Blog 7-7: The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Congratulations to those that managed to wade through all the previous blogs to finally reach this point. You will be glad to hear that you now qualify for a reward for making it this far! However unfortunately I had only prepared one, and my wife read to the end before anyone else, apparently because she has no idea what I do for a living and hoped this would help.

My plan for this final blog was to pull together all the key points raised in the previous blogs. However, when I realised the word count would go out the window, I decided against that.

Instead, I will summarise the perspectives I have shared over the past few weeks about how to deal with Digital Transformation and Industry 4.0.

1. Start with what you have ALREADY DONE

The progress made with I3.0 was massive. However, in some areas you could say it hasn’t even started, or certainly is not finished. Go back and look at what you have done in the past, what can you learn from it? What can you leverage from it? What can you improve from it? You will find a sea of opportunity waiting to be tapped into.

2. Focus on what YOU ALREADY KNOW you need to do

I am certain your business does not need a plethora of new ideas, you probably already have too many. However, time and resource constraints, and perhaps confidence, are most likely preventing you progressing on them. Sit back, reflect on what you have in front of you, and build a plan of attack that immediately delivers results to fuel all future activity.

3. Be CONFIDENT, you don’t need someone to tell you what to do

Most likely you simply need someone to REMIND you what to do. By taking stock of the situation, you will have a Eureka moment when you realise that you are already well on your way with your digital transformation.

4. Do the activity as a COLLECTIVE

Involve all parts of the organisation and think holistically about every opportunity and idea in front of us. In the long term this will save money and time. By addressing a challenge holistically, you will impact and support the “adjacencies and dependencies” proactively rather than retrospectively. When being inclusive in this way, you will enable collaboration across the organisation, the most important success factor for the digital transformation. The above hopefully helps you stop and think about what you have DONE before you need to plan on what you NEED TO DO. I see many companies approaching Digital Transformation as if it is something NEW. That it needs a new group, new team, even a new organisation to do it, along with new technology to "make it happen". To eliminate this viewpoint, which in my view is creating a lot of ambiguity and confusion around the topic, is to simply spend more time reflecting on what you have already achieved, and the position you are already in.

When you progress on your journey it is important to put in place metrics and goals, along with principles to ensure you do not stray too far from the path you are on. It is important also to focus on activities that have positive impacts. Some ideas from me:

• Value of a Data Digital Transformation is all about creating a DATA DRIVEN organisation. So, ensure your data is Right First Time. Validate its quality: its accuracy, completeness, reliability, relevance, and timeliness, as well as its robustness.

• Pours like Water, Stays like Water Digital Transformation is also about having a responsive organisation. You want to ensure that when someone turns the wheel, your boat turns like a skiff and not an oil tanker. Stay away from approaches that put you on rails or back you into a corner.

• Actions & Reactions Digital Transformation can only work if it is visible. If there are too many steps between an action and a reaction, then there is too much complexity, and too much wasted energy. Get down with the minutia and align KPIs around the pyramid of activities your business does, so that transparency is available at all levels, to show the impact that both decisions and actions can have on the business, good or bad.

• Motivation Digital Transformation can only be achieved via collaboration across the organisation. To attain this, people must be motivated. Motivation comes from optimism and ultimately reward and recognition from achieving something. So tied to the point above, give visibility to all people so they can understand how they are part of the story, and driving the result. Aligning goals and KPIs across the organisation will go a long way in helping achieve this.

• Strengthen the Foundation Digital Transformation needs to transform horizontally across the business, not only vertically. So STOP thinking silos. Think of the organisation as being a TEAM. One superstar on the pitch won’t make you champions. It’s down to all the players, the backroom staff, even the fans. Strengthen the foundation by understanding, involving and aligning all parts. It is amazing how simple AWARENESS of the challenges faced by others can trigger a cure with little or no effort.

• Optimise you resources Digital Transformation is about focusing on the Use Cases that deliver the biggest impact and value. To address these Use Cases, the definition of a solution must be clear, and common across all stakeholders involved in addressing it. This again saves time and resources when everyone’s “eyes are on the same prize”.

I mentioned earlier that the jump from I3.0 to I4.0 may be difficult as it is too ambiguous and ill-defined. I hope from the above, and along with the previous blogs, I have conveyed my perspective that it should not be if you stop and remind yourself of the work already done. I believe that there is too much hyperbole being created in the market about Digital Transformation. In the end, it is your business, and you know best where you can improve it. You need to learn the Use Cases perhaps, and how best to articulate them, but you own them. Only after this should you be entertaining the hyperbole coming from suppliers in the hope they slowly align around your expectation from a solution, not you aligning around theirs.

Finally, I would like to close out this blog by going back to the first question I raised, which was the one posted to me when I announced I was going on my own – “Why?”. Well for me it is quite simple. The best fun, and greatest learning I have had in my whole career was in my first job. I put this down squarely to it being because this was when the Technology shift was happening with I3.0 and it was like riding a wave. The manufacturer was on the board, not the technology companies. The manufacturer was in control.

Now a new wave is arriving, but the environment is different. It seems that the ones wanting to control the narrative, to ride on the board, are the suppliers. They think they know best about what manufacturing should be doing. Having spent the past 25 years in the supplier space, where my role was to get them to think “outside-in” as a segment leader, you could say I have lived and breathed this hubris. But how can they know best, when they don’t know YOU. Many suppliers are generalist, providing generic offers, without understanding YOU. So how can they know your business better than you?

The problem, as I see it, the manufacturers are quite happy to be guided rather than do the guiding. I want to help reset this, and to help the manufacturer get back control, and be the one on the board riding the wave. First step in doing that, get your confidence back by reflecting on past and present glories. You are simply stuck right now, and my job, the purpose of Em-Jay is to help you get UnStuck! I don’t have all the answers – you do!

So, thanks for reading all these blogs. In all honesty, it was fun for me to do it, without any help from ChatGPT. Normally in big corporations someone does all the writing for you, and you simply push the release button. My grammar is undoubtedly not as good as a ghost writer, nor my use of the English Language, being that my computer is set up for Scottish only, however I hope these blogs resonated with you, and stirred up a different perspective.

I do hope you take time to provide feedback either directly or in the comments. Or perhaps reach out so I can help support your business, no matter whether you are a Large Global Supplier, End User, OEM or incubating a start-up. I am keen to help in any way, as long as I can add value.

Mike Jamieson