, then transformation programs will be killed before they can begin. TEST YOUR SUCCESS Failing forward does not mean taking unnecessary risks. As described earlier, it is better to start small (and be open to learning) than to begin with an oversized waterfall project in which failure cannot be tolerated. Provide the opportunity to learn during transformation. Test a hypothesis and reject, iterate or adjust it as you go. The moment all the assumptions are validated, there is nothing to stop you from scaling up fast. KEY 3: DON’T ALLOW FEAR TO STOP THE TRANSFORMATION PROCESS
- 13. 13 DON’T FALL BEHIND The pace of innovation and the adoption of new technologies are only speeding up. It took decades for the telephone to reach 50% of households, but it took five years or less for cell phones to accomplish the same. Today, large companies need to anticipate new technology trends even faster to stay successful. According to the Global Technology Adoption Index (GTAI), there is a low risk and large reward when adopting new technology. This global survey illustrates an interesting statistic: companies that are actively exploiting analytics, big data, cloud and mobility have on average 50% higher revenue growth rates than organizations who have not adopted these technologies. These same organizations also reported that one or more of those new key technologies were responsible for several other areas of company progress, including increased efficiencies and organizational growth. EARLY ADOPTERS ALWAYS WIN 5
- 14. 14 KEY 4: THE TIME IS NOW DON’T WAIT TO START BENEFITING FROM NEW TECHNOLOGY Innovation is unlikely to slow down; if anything, it will probably accelerate further. So don’t wait to transform. Start leveraging new technologies as quickly as possible – it is your key to future success.
- 15. 15 THE QUESTION IS NOT WHETHER THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION APPLIES TO YOU The question is when you will embrace it and take action
- 16. 16 HELP PEOPLE TRANSFORM As mentioned earlier, transformation cannot only be pushed top-down – you need to get everyone on board. By delivering early success, you can get people to believe in the vision and engage with the initiative. But once you’ve generated that momentum, you’ll need to ensure that everyone keeps pulling in the same direction. To achieve that, a plan is needed. This is where having an effective Management of Change program comes in. A Management of Change program is the key to shifting behavior and reshaping organizational culture during transformation. Rather than describing a vision, such a program actively helps people to change. By focusing on a finite initiative, the way things work inside the company is shifted. If that shift is in line with your digital transformation program, it will assist in moving you forward. MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE IS CRITICAL TO SUCCESS 6
- 17. 17 CHANGING MINDS According to the Mckinsey influence model, there are 4 aspects that need to be tackled if you want that people change their behavior. They will change if: • They have a proper insight and understanding of why to change. They need to agree to a certain extent that the change is meaningful to them. • They have developed the right talent and skills so they have the capabilities to behave in a new way and to be successful. Training, on-boarding and academy models need to be designed in an optimal way • They see role modeling and culture change. Change requires that people see that their leaders, peers and reports all behave in the new way. • There is reinforcing with formal mechanisms. The structures, processes and systems support the desired change. KEY 5: TAKE CONTROL OF CHANGE AND PLAN TO ACHIEVE SUCCESS
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- 19. 19 YOU ARE NOT ALONE Now that you understand the 5 keys to digital transformation, you can see how they work together in combination, each synergistically adding to the other. When you plan to manage change as part of a vision of a new (transformed future), you can enlist the support of your leaders and stakeholders throughout the organization to begin with a small project. Having overcome the fear of potential failure in that initial project, you can move faster to start benefiting from new technologies and overcome the internal barriers to success. And by approaching the journey to transformation with the help of proven best practices, your company will open the door to previously hidden opportunities for growth. If you’re ready to begin, or you’d like more information about how TrendMiner can support your transformation initiative, start a conversation with us. Our team is on hand to help you achieve success. START YOUR JOURNEY 7
- 20. 20 DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION IS EASIER THAN YOU THINK The perception that change is too difficult and expensive is the leading cause for companies to remain hesitant of new technologies. Today there’s an affordable self-service analytics solution that enables data-driven transformation and improved profitability:
- 21. 21 SELF-SERVICE ANALYTICS TrendMiner is a software company that provides self- service analytics for the process industry. Our software helps users to analyze, monitor and predict asset and process performance. We put the power of the data into the hands of the people who understand what it means: the subject matter experts. By providing them with a self-service analytics solution, we help them to turn their data into actionable insights. TrendMiner was created by engineers who saw the need for specialized analytics for the process industry. They developed a user-friendly software that meets the high demands of time-series industrial analytics - but is designed to be used by non-data scientists. TrendMiner is dedicated to our customers' success. That's why our team is dedicated to helping you every step of the way. TRENDMINER WHO WE ARE & WHAT WE DO 8
- 22. 22 CONTACT US If you have a question about this topic, or you’d like to discuss your specific situation with us, contact your nearest TrendMiner office to start the conversation. We also have a network of global partners who can provide local support in your area. TrendMiner Head Office Kempische Steenweg 297, Corda Building 4, 3500 Hasselt, Belgium Phone: +32 11 26 38 30 Email: info@trendminer.com TrendMiner Netherlands: Takkebijsters 57A, 4817BL Breda, Netherlands TrendMiner Germany: Hoffmannallee 41-51, D-47533 Kleve, Deutschland TrendMiner New York: 1177 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10036, USA TrendMiner Houston: 5444 Westheimer Rd, Suite 1082, Houston, TX 77056, USA
- 23. MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION? Get articles, videos and more on our website: www.trendminer.com