Page 12 - Logistics News - November December 2022

O P I N ION

How to achieve digital

transformation success

By Phil Lewis, Senior Vice President of Solution Consulting, International, Infor

There are three critical questions manufacturers should ask for digital
transformation success.

oday’s leading manufacturing companies An organisation’s culture can make or break a
are adept at change. They have to be in digital transformation project and organisational
T order to survive. Innovating, modernising change management is one of the key components
and continual refinements of operational processes of such a project. Organisations should aim for an
are driving factors in today’s complex market inclusive culture where people feel like they are key
manufacturing landscape. It doesn’t matter if an contributors to the company’s future success. To achieve
organisation makes automotive parts, industrial this, management teams should encourage a culture
machinery or windows and doors, it needs to stay of openness to help employees step forward with their
on top of trends and challenges and adapt. New ideas. All change, and all transformation, starts with an
strategies and actions must sync as well as align idea, so it’s important for people to feel empowered to
with and exceed customer expectations. It’s no easy put their ideas out in the open.
task and many organisations struggle to find their
digital transformation starting point. 2. What are we hoping to achieve and what is the
outcome?
As they work toward that digital transformation Delivering successful digital transformation
starting point, manufacturers should take a step back projects is difficult and if an organisation does not
and ask themselves three questions before starting out understand the destination, the chances of success
on a potentially complicated journey. are minimal. Organisations should invest time and
effort upfront to understand exactly what they
1. Are we organisationally ready for significant want to achieve from their digital transformation.
change? Ask the following questions: What do we need to
Organisations are only as good as their people, and change? Why do we need to change it? What is the
anticipated impact?
manufacturers must look carefully at whether they
L O GI S T I CS NEWS way of doing things. It is the people who will be will fall into one of four categories: customer alignment,
have the right people and culture to support a different
No matter how many ideas an organisation has, they
responsible for implementing change and they should
be ready, committed and on board with any type of
employee productivity, supply chain visibility or
operational efficiency.
transformation plan.

10 NO V E MB E R/D E C E MB E R 2022 www .l o g ist i csn e w s .c o .z a