Are your technology upgrade projects meeting the planned goals? Unfortunately, the answer may not be very encouraging for a large number of implementations. This is a question that must be dealt with by all business leaders who are in the process of technological shifts or planning to start a significant technology-led change.
Today, technology awareness has increased dramatically especially in the business world. Taking an example from the logistics industry, only a few years back adopting a GPS application was seen as advancing into the cutting edge. But, not anymore, any business worth it’s salt in the logistics industry would be working with more than one digital technology and would be toying to upgrade or adapt more. However, does it guarantee the results? Let’s take the GPS case as an example, I have seen from my experience that many transport companies who touted GPS as a trophy kept on floundering in delivery performance repeatedly negating all the branding built around technology upgrade. However, some of the leaders from the industry continued to outperform in customer services and business results even they lagged adapting GPS tracking. They had better process management even though less advanced technologically at that time.
Thus, technology in itself doesn’t guarantee performance, examples can be found all around us. It’s technology plus something more than only can guarantee performance. Let’s examine here the top three topics that are must to mastered to really gain all the potential advantages of a technology upgrade:
- Need-driven: Technology must help achieve the key business goals currently as well as in the foreseeable future. Any new implementation or upgrade must be driven by this fundamental need. Today, there are too many tantalizingly attractive options to choose from which often lead to wrong and hurried selections or decision-delay due to a choice glut. One of the mid-size logistics company I know handles it quite differently. They periodically review emerging technologies and based on a decision funnel, which itself keeps upgrading based on the experience, choose a few promising applications for limited scope projects, similar to a lab level test. So, the cost remains limited but provides outstanding learning for an easier adoption in a future date. As a measurable outcome, these experiments have enabled them to adopt multiple cutting edge technology, such as IoT, data analytics and AI, in innovative ways. For example, they have developed a dust control system for their pharma warehouse, real-time visibility of fire hydrant system readiness and energy cost saving. It’s not that they have created a costly R&D wing, at least not yet, but have developed a process to test new technologies for the usage which helps them to collaborate rightly to get the above results. Approaches could be varied depending on management styles. But, the key is to be clear about short to medium-term business goals, process gaps, technology development trajectory, and cost implications.
- People and processes: The technology essentially plays an enabling role in any process. If the process itself is not optimized then technology will also be implemented wrongly with faulty inputs, improper controls, and sub-optimal outcomes. Let’s take an example of an advance hands-free picking process deploying using a top-end WMS, pick-rates will still suffer if the underlying processes of slotting or storage are not optimized, or not operationalized correctly. For example, if stocks are missing or locations are fed wrongly or cycle count is not done regularly creating frequent stock errors, then even the best picking technology will not help. Anyone operating in large boxes will know that such situations are not infrequent. It takes far more pain in correcting a messed-up implementation than planning and implementing it right the first time. Similarly, one also has to account for a learning curve of all users and on-going training and monitoring to get the best results. Thus, after identifying the right applications, the first step is to optimize the process itself and adequately train all the hands and minds engaged in the transition and deployment.
- Execution: often seen that even costly applications are implemented only partially deriving limited benefits from the upgrade. It’s an indication of a faulty project and scope planning. In many cases, it can also indicate fatigue from the change management leading to left out portions for future implementations. Moreover, most applications deliver tons of data that just lie unutilized adding no value. Converting these data to intelligent insights is probably one of the most common opportunities in most technology upgrade cases and probably a low hanging fruit for adding to profitability. In some cases, it may make sense to deepen technology up-gradation in a step-wise manner in line with the process stabilization, but the key is to plan the full project scope carefully with clear goals of outcome and benefits.
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