Kevin Benedict is a TCS futurist and lecturer focused on the signals and foresight that emerge as society, geopolitics, economies, science, technology, environment, and philosophy converge.
In this episode of the IT Leader Series, Microsoft's digital expert and guru Nigel Willson and I discuss IT trends, business strategies, emerging technologies and the future. I learned a great deal and hope you will to.
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
I had the pleasure of interviewing futurist and TCS's thought leader extraordinaire Frank Diana today. In this interview we discuss the impact of automation on jobs, the role of platforms, the accelerating pace of innovation and how ethics and purpose need to be considered. Enjoy!
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
In this Silicon Valley Series I am honored to interview a number of very smart and experienced Silicon Valley dignitaries on a variety of important business trends, technologies and strategies. I hope you find this series of short interviews useful. In this episode, I interview Tom Thimot, a veteran three time CEO of Silicon Valley companies, on the importance of developing the right culture in your enterprise so you can compete successfully in an age of digital transformation. Enjoy!
It took Magellan’s crew three years sailing ships to circumnavigate the earth. Today, at hypersonic speeds of 7,680 MPH, it takes just over three hours to circumnavigate the earth. Data on the Internet, however, travels at 670 million MPH, which means it only takes milliseconds to circumnavigate the earth. In this age of digital businesses and digital interactions, companies must digitally transform to work effectively in a world where mass information moves at these unimaginable speeds.
It's not just IT systems that are impacted by the volume and speed of information. The creators of business processes that were designed and developed in an analog area, simply never envisioned a business environment that would require these operational tempos. Analog business processes were designed to have humans involved. These dependencies were designed to slow down the process to ensure accuracy, compliance and accountability. Today, however, operating at the slow speeds of an analog, human dependent business process, will doom your company. Analog business processes must be quickly automated via robotic process automation using artificial intelligence and machine learning to effectively interact with impatient digital customers and B2B partners.
W. Edward Deming taught that quality is achieved by measuring as much as possible and reducing variations, and reducing variation is achieved by improving the system, not just pieces. Japan widely adopted Deming's philosophies in the 1950s and became the 2nd biggest economy in the world. Quality improvement didn't decrease jobs in Japan, it increased jobs.
AI now has the ability to expand and codify Deming's philosophies - to take them to the next level. AI can improve and standardize decision making based on logic, rather than the fear of missing objectives, bonuses or losing one's job. It can continuously monitor for quality against specifications by analyzing streams of real-time data coming from embedded sensors connected to the IIoT, IoT and IoA (internet of agriculture). This means companies that are aggressive early adopters of these digital technologies will have more knowledge, higher quality and significant competitive advantages, which means more demand for their products, sales, customer service, manufacturing, distribution, etc. It also means aggressive adopters will likely generate more jobs.
Consumer behaviors are changing at
speeds never before seen in many industries, which is impacting how businesses
operate and bring products to market. In fact, more than a dozen retailers have
closed this year as a result of having business and IT systems, and supply
chains that are unable to meet the speed requirements of digital consumers.
Most companies report they have IT systems in their inventory that are too
slow or incapable of supporting real-time digital consumers. That spells
trouble. Consumer and competitive changes are forcing enterprises to
rethink their strategies in order to speed up in just about all areas: R&D,
manufacturing, distribution, marketing, and sales.
Enterprises that I speak with today
seem to understand that the need for digital transformation is being driven by
advances in mobile technologies, automation, cloud computing, sensors, big data
analytics and artificial intelligence. They realize they must
upgrade their IT systems and business processes to accommodate these changes
and increase the speed of their operations. They are also focused on how
to improve their agility and flexibility, so they are nimble enough to respond
to changing consumer behaviors, tastes and new competitors. Many
companies today find themselves in a position where their past investments in
IT systems, that once provided competitive advantages, are now anchors
preventing them from moving into the future.
Achieving real-time operational speeds
is required to support real-time digital interactions and experiences.
Supporting these real-time experiences is more than just a technology
issue, it requires companies to support real-time analytics, decision-making
and business operational tempos. An operational tempo, in the context of this
article, is defined as the speed or pace of business operations. Achieving a
faster operational tempo is a significant challenge for many. This is why
we are seeing more applications of real-time analytics, automation and
artificial intelligence.
Changing an enterprise’s operational
tempo requires strong leadership that can transform the entire organization. It
often requires significant IT updates and upgrades, organizational changes, and
reengineering business processes and decision-making matrixes to align with
real-time demands.
The biggest challenge for legacy
companies today, is how to move to real-time.
On
the 20th of July I will be leading an online discussion with
the CIO WaterCooler on "Sequencing Digital Technologies for Competitive
Advantages Over the Next 40 Months of Digital Transformation".
At
my Digital Boardroom we will be discussing that we (consumers) have all changed
as a result of digital and mobile technologies and platforms. Enterprises must
now follow and transform, in order to support these changes and compete fast
enough to matter. If you agree with this premise, then an important question to
ask is what sequence should digital technologies be implemented in order to maximize
the ROI from digital transformation investments? Another important question is
what enterprise business and IT doctrines should guide organizations through
this transformation. These important questions and others will be discussed,
and research findings shared. (Digital Boardrooms typically take approx. 45min)
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
On the 20thof July I will be leading an online discussion with the CIO WaterCooler on "Sequencing Digital Technologies Over the Next 40 Months of Digital Transformation".
At my Digital Boardroom we will be discussing that we (consumers) have all changed as a result of digital and mobile technologies and platforms. Enterprises must now follow and transform, in order to support these changes and compete fast enough to matter. If you agree with this premise, then an important question to ask is what sequence should digital technologies be implemented in order to maximize the ROI from digital transformation investments? Another important question is what enterprise business and IT doctrines should guide organizations through this transformation. These important questions and others will be discussed, and research findings shared. (Digital Boardrooms typically take approx. 45min)
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
For executives,
transforming an enterprise is always difficult, but when an enterprise is
highly profitable - digital transformation is even harder. The temptation to
follow the maxim, “Don’t fix what isn’t broken,” is just too compelling. "When you average 8% same-store sales
[growth] for 35 years, it can breed a sense of, 'Why do we need to change?
Things are working,'" John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods, said in a recent
interview with The Wall Street Journal.Today, however, Whole Foods is struggling to compete with other lower
priced grocery stores that have embraced organics and healthier foods.If you take your eye off the game for a
second, consumers will change directions on you.
The challenge enterprises
are faced with today is that digital technologies are changing the way
consumers behave faster and in different ways than executives have ever seen
before.Today’s profits can hide or mask
the serious problems of tomorrow.
Competitors can’t compete, and leaders can’t lead if they
don’t know the rules of the game. Understanding how the game is played,
and how points are scored, are key to any competition. In the age of
digital transformation these are some of the key rules to learn in order to
score:
Data is the modern commercial playing field, information dominance is your goal, those that can “act and with speed” have the advantage over those which cannot.
Advantages in the speed of data-driven decision-making, automation, robotic process automation will dictate the winners of tomorrow.
Complexity is the enemy of agility, and acts as poison from the past.
It takes an optimized Information Logistics Systems (OILS) to support real-time digital interactions.
Faster operational tempos and information logistics systems – open up a plethora of new business opportunities and business models.
Precision and real-time data beats estimates and conjecture.
Digital interactions require real-time business operational tempos.
Bad data will make the smartest systems dumb.
Competitive advantages from new technologies depreciate quickly – so act fast.
Situational awareness enables management to focus on the knowns, rather than the unknowns.
Demand for real-time digital customer interactions increases the need for contextually relevant and personalized user experiences and digital transformation across all systems and processes.
Data has a shelf life, and the economic value of data diminishes quickly over time, and the more data that is collected analyzed and used, the greater the economic value it produces in aggregate. In addition, the economic value of data multiplies when combined with context and right time delivery.
Digits can be changed faster than the human mindset.
These rules not only help you understand how to compete and win, but they should also guide enterprises in their development of a digital transformation doctrine – a guiding and unifying statement as to the purpose, desired effect and outcome that is wanted.
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These rules not only help you understand how to compete and
win, but they should also guide enterprises in their development of a digital
transformation doctrine – a guiding and unifying statement as to the purpose,
desired effect and outcome that is wanted. I invite you to watch my latest short video on digital technology trends and strategies:
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
The military strategist Colonel John Boyd wrote that success depends on three things, 1) People, 2) Ideas, and 3) Things, in that order. People have to be trained to think and do the right things, using the right ideas (doctrines, strategies and tactics) and then utilize the best things (equipment, materials, design, etc.) that you can. In my new report, “How Digital Thinking Separates Retail Leaders from Laggards,” we focus on the differences in thinking between leaders and laggards.
Here are some of our key findings:
Digital commerce outpaces brick-and mortar. Already a significant retail driver, digital commerce is predicted to increase in importance by 68% for surveyed retailers between now and 2020. This trend has motivated many retailers to invest strategically in digital technologies.
Digital leaders outperform digital laggards. There is a correlation between companies with strong revenue growth and digital leadership, and retailers with a higher percentage of online sales. Companies that have experienced early digital commerce success are also likely to express a more positive outlook on the value of digital technologies to the overall business.
Retailers don’t know if they are winning the race. Many retailers find it difficult to evaluate their relative digital maturity and how they compare with competitors.
Digital leaders think differently about the role and value of digital technologies, including the ability of these tools to enable competitive advantage in the form of revenue growth, and positively impact work and jobs. As a result, leaders are developing more aggressive technology plans and strategies than digital laggards.
Digital technologies will transform jobs in positive ways. Digital leaders believe digital technologies will help them increase efficiency, manage people better, work faster, be more creative and innovative, make better decisions, boost freedom and flexibility, and even help them make more money by 2020.
Digital leaders believe digital technologies will have a big impact on work by 2020. Far more so than laggards, digital leaders believe work will be significantly impacted by technologies such as business analytics and artificial intelligence. They are simultaneously concerned about data security and privacy, bots, new regulations on digital businesses and hyper-connectivity of people and things.
Retailers with very strong revenue growth have different opinions than moderate growth retailers as to which skills will be needed by 2020. The biggest differences in opinions are in the areas of fabrication, verbal and written communications, and language and design skills.
What are the ideas that Colonel John Boyd spoke about? I need you to help me identify those good ideas for digital strategies by taking a short 5-minute digital strategy survey, https://goo.gl/forms/bquUpmkaYFK6QZQt2. I am giving a copy of the book, "What to Do When Machines Do Everything," to the first 50 people in North America to complete the survey.
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
Fingerspitzengefühl: Is a German word used to describe an ability to maintain attention to detail in an ever-changing operational and tactical environment by maintaining real-time situational awareness. The term is synonymous with the English expression of "keeping one's finger on the pulse". The problem with traditional fingerspitzengefühl, in addition to pronouncing it - is it is hard to scale. Today, however, in a world of sensors, GPS and mobile devices, having real-time situational awareness is far easier than ever before. In fact, today the challenge is not how to do it (answer: sensors), but what to do with all the information.
There are many dimensions of data that are available for work outside the four walls, which is mobile, remote and dynamic. We all know about 3 dimensional (longitude, latitude and altitude), but there are many more. We contrive:
Time
Start and stop tasks times
Travel times
Traffic conditions
Available workforces and associated costs
Available equipment
Activities
Events
Business process steps
Expenses
Security steps
Transactions
Compliance tasks
Performances against KPIs (key performance indicators)
All of these data points can be bundled together as Performance Impact Variables (PIVs). PIVs are the data points that can be used as inputs to algorithms that can be used by AI systems to optimize and manage the performance of the business in real-time.
All of this data can be used as overlays to simple GPS coordinates on a map. Each of these additional layers of information exponentially increases the complexity, decision-making options and possible combinations. This enormous volume of data quickly overwhelms humans. That is why non-humans (AI/software robots) can be used to such great effect to maintain productive situational awareness and strategic advantages in complex environments demanding real-time decision-making and action.
During the period between WWI and WWII, Western countries all developed new tanks and military aircraft to support their infantry. The Germans, however, went three steps farther by developing strategic advantages in:
Radios and frequencies for communicating between forces (tanks, infantry and aircraft) in real-time
Strategies for coordinated actions between the three groups
Mission oriented command structures – Commanders define the mission “intent”, but the details of how to accomplish them were left to frontline officers.
In today’s world, companies seeking strategic advantages in field services operations can learn from these three additions.
The modern equivalent of “radios and communication networks” is OILS (optimized information logistics systems) that sense, collect, securely and wirelessly transmit data, analyze and report on it, and support artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.
The modern equivalent of “strategies for coordinated action” is the ability to collect and analyze vast quantities of real-time data to automatically and dynamically manage and adjust (using AI and software robots) a whole series of activities and events such as: schedules, tasks, jobs, orders, transactions, etc.
The modern equivalent of “mission oriented command structures” is an algorithm. Once the algorithm is developed, it can operate without human intervention.
When massive amounts of real-time data are automatically collected and analyzed, they can feed algorithms and AI systems to optimize real-time activities and events. The speed at which data can be processed through OILS and AI systems today far exceeds human decision-making capabilities – so automation that works in digital-time is required. This is where AI excels. AI can analyze all the inbound data in nanoseconds and instantly adjust and optimize operations.
AI does not just impact field services. It impacts many business processes by supporting:
New ways of selling
New business models
New ways of managing
New business processes
New ways of collaborating
New ways of making decisions
New ways of engaging customers
New ways of working with products
New marketing and growth strategies
My mantra is, "Digital technologies without digital strategies are wasted." Having digital technologies without a digital strategy is like having tanks, mobile infantry and aircraft, but no coherent plan for combined action. In a recent report, 40 Months of Hyper-Digital Transformation, digital laggards were found not to receive as good of return on investments (ROIs) on their digital investments as digital leaders do. The difference I believe is in their digital strategies, or lack thereof.
In the book, Stray Voltage, War in the Information Age, author Wayne Michael Hall defines two more PIVs - cyberspace and cerebral. "Information superiority is firmly connected to making decisions that are superior to an adversary's and combines information technology and intellectual power to create conditions with which to make better decisions…human beings will need to improve their thinking capabilities to cope with the increasing complexities of the world...people will depend more on visualization to help understand complexity quickly. Visualization will fuse data and information and display the result in a multimedia format. Visualization will allow the integration of data, information and knowledge from all sources and will allow for the integration of numerous contributors." Visualization, although helpful to humans, is far less relevant once algorithm-consuming AI systems take over.
Sensors, already powerful, are being developed with more capabilities to sense more things every month. Each year when I attend GSMA’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, I am astonished to see what additional capabilities sensors have added. Here are some examples:
Sensors able to identify and classify vegetation - natural and artificial
Sensors able to identify and pinpoint distressed crops
Sensors that can identify soil moisture content
Sensors that can detect heat sources and leaks
Sensors that can detect movements and changes in defined objects
Sensors that can detect the chemical make-up of make-up
Each of these sensors and their real-time data collection capabilities adds to decision-making complexity, but they can also be the very PIVs that give you the competitive advantage you need to win.
Watch my latest video on digital technology trends:
***Full Disclosure: These are my personal opinions. No company is silly enough to claim them. I am a mobility and digital transformation analyst, consultant and writer. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.
