As the modern cyber system significantly impacts the whole organization’s anatomy, for the first time in the century, technology (the modern cyber system) has become a driving force than an enabler
A modern cyber system has been created by the fusion of information, operational, collaboration and communication tech. The modern cyber system provides unimaginable capabilities such as potent virtual brains (algorithms), real-time communication and collaboration systems, and an immersive work environment, optimizing human interventions, connecting intelligent things, elastic supercomputing, elastic super storage and elastic network.
Having being there for many decades, digital immigrants like manufacturing, healthcare, banking, retail and other industries have been sandwiched between digital dragons like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, and digital lizards like tech start-ups. To introduce innovative products, services and business models to encroach on traditional businesses, these dragons and lizards have been leveraging the modern cyber system.
The only choice left to digital immigrants beyond business and industrial processes is to digitize their organization’s anatomy. We must nurture lean digital enterprises, which are future-proof and future-ready and are cost-effective as digital enterprises are also fat to build and manage.
Today, from a baby diaper to a car, almost everything is injected with software. A car has 10 million lines of software code. Anywhere, anytime and using any device, customer services and information are expected to be offered. All this is possible only with the modern cyber system. Organizations and employees must acquire new thinking called ‘lean digital thinking’, a manifesto for organizations that want to sail through the digitization journey effectively and efficiently, as digital execution with traditional thinking ensures successful failure.
To help digitalize the organization’s anatomy covering vision, business models, business strategy, business outcomes, products, services, processes, workplaces and operating models, organizations can acquire new capabilities with the modern cyber system powered by lean digital thinking. As a result, the board of directors, chief experience officers and other senior executives worry about their future. They are not sure which unknown competition would displace them and how to improve their business outcomes in the uncertain and unknown digital era.
Organizations are now expected to drive two-speed businesses, which means their current business is being driven at marathon speed and digital businesses at sprint speed. It requires much change in culture, skills and behaviour to manage two-speed companies effectively.
As the modern cyber system significantly impacts the whole organization’s anatomy, for the first time in the century, technology (the modern cyber system) has become a driving force than an enabler. Digital immigrants must design a digital business blueprint, innovate digital products and services, and introduce autonomous business operations to avoid the path of Nokia, Blackberry and Blockbuster. Digital immigrants must increase their technology budget by 15 to 20 per cent of revenue, without which they will fail to survive and become irrelevant in the era of the fourth industrial revolution and digital economy.
Hence, to help establish a modern cyber system, business executives have been asking chief information officers (CIOs) and chief technology officers to build a sophisticated digital technology strategy, governance and architecture.
Like chief marketing officers have been driving the technology budget of marketing and customer experience initiatives, in the future, other business executives might also own the digitization budget.
CIOs are expected to become digital innovation champions, strategic advisers, part of the board and organization’s digitization steering team. That means CIOs’ key performance indicators must be beyond infrastructure availability, reliability and applications stability. CIOs also are expected to own and contribute for improving business outcomes.
To build and manage digital businesses, organizations must design, develop, deploy and manage different types of software applications like systems of records (processes), systems of engagement (people), systems of things, systems of body, systems of brains and systems of intelligence. This is a huge change and requires new digital technology infrastructure like multi-clouds, edge computing and programmable networks.
In summary, every enterprise is a digital enterprise; every digital enterprise must be lean. Lean digital enterprises make organizations relevant in the digital era and ensure business success. Organizations must acquire lean digital thinking and find their lean digital quotient to know the current digital state and design transformation programmes to reach a benchmark digital state. Organizations must also embrace the lean digital business excellence model and integrated business tech skills to succeed.
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