Intelligent CIO Africa Issue 10 | Page 24

COMMENT Managing digital culture shock as you implement the next wave of technology The CIO, HR director and other members of the C-suite must work closely together to seize the opportunities the next wave of digital technologies has to offer, explains Keith Fenner, VP, Sage Enterprise Africa and Middle East. T he world is changing at rapid speeds as new regulations come into play, customer expectations change and global competition grows. To keep up, African organisations are under pressure to modernise ageing legacy systems as well as to automate manual business processes. That begins with implementing a new- age business management system, which can in turn provide a solid foundation on top of solutions such as 3D printing, advanced robotics, artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things which can be deployed. The real challenge that most organisations will face as they roll-out these technologies lies in reskilling the workforce and bringing about cultural change. Let’s start by considering the business management solution – a more agile and future-ready evolution of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Where traditional ERP was slow and disruptive to implement, slow to deliver return on investment and inflexible, today’s solutions are powerful, adaptable and quick to pay for themselves. Today, you can get a cloud- based business management solution up-and-running in a matter of months. Sweeping away silos However, the success of the implementation lies in how successfully the enterprise prepares its workforce to use the new system. Implementing 24 INTELLIGENTCIO an integrated business management platform will erase many of the technology and data silos in the business, allowing it to coordinate processes across divisions and departments in an integrated way. But if the people don’t use the solution as they should, the organisation will not gain the full benefits of integration of processes and systems across the enterprise, a single view of corporate data, and better process discipline. To get it right, the business needs to not only train people in how to use the system, but also help them understand their role in the overall business process. Automating processes will also change many job descriptions and require workers to learn new skills. In some cases, process workers will see their roles change as paperwork is digitised. In others, workers will need to leverage data from the system to make operational decisions. That’s why end users should be involved in the implementation, and why adoption marketing and change management are key. Digital revolution is just beginning Looking to the future, it is important for the CIO, the HR director and other members of the C-suite to work closely together to seize the opportunities the next wave of digital technologies offer to serve the workforce and the business. As much as digital technology has already Keith Fenner, Vice President, Sage Enterprise Africa and Middle East changed the world, we are just in the early stages of the digital revolution. Connected devices and sensors, cloud computing, advanced robotics, intelligent software, and a range of other technologies will enable companies to automate more and more of the tasks humans have done on factory floors, in financial call centres and even in hospitality and retail. Against this backdrop, where many traditional job roles will change or disappear, managing digital culture shock will be essential to success. Humans and machines working together For example, how do we manage a workforce comprised of a pool of full- time employees, a growing contingent of freelancers, contractors and on- demand labour services, and smart machines and AI? In this world, many old hierarchies and job descriptions no longer exist – what does that mean for the customer experience and the employee experience? How do we reskill a process worker for a world where they’ll need to be entrepreneurial and creative? These are challenging questions, but we are living in a time of exciting possibilities for organisations and their workforces. It is up to each enterprise to take advantage of the opportunities the next wave of digital technologies present, and to use the newest tools and solutions to maximise the potential of its people. n www.intelligentcio.com