Lean digital enterprises keep organizations relevant in the digital age

Digital immigrants like manufacturing, healthcare, banking, retail and other industries that have been around for decades are sandwiched between digital dragons like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, and digital lizards like tech startups. Digital dragons and lizards are taking advantage of modern cyber systems to introduce innovative products, services and business models to encroach on traditional businesses.

The only option for digital immigrants is to digitize their organization’s anatomy beyond business and industrial processes. Digital enterprises are also rough to build and manage. Therefore, we must nurture lean digital enterprises that are future-proof, future-ready and cost-effective.

Today, almost everything from baby diapers to cars is injected with software. There are 10 million lines of software code in a car. Customer services and information are expected to be offered anywhere, anytime and using any device. All this is possible only with modern cyber systems. Digital execution along with traditional thinking ensures successful failure. Therefore, organizations and employees must acquire a new approach called ‘Lean Digital Thinking’, which is a manifesto for organizations that want to pursue the digitization journey effectively and efficiently.

With modern cyber systems powered by lean digital thinking, organizations can gain new capabilities that integrate the organization’s anatomy covering vision, business model, business strategy, business outcomes, products, services, processes, workplaces and operating models. help in. As a result, the Board of Directors, Chief Experience Officers and other senior executives are concerned about their future. They are not sure which unknown competition will displace them and how to improve their business results in an uncertain and unknown digital age.

Organizations are now expected to run two-speed businesses. This means their current business is being driven at marathon pace and digital businesses at sprint pace. Effectively managing two-speed companies requires a great deal of change in culture, skills and behaviour.

For the first time in a century, technology (modern cyber systems) has become more of a driving force than a enabler as it significantly affects the anatomy of the entire organization. To avoid the path of Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster, digital immigrants must create a digital business blueprint, innovate digital products and services, and begin autonomous business operations. Digital immigrants will have to increase their technology budget to 15-20% of revenue, without which they will survive and become irrelevant in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the digital economy.

Therefore, business executives are asking chief information officers (CIOs) and chief technology officers to create a sophisticated digital technology strategy, governance and architecture to help establish a modern cyber system. As a result, CIOs will have to re-engineer and re-imagine their entire technology landscape, without which they will fail to support the organization’s digitization journey.

Just as the chief marketing officer is driving the technology budget of marketing and customer experience initiatives, other business executives may also own the digitization budget in the future. For example, the Chief Human Resources Officer will own and drive employee experience initiatives; Chief Operating Officers can run autonomous operating initiatives.

The CIO is expected to be a digital innovation champion, strategic advisor, part of the board and the organization’s digitalization steering team. This means that the key performance indicators of a CIO should go beyond infrastructure availability, reliability and stability of applications. The CIO is also expected to own and contribute to improving business results.

To build and manage digital businesses, organizations need to design a variety of software applications such as records (processes), systems of associations (people), systems of things, systems of the body, systems of mind and systems of mind. Must be developed, deployed and managed. wisdom. This is a huge change and requires new digital technology infrastructure like multi-cloud, edge computing and programmable networks.

In short, every enterprise is a digital enterprise; Every digital enterprise should be lean. Lean digital enterprises keep organizations relevant in the digital age and ensure business success. Organizations should acquire Lean Digital thinking and know their Lean Digital Quotient to know the current digital situation and design transformation programs to reach the benchmark digital position. Organizations must also adopt a lean digital business excellence model and integrated business tech skills to be successful.

V. Srinivasa Rao is CMD and Chief Digital Advisor at BT&BT Management Consultancy Pvt Ltd, and the author of Lean Digital Thinking-Digitalizing Business in a New World Order.