Bain and Company has identified some rules that make up the digital strategy across companies and industries. While implementing any corporate strategy, based around the digital norms, the latter’s overall impact needs to be assessed. This can have major repercussions on the entire business economics of the ecosystem. Risks need to be assessed along with the possibilities. The digital ambition must be high enough. Big bets need be taken. There is greater chance of digital strategies cracking up due to a lack of ambition, and not otherwise. Kodak’s is a classic example, universally understood. French car maker Renault on the other hand succeeded in it. The digital strategy also needs to be more collaborative, in comparison to the traditional ones. Emerging markets often tend to disrupt as opposed to the developed markets’ push as seen in the other. There must be a constant push to develop new strategic capabilities. Crucially, the transformation needs to be managed proactively.

Source:https://www.bcg.com/publications/2019/five-rules-digital-strategy.aspx

Uploaded Date:24 June 2019

Several med tech and pharmaceutical companies have the right focus on digitization in their corporate strategy. However, to make sure, it is implementable, these companies need to work on the employees’ culture and mindset. While technological capabilities do remain key enablers, a recent European round table confirmed that it was the talent management aspects that are equally if not more important. Those pharma companies that are yet to plunge in to the world of digital, have developed proto types to this effect. To scale up the initial operations, it is the company culture that will be the biggest enabler. Strong leadership is also required for this. The top management though will need to proactively work with hands- on operational digital leaders. The talent challenge also needs to be handled carefully. The leaders must have some sort of experience in transferring the digital initiatives from the incubator stage to the real execution level.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/pharmaceuticals-and-medical-products/our-insights/barriers-to-digital-at-scale-shifting-the-focus-from-tech-to-culture

Uploaded Date:12 June 2019

Industrial companies are deriving value from the use of advanced technologies to help with administrative and general support functions. These need to be further adapted for the situation, as such functions will continue to gain complexity. The percentage of total costs which are accrued by the General and Administrative (G & A) activities differs across industries. There is also a corresponding impact on the costs that may be affected by such tech enablement. As per the data supplied by management consulting industry leader McKinsey, the figure can be up to fifty billion dollars for the automotive sector, while for industrial and semi- conductors, the figure may be even higher. The finance functions need a similar level of modernizing. Taken across industries, about a fourth of the present functions can be modified using the existing technologies. A slightly smaller figure can definitely not yet be automated. The rest can be automated, but with some difficulty with the existing suite. In the area of talent management and workforce development, the figure stands at twenty- two percent, where automation can add value immediately. An overall backbone of scalable technology has to be assembled together.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/how-bots-algorithms-and-artificial-intelligence-are-reshaping-the-future-of-corporate-support-functions

Uploaded Date:12 June 2019

CFOs need to be right at the centre of the digital transformations presently taking place. A lot of such finance leaders tend to let the technology part of digital finance be handled by tech experts. But this may not cut ice for much long, as stakeholders now expect real- time financial business intelligence to originate from the CFO’s office. Among all the areas where technology is proving to be a part of business, there are four which hold the top potential. One is in the area of robotics and automation, which will help propel the processes in finance. Another is through the use of advanced business analytics to help support decision- making. The same analytics can also be a boon for business operations to discover unknown growth opportunities. Data visualization meanwhile, will provide real- time financial information to the end users.

Source:https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/memo-to-the-cfo-get-in-front-of-digital-finance-or-get-left-back

Uploaded Date:12 June 2019