Striving for Digital Organisation 4.0

THE late American writer, columnist and author David Carr famously wrote: "We live in an age where there is a firehose of information, and there is no hierarchy of what is important and what is not. Where the truth is often fashioned through a variety of digital means. Are you your avatar? Who are you in social media? What face do you turn toward the world? How much does it have in common with who you actually are?"

Profound as Mr Carr may have made it sound, digital is indeed changing our perceptions and how we are perceived by others. From social media to 3D printing, digital technology is creating disruptions in how we interact with consumers and communities on the one side and how we create products and services on the supply side. As per Deloitte and Heads' recent research, the extent of this disruption can be influenced by:

a) The sheer extent of the impact (bang) of technology;

b) The timing (fuse) when the impact will hit that industry.

Researchers have mapped out global disruption by industry along these two influencing factors. It's interesting to note that most traditional as well as technology-driven industries fit into the disruption map.

For a non-technology traditional industry, effective digital transformation is likely to be a phased process considering there's a long road to cover between awareness, realisation, transformation and finally constant innovation using digital technologies.

Some of these processes are lengthened by the sheer pace of development and innovation in digital technologies relevant to a particular industry or function. But just like any innovation (not digital alone), a lot of the pace and impact generated is dependent on people, processes and interactions within teams and companies. And while we already see so much technological changes, we may not have seen the true digital impact across all industries just yet.

A 2014 Forrester survey indicated that 75 per cent of global executives state that they have a digital strategy, but only 15 per cent believe that they have the capabilities and skill sets to implement their plans.

According to UCaaS startup, Unified Inbox's CEO, Toby Ruckert, the true digital impact is still about five to 10 years away, although we already see remarkable changes with social media.

The rise of social media channels has changed brand communication from one-to-one in the form of email to one-to-many on these social platforms. Many can't control the flow of conversation and shaping of opinion that easily. "Even startup companies have not fully adopted it. How many startup companies allow employees to post their messages publicly? Cloud based software is an exception - Salesforce led the way and Dropbox, Evernote, Unified Inbox are following suit. Corporates will use the media," said Mr Ruckert.

"Meaningful big data analysis is just the beginning. At some point in an organisation, there is going to be a CDO (chief digital officer) overseeing all digital initiatives of an organisation. Various global companies have set up specific research/ consulting departments to upgrade from zero digital to full-blown digital. The impact this has is that both customers and employees demand more rights for being a part in the conversation that relates to all digital initiatives of the company as they are directly or indirectly impacted by them."

The Deloitte study also indicates the necessity of a CDO to enable sufficient cross-operational and cross-functional collaborations and lead digital efforts in a company. The CDO effectively needs to change the silo-based thinking and setups in an organisation since digital impacts almost all quarters and needs co-creation for innovation.

According to the Deloitte and Heads survey, 30 per cent of the companies surveyed fulfil successful leadership factors needed for digital innovation, and 70 per cent of these have a dedicated CDO, underlining the importance of such leadership and skill sets.

The CDO may not be the only role that comes up. Chief innovation officer, chief communication officer are the other names being juggled by the industry as we go through the highest information-dense phase in human history.

In Unified Inbox itself, CDO as a role has come up in conversation several times. The CDO makes sure that the entire workforce can contribute to the company's messaging and the company can leverage his/her personal network with his/her permission. Another role that keeps coming up is the chief innovation officer (CIO).

A global CIO of a very large conglomerate basically said: "I was brought in as chief information officer and I am the one pushing the agenda towards cloud, big data to help us further innovate on products and services. Traditional role as information officer is slowly changing." How important these setups and processes are for an organisation is anyone's guess, but it does not seem to be taken lightly by technology players.

Said Mr Ruckert: "I believe the CEO of any company in 10 years' time will look to the CIO and not the CFO. Without that, they don't have the sustainability for shareholder value generation.

"One research project UIB worked with Auckland University and other partnering institutes has been to measure the ideal amount of connectivity needed to get a job done. In the ideal connected flow - you feel happy, empowered, balanced and most productive. But in large companies with meetings, interruptions and so much communication, it merely leads to less productivity and less work."

Part of the research was to examine where the minimum amount of that connectivity required caters for the users so that they don't get sidetracked. Developing a dashboard showing users how they can improve with some plain analytics is one way. This requisite connectivity is different depending on professions. And all this eventually leads to a chief connectivity officer (CCO).

"That role entitles the empowerment of all employees so that they have ideal connectivity and personal flow to be most productive. A role like the chief commercial officer does exist but real commercial value comes from the most productive workforce that a chief connectivity officer should be responsible for. And this role may report even directly to the Board," said Mr Ruckert.

To get to the ideal state of an innovative Digital Organisation 4.0, what new roles and processes is your organisation dabbling in?

The writer is the co-founder of content marketing and branding startup, Brandanew. Her previous experiences include Rocket Internet, McKinsey & Co. and she's been a digital blogger since 2003