A quick view on early stages of digital strategy, data-driven company and automation

Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms: IT and Business but now the wicked witch of the south-west is retired and the rules did change and not everyone perceived it.

This is not a technical approach but a view of the business approach. Digital strategy, data-driven company, or automation does not start in IT but with business. There is a massive change in corporate culture for both the IT department and Business areas.

I was watching a speech of RISE with SAP from Simon Carpenter and he mentioned a 2019 Bain & Company survey in which only 12% of corporate transformations achieved their targets.

Because I have a long background in large projects and I am aware of many tools, strategies, and methodologies in place, I was obliterated by the picture. It was then that it just hit me: Perhaps it is not about the method but something else. Perhaps it is about the corporate culture, the capability to absorb and put in practical terms the knowledge and tools.

It is another layer of change management. It takes longer to assimilate than the speed used by the current technological and academic throughput to deliver the tool or knowledge.

Always. Easier to say than done. Often, a strategic plan does not match the required tactical plan.

A dangerous tool and shared responsibilities with a pinch of continuous learning. A digital strategy will not happen because you put the IT team on it.

This is not about the distant past when a simple voice call between two companies in different countries would take a couple of days to arrange. Nowadays, a full blowout of information takes a few seconds to travel across the world and reach many thousand destinations. It is about areas of impact, areas of change, and impact on processes and procedures on a large scale and without time to prepare for

Aside from a few companies, the majority of people are not yet prepared for the change. It is common to segregate the projects between systems and business, however, the amalgamation between IT and business did change the entire scenario. An IT constraint may jeopardize the whole planned operation.

As an example, we may talk about the governance, the costs, or the international cascade of taxes tied by the applications. Without it, the operation cannot work. A few seconds longer to deliver an invoice could be a showstopper in a retail scenario.

IT professional is not always aware of the particularities of the business and the business is not always aware of the constrain of an application. Nowadays. either business or IT could jeopardize an operation.

Focus on what is needed. Do the questions: Where can I improve? Why should I improve? Do not define an approach based on a tendency. Digital transformation requires cultural change, a learning curve, and commitment.

The whole ecosystem mutated. Frameworks did change. Information processing did change. The capability of the social fabric to absorb all those changes is way behind as if the business areas are using laser weapons as wooden clubs to hunt. Businesses could use queries to extract the data directly from the databases but the framework complexity and compliance slow down the capability to transform the knowledge into a tactical plan.

WHY DO I NEED A DATA-DRIVEN COMPANY?

Within the past decade, hardware became less costly and software evolved dramatically

• Businesses that used to run on a few applications a couple of decades ago now are running in a dozen complex systems

•      Globalization and M&A also kicked in. There is a lot of Information to put together. Either a supply chain data or a financial report that consolidates performance in sites across the world. Is your data normalized?

•      The standard global corporation needs to handle multiple sites in which information building blocks are dispersed in a hundred systems

•      There are several hundred frameworks to use and IT professionals are not the same guys that knew all. Even the all-mighty full-stack developers are having a hard time getting up the pace with the changes.

The current buzzwords that are everywhere are data-driven companies, digital transformation, and automation.

Often, my friends in consultancies are receiving requests to set up dynamic reports, build complex microservices solutions, or create bots for repetitive tasks. What usually was a request from IT is now coming directly from the business areas directly to the consultancies. That means a request is not always double-checked by IT. The main requirement is to provide results as fast as possible – part of the current business culture.

There are caveats and they are not about technology but culture and BAU. Innovation takes time. A sustainable solution will require time... but on the other hand, building the perfect architectural solution is not the way to go.

I would like to have a Bugatti, but why not start with something more affordable that will help with my learning curve? Start slowly but having an eye on the future could make the difference. Having a plan on how you will escalate things will change the outcome.

Choose carefully. It will take time. IT ecosystem could be deployed fast like a shanty town or could be planned. There is no right or wrong here, but consequences and long-term planning. During my childhood, I saw the transformation of unplanned urban areas into beautiful and functional places. Everything is a matter of DO NOW and STICK TO THE PLAN. Technology will change. You do not need to start bold.

Data-driven companies will require work on source: data cleansing or normalization and on usage: People need to learn how to use, contextualize, and manipulate data. Gaps in one and another will get unexpected – usually costly – results. 

Digital transformation and automation are very important topics but often there is a gap in runtime and scalability planning. Both may cause a huge impact on business due to bottlenecks in strategic information flow and indirect costs such as third-party software licensing.

The graph below shows that a data-driven company requires quality of data and often, this does not exist. It will require some effort to make and align the data on a cross-functional structure.

THE MYTH OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Better operations do not mean the latest technology, techniques, or software. You can thrive using Cobol.

There are a couple of key questions to ask here to evaluate better the scenario:

• ·        Does a simpler solution deliver the same result? What is my minimum viable product (MVP)? – Avoid the impractical submarine syndrome:

“- Good. You can deliver my need, a submarine."

"- Now, can you put the Taj Mahal within? “

• ·        What is the impact on my current framework? How am I planning my transition or co-existence? Do I have the budget for it?

Be aware of the lock-in scenario. It is not about the solution but the maintenance required after implementation.

• ·        Do I have enough people with the required knowledge? Am I relying on a sole mega-blaster-wizard-jamesbond grade professional to get it done?

Turn over ir more real than ever. Be careful.

• ·        Did I cleanse my data and evaluate correctly the correlations with the experts of each segment?
• ·        What is my detailed long-term plan? Where are the health check gates? - Because of the current rate at which technology changes, it is a very important topic to track.
• ·        Organic tech growth is far more common than you may imagine. Nonstandard approach and lack of maintenance may lead to issues with data quality and as said before, may lead to the wrong decisions.

AUTOMATION DOES A LOT MORE THAN YOU THINK

I did work in a company that was reviewing their IT strategies and they found out 465 applications built with MS Access. There are companies that have very complex solutions working in Excel. Organic tech growth is far more common than you may imagine.

Many professionals used to handle heavily automated spreadsheets, folders full of flat files, and spreadsheets consolidating data, issues tracking down communication, and integration errors is a painful task that consumes time and quality of life.

Testing new releases, especially for cross-functional deployments is always a pain for all the business areas.

HOWEVER

It is necessary and ignoring it will soon change from a golden fish into a large white whale in your glass bow. Budget, standards, documentation, and deployment rules are a pain but no action could be costly to the organization.

Either business or IT wants to avoid changing the current modus operandi or implement change because there is no funding. It requires a change in the corporate culture. Current tools available for automation can help business and IT with repetitive tasks, deployment, auditing, and maintaining the solutions. People usually do not see it because they are not trained to see it. Automation is a matter of understanding WHERE AND HOW IT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED.

Sending reports, consolidating data, and maintaining heavily integrated spreadsheets. All can be automated.

There is also another layer. Homologation. Any large ERP company has a constant battle towards UAT (User Acceptance Testing). Always the same process and procedures. Why do not automate it?

Finding a budget and a strategic approach is the only way to implement it. I am not talking about an automation that validates the link, but an automation that validates data quality during an UAT. I am talking about automation that eliminates 4-5 spreadsheets. I am talking about a tool that monitors logs and warns way before businesses feel it.

Conclusion:

There is no such thing as a free meal. Everything has a cost. Be aware that many people cannot distinguish between digital strategy and tactical digital tasks, so get away from the limelight and trust in your old-fashioned gut. In many cases, business areas need to learn tech and tech needs to learn business capabilities.

A data-driven company needs to have data governance because otherwise, it will be a costly implementation. People will take time to learn how to use the data. Predictive strategies can be a game changer but there are tools that will help even more. Take it slowly. It is very likely that your current available date and cross-functional knowledge about the data will require some work.

Digital transformation is needed. The world is changing fast. The company does not need to keep the same pace but needs to change. It is easier for people from the XIX century to get acclimated to the current century rather than someone from the XII century. Pay attention to the technological or business model lock-in scenario.

Automation is about the culture. People will require support to learn where they may have a gain. Companies need to understand that solutions will require a long-term investment with intangible results.