Digitization is a hot topic for many metal companies. Every day new players enter the market with their software products. Companies that get it right are taking over the market.
Unfortunately, these great ideas at other companies often come to nothing. So wasted money. Here are 5 reasons why digital transformation fails:
1) Internal resistance
Change is exciting. In transformations, unknown things come to light and new ways will have to be tried. Companies also run into some kind of sacred cows of how things used to be.
The most common place to find internal resistance is within the company’s IT department. For example, insufficient rights, obsessive centralization and clinging to older solutions (the fallacy of sunk costs).
The larger and older the company, the greater often the resistance.
2) Flawed strategic plan
When a plan is deployed, management does not listen enough to the people who use the solutions: the people on the shop floor, as well as the administration and even the field service department.
Sales reps prefer that you buy all their branded software, but who says these are the best for you? Therefore, you cannot rely on off-the-shelf solutions either.
A strategy and plan should come from your business, not from the product you buy.
3) Missing resources
Often the entire team lacks the necessary resources (e.g., developers, people trained to maintain the developed solution, and management that understands the software).
Hiring a third party temporarily may provide a boost, but will not offer long-term results. That comes from your own people with the right knowledge and resources.
4) Wrong technology
Many companies are still buying industry 3.0 software: large, monolithic, proprietary software written on old databases with no APIs or app stores.
While the future is based on open standards and seamless data transfer.
Anything from the same brand, or an all-in-one ERP system full of customization, is outdated. The future is cloud software solutions based on best practices linked together.
The workplace needs technology that uses IIoT protocols, and the office is all about APIs. No hassle with CSV and XML file watchers, etc.
5) Not flexibly set up
Being a company that is not agile enough to adapt to the demands of tomorrow often leads to failure.
Knowing what you want is a function of what you have learned. What you learn during the digitization process will change the desired outcome. In other words,
Your direction should be based on basic principles. You want to be able to adjust the required components and data as you go along.
What you can do about this
If you want to save hugely on IT costs while maintaining your own innovative power, quickly become a leader in your specialty and not compromise your own requirements, you need a strategic plan.
With this plan in hand, you can then take a digitization step with confidence and overview. Want to know more about this? Then schedule a call or reply to this email.
