One is “measure digital value not digital interactions.” This is the digital interactions are “digital-washing” equivalent to “green washing.” Results or progress against a benchmark or a fiducial is what counts. But first you need the yardstick.
Another is “don’t accept historical norms; question the status quo; create a plan covering every function, product, business unit and location.” This is none other than the “Google earth view” of manufacturing identifying the elements, interfaces and value at all levels – leave no stone unturned. And, more over, it is looking for effectiveness and not only efficiency. Doing the suboptimal or wrong thing well is not a substitute for doing the correct thing and doing it well (some of this was covered inearlier postings). The last one to note (and please do read the whole article at the link above to get the full story) is “follow the money.” This addresses the “reduced impact for higher value” that has been trumpeted in this blog for some time. But, too often, follow the money is replaced by “follow the energy” and ignores other important consumables – materials, time, water, even labor. Energy is important for sure but many other econsumables are important too – maybe more important in some situations!
The report states “Many organizations focus their digital investments on customer-facing solutions. But they can extract just as much value, if not more, from investing in back-office functions that drive operational efficiencies. A digital transformation is more than just finding new revenue streams; it’s also about creating value by reducing the costs of doing business.” Wow. We can use that. Do a “search and replace” here for digital investment, back office functions and finding new revenue streams replace them with sustainability initiatives, manufacturing processes and systems and reducing utility bills, respectively. And insert “environmental” between “costs” and “of” in the last line.
Or … following all the substitutions it looks like this.
Many organizations focus their sustainability initiatives on customer-facing solutions. But they can extract just as much value, if not more, from investing in manufacturing processes and systems that drive operational efficiencies. A digital transformation is more than just reducing utility bills; it’s also about creating value by reducing the costs of doing business. And, digital enterprises should be able to do this better and insure measurable progress.
But there is also a “customer-facing” aspect to this of course. That’s where the circular economy comes in. Every enterprise has customers and is a customer to some other enterprise. That’s what’s shown in the Ricoh Comet Circle and, more abstractly, in the circular economy.
