Drive Business Transformation by Reenvisioning Your Operations
Note: This post is updated at Drive Digital Transformation by Reimagining Your Operations.
When you create your digital vision, you have a few places to start.
One place to start is by reenvisioning your customer experience. Another place to start is by reenvisioning your operations. And, a third place to start is by renvisioning your business model.
In this post, let’s take a look at reenvisioning your operations.
In the book, Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation, George Westerman, Didier Bonnet, and Andrew McAfee, share some of their lessons learned from companies that are digital masters that created their digital visions and are driving business change.
Start with Reenvisioning Operations When Financial Performance is Tied to Your Supply Chain
If your financial performance is closely connected to the performance of your core operations and supply chain, then reenvisioning your operations can be a great place to start.
Via Leading Digital:
“Organizations whose fortunes are closely tied to the performance of their core operations and supply chains often start with reenvisioning their operations.”
Increase Process Visibility, Decision Making Speed, and Collaboration
There are many great business reasons to focus on improving your operations. A few of the best include increasing process visibility, increasing speed of decision making, and improving collaboration across the board.
Via Leading Digital:
“The business drivers of operational visions include efficiency and the need to integrate disparate operations. Executives may want to increase process visibility and decision making speed or to collaborate across silos.”
Proctor & Gamble Reenvisions Operational Excellence
Proctor and Gamble changed their game by focusing on operational excellence. The key was to be able to manage the business in real time so they could keep up with their ever-changing world.
Via Leading Digital:
“For instance, in 2011, Proctor & Gamble put operational excellence at the center of its digital vision: 'Digitizing P&G will enable us to manage the business in real time and on a very demand-driven basis. We'll be able to collaborate more effectively and efficiently, inside and outside the company.' Other companies in industries from banking to manufacturing, have transformed themselves through similar operationally focused visions.”
Operational Visions are Key to Businesses that Sell to Other Businesses
If your business is a provider of products or services to other businesses, then your operational vision is especially important as it can have a ripple effect on what your customers do.
Via Leading Digital:
“Operational visions are especially useful for businesses that sell largely to other businesses. When Codelco first launched its Codelco Digital initiative, the aim was to improve mining operations radically through automation and data integration. As we described in chapter 3, Codelco continued to extend this vision to include new mining automation and integration operations-control capability. Now, executives are envisioning radical new ways to redefine the mining process and possibly the industry itself.”
Operational Visions Can Change the Industry
When you change your operations, you can change the industry.
Via Leading Digital:
“The operational visions of some companies go beyond an internal perspective to consider how the company might change operations in its industry or even with its customers.“
Changes to Operations Can Enable Customers to Change Their Own Operations
When you improve your operations, you can help others move up the solution stack.
Via Leading Digital:
“For example, aircraft manufacturer Boeing envisions how changes to its products may enable customers to change their own operations. 'Boeing believes the future of the aviation industry lie in 'the digital airline,' the company explained on its website. 'To succeed in the marketplace, airlines and their engineering and IT teams must take advantage of the increasing amount of data coming off of airplanes, using advanced analytics and airplane technology to take operational efficiency to the next level.' “
Get Information to the People Who Need it Most, When They Need It Most
One of the best things you can do when you improve operations is to put the information in the hands of the people that need it most, when they need it most, where they need it most.
Via Leading Digital:
“The manufacturer goes on to paint a clear picture of what a digital airline means in practice: 'The key to to the digital airline is delivering secure, detailed operational and maintenance information to the people who need it most, when they need it most. That means that engineering will share data with IT, but also with the finance, accounting, operational and executive functions.' “
Better Operations Enables New Product Designs and Services
When you improve operations, you enable and empower business breakthroughs in all parts of the business.
Via Leading Digital:
“The vision will improve operations at Boeing's customers, but will also help Boeing's operations as the information from airplanes should help the company identify new ways to improve its product designs and services. The day may also lead to new business models as Boeing uses the information to provide new services to customers.”
When you create your digital vision, while there are lots of places you could start, the key is to take an end-to-end view.
If your financial performance is tied to your core operations and your supply chain, and/or you are a provider of products and services to others, then consider starting your business transformation by reenvisioning your operations.
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