Become a PowerPoint Guru by Dave Tracy
Learn the methodologies, frameworks, and tricks used by Management Consultants to create executive presentations in the business world.
Currently viewing the tag: "Digital Transformation"
Editor’s Note: If you are interested in becoming an expert on Supply Chain Management (SCM), take a look at Flevy’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.
The conventional Business Model for Manufacturing is in the process of Transformation. Centralized production has given way to dispersed manufacturing that is customized. Conventional operating practice at large-scale manufacturers is to keep the high-cost R&D distinct from the low-cost production. Digital Fabrication is changing this operating practice.
More and more Digital Fabrication Tools are being developed and used every day which is laying the foundation for Digital Transformation revolution. These tools are being used to develop customized end-products by small-scale manufacturers and in some cases single-person manufacturing concerns. Digital Fabrication tools may be 1 of the following 2 types:
- Programmable Subtractive Tools—designed to carve shapes from raw materials. Examples of such tools include laser cutters, CNC routers and milling machines, plasma or water jet cutters.
- Additive Rapid Manufacturing Tools—which are predominantly computer-operated 3-D printers that chiefly construct objects layer by layer but may also be designed to use laser or electron beams.
The impact of the community of individuals dealing in Digital Fabrication tools in disrupting the conventional manufacturing model, is more than the tools themselves. The community is, essentially, a self-established, worldwide Supply Chain, involving quite a few interconnected setups, user clusters, cybershopping sites, and social media environments.
The creators have fashioned open-source collaborations that leverage dropping costs of Digital Fabrication and current social media connectedness. Distributed manufacturing networks allow customers to post job requests that can be taken up directly by fabricators.
In the fabricator-culture, individuals are supposed to make their plans and specifications public, usually under an open-source license, which permits anyone to replicate, adapt, and learn from the designs; always giving credit to the creators and common access to ideas. Collaborators share information mutually, assist each other in progressing, and nothing is owned or controlled centrally. Accessible repositories allow creators to trade plans and instructions, align production, and sell their designs and fabricated articles straight to the society.
Considered holistically, Digital Fabrication and information sharing is ushering in a broadening of the manufacturing environment.
Big manufacturers will have to undergo Business Transformation by adopting open-source innovation, adaptable production, and knowledge-intensive production lines in order to move towards Digital Manufacturing. Large-scale manufacturers desirous of taking advantage of the Digital Fabrication Transformation will find the following 5 principles indispensable in transforming their operating practices:
- Cultivate Digital Capabilities.
- Establish a Hybrid Product Line.
- Embrace Open Innovation.
- Develop New Fabrication Materials.
- Prepare for Misuse and Infringement.
Digital Fabrication’s effect on manufacturing has been similar to that of the internet on information-centric solutions and services or like video content platforms’ effect on television networks.
Let us delve a little deeper into some of the principles.
Cultivate Digital Capabilities
Investing in technology that enables the business to make part of the product portfolio using printable composites, in a back room, will give it a Competitive Advantage.
Gaining Digital Fabrication skills and experience now will set the launch pad for leveraging when the time is right.
Establish a Hybrid Product Line
Start a product line that is mixed—with corresponding mass-production and individual-production articles. New feature substitution, alteration in production line, or restarting production of old products can easily be achieved with Digital Fabrication tools, at a profit.
Certain commonly used products that are consumed in large quantities are better off produced on large scale.
Embrace Open Innovation
Offset reverse engineering and modification culture being driven by the ease of Digital Fabrication with Open Innovation.
Interested in learning more about Digital Fabrication Transformation? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Digital Fabrication Transformation here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Want to Achieve Excellence in Supply Chain Management (SCM)?
Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Supply Chain Management (SCM). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of Supply Chain activities. It also captures the management of the flow of goods and services.
In February of 2020, COVID-19 disrupted—and in many cases halted—global Supply Chains, revealing just how fragile they have become. By April, many countries experienced declines of over 40% in domestic and international trade.
COVID-19 has likewise changed how Supply Chain Executives approach and think about SCM. In the pre-COVID-19 era of globalization, the objective was to be Lean and Cost-effective. In the post-COVID-19 world, companies must now focus on making their Supply Chains Resilient, Agile, and Smart. Additional trends include Digitization, Sustainability, and Manufacturing Reshoring.
Learn about our Supply Chain Management (SCM) Best Practice Frameworks here.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Digital Transformation in Manufacturing, or Digital Manufacturing for short, is a matter of survival now for manufacturing concerns. Manufacturing companies desirous of survival have no choice but to hop on the Digital Transformation bandwagon, rapidly.
Business Transformation of any kind is not an easy endeavor. Change Management of Digital Manufacturing is typically more difficult than any Change or Transformation Program that an organization may undertake.
Forming a strategy to leverage digital technologies is the 1st step in transforming a manufacturing concern towards Digital Manufacturing. Bigger challenges are faced in strategy execution.
For Transformation execution to be effective, CEOs must reconsider almost everything about the way their companies work; for instance, establish new Business Models, reorganize their Organizational Design, and also rethink their Leadership style.
Specifically, there are 3 key pillars of Digital Manufacturing execution that need careful consideration for the Transformation to be successful:
- Business Model over Technology
- Independence of Digital Operations
- CEO-driven Digital Transformation
Let us consider the key pillars a little more in detail.
Business Model over Technology
Shifting from old technology to new is easier than changing the Business Model of any concern, especially a manufacturing concern. Customarily, manufacturers sell machinery, hand out software as complementary, and offer after sales repair and maintenance service for the machinery.
For Digital Transformation to be truly successful, the whole way of doing business has to change. Manufacturers have to look at what they are selling i.e., outcome instead of a product. What is important is manufacturers should be willing to do away with existing Business Models to create and capture new value.
Value creation is achievable in many ways using industrial Internet of Things (IoT) by manufacturers. All of the avenues for value creation should be used in parallel so as to gain the largest impact.
Value created through Digital Manufacturing can be captured in 2 ways:
- Software as a Service and Subscriptions/Licenses
- Offering Success as a Service
Independence of Digital Operations
Digital operations can create a meaningful impact only when they are independent of the main business. Independence is important but so is proper linkage with the industrial business.
Initially, understanding regarding value provided by Digital operations may be very limited in the manufacturing business therefore cooperation may be inhibited. Finding ways to link Digital operations with the manufacturing business must cater to the requirement of understanding how the machines work.
Resistance from the manufacturing business is expected when the 2 forces combine, especially when the Digital operations grow. Delineating who handles customer relationship and all factors associated with it, is also a question that may spring up in cooperation between manufacturing and digital operations.
Ways to obtain gains from linking vertical business and the horizontal digital function must be found.
CEO-driven Digital Transformation
Sponsor of the Digital Manufacturing initiative has to be the CEO. Only the CEO has the influence to decide the divergences between the old manufacturing business and the new digital business.
CEOs have to drive the Digital Manufacturing shift. Leading from the front to make everyone understand that Digital Transformation is a very serious and important endeavor.
CEOs must have the will and resolve to challenge incumbency, obliviousness, and existing state of affairs. While remaining firm on the strategic direction, CEOs must be flexible enough to experiment, learn, and adjust course.
Interested in learning more about Digital Manufacturing? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Digital Manufacturing here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Editor’s Note:
If you are interested in becoming an expert on Supply Chain Management (SCM), take a look at Flevy’s Supply Chain Management (SCM) Frameworks offering here. This is a curated collection of best practice frameworks based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. By learning and applying these concepts, you can you stay ahead of the curve. Full details here.
Want to Achieve Excellence in Supply Chain Management (SCM)?
Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Supply Chain Management (SCM). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of Supply Chain activities. It also captures the management of the flow of goods and services.
In February of 2020, COVID-19 disrupted—and in many cases halted—global Supply Chains, revealing just how fragile they have become. By April, many countries experienced declines of over 40% in domestic and international trade.
COVID-19 has likewise changed how Supply Chain Executives approach and think about SCM. In the pre-COVID-19 era of globalization, the objective was to be Lean and Cost-effective. In the post-COVID-19 world, companies must now focus on making their Supply Chains Resilient, Agile, and Smart. Additional trends include Digitization, Sustainability, and Manufacturing Reshoring.
Learn about our Supply Chain Management (SCM) Best Practice Frameworks here.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Digital Transformation in Manufacturing or “Digital Manufacturing” for short is not an optional decision for companies anymore. Manufacturing concerns that want to survive have to jump on the Digital Transformation bandwagon hastily. Digital Manufacturing has become a prerequisite for a profitable existence even for mere survival of a manufacturing concern.
Business Transformation of any kind is difficult—more so when it is a Digital Transformation in Manufacturing. In fact, Change Management of Digital Transformation in Manufacturing is typically more difficult than any change or Transformation program that an organization may undertake.
Not many manufacturing concerns had cognizance of the digital technologies until very recently. Still, manufacturing concerns find it very hard to manage a successful Digital Transformation.
Digital technologies can disrupt businesses. A Digital Transformation is not the Digitalization of an existing business. Digital Manufacturing does not entail simply changing technologies, automating processes, taking aid of Artificial Intelligence in the process; in fact it means redefining the nature of work and productivity.
Starting a Digital Manufacturing project can be an arduous process. Executives customarily approach this task with a lot of prudence and get caught in questions that are actually misnomers and myths, weakening the Digital Transformation process. The 4 biggest myths about Digital Manufacturing are:
Myth 1. Is outsourcing or partnering, to build digital capabilities, not speedier and less investment intensive?
Myth 2. Why can the existing IT team and CIO not be used for this project instead of hiring new talent and creating a CDO position, both unaware of our business?
Myth 3. Should each of our businesses not have individual digital capabilities tailored to their needs rather than a central digital unit that serves all businesses?
Myth 4. Should not our approach to developing digital capabilities be phased rather than big bang?
More on these myths can be found in the PowerPoint presentation titled Challenges to Digital Manufacturing on Flevy.
Digital Manufacturing opens doors for many opportunities. It allows the manufacturers to find ways of refining the performance and reliability of machines and increasing customer productivity through customer usage data gathered by sensors in their machines.
This approach allows manufacturers to sell outcomes rather than products. Outcome delivery via Data Analysis and Performance Enhancement is a business opportunity worth trillions of dollars, according to a World Economic Forum study.
Despite realizing the opportunities of Digital Manufacturing, companies find the process extremely difficult. Digital Manufacturing has both structural as well as behavioral barriers stopping it from being successfully executed.
Manufacturers have to surpass the following 3 chief obstacles in order for them to be true Digital Manufacturers:
- Incumbency
- Talent
- Culture
Let us dive a little deeper into the obstacles.
Incumbency
Rigidity is a major barrier in bringing about change. Companies create capabilities and Business Models to succeed. Overtime, when these capabilities and Business Models become critical for success and hard to imitate for the rivals, they transform into rigidities. Success of such capabilities and models make the companies wary of bringing change in them.
Leaders refrain from touching projects with longer time periods as it may not show benefits during their tenures. The reward structure in companies also encourages short-term gains to longer-term, capital intensive endeavors.
Talent
Not many manufacturing organizations consider developing Digital Talent internally. This leads to a dearth of key talent integral to build Digital Manufacturing capabilities.
The primary reason for this is the view that digital technology is an auxiliary function.
In-house capabilities are not developed because Digital Manufacturing requires an amalgam of personnel from the virtual sciences and the conventional engineering sciences. Both have a very different way of thinking and doing things, making it a great challenge to build them into a team.
Culture
Organizational culture at manufacturing firms is a significant hurdle in adopting digital technology. Manufacturers have traditionally had long product-development lifecycles, long sales cycles, and a culture of constantly improving efficiency. In order to be more digital, manufacturing concerns have to accept concepts used in the digital world e.g., agility, simplicity, and responsiveness.
Interested in learning more about the Challenges to Digital Manufacturing?” “You can download an editable PowerPoint on Challenges to Digital Manufacturing here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Want to Achieve Excellence in Supply Chain Management (SCM)?
Gain the knowledge and develop the expertise to become an expert in Supply Chain Management (SCM). Our frameworks are based on the thought leadership of leading consulting firms, academics, and recognized subject matter experts. Click here for full details.
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of Supply Chain activities. It also captures the management of the flow of goods and services.
In February of 2020, COVID-19 disrupted—and in many cases halted—global Supply Chains, revealing just how fragile they have become. By April, many countries experienced declines of over 40% in domestic and international trade.
COVID-19 has likewise changed how Supply Chain Executives approach and think about SCM. In the pre-COVID-19 era of globalization, the objective was to be Lean and Cost-effective. In the post-COVID-19 world, companies must now focus on making their Supply Chains Resilient, Agile, and Smart. Additional trends include Digitization, Sustainability, and Manufacturing Reshoring.
Learn about our Supply Chain Management (SCM) Best Practice Frameworks here.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Accelerated pace of technological disruption has forced organizations to change. It has triggered leaders to think of the ways they must adopt to survive in these challenging times.
Organizations are confronting this scenario by embracing digital technologies. Traditionally, the focus of the organizations in these Transformation initiatives has remained on speed of change. To get the most out of their initiatives, they are making drastic changes, to include:
- Creating Agile Teams
- Introducing Mobile Apps
- Building Big Data and Analytics capabilities
- Experimenting with creative Digital Business Models.
Digital Transformation programs are launched with huge fanfare, see success early on, but fail to keep the momentum going. The issues that plague the sustainability of these initiatives are typically:
- Aging Technology Infrastructure
- Incompatible Operating Models
- Archaic ways of doing business
- Change-agnostic culture.
Drivers of change for the Digital Leadership have changed significantly over the years. There is an increased focus on building scale when executing Digital Transformation. Leaders have realized that quick Decision Making is not the only element required for successful Transformation. To achieve its full potential, they need to create differentiated offerings and scale the most viable initiatives across the organization to create value.
Traditional organizations have started following the footsteps of digital disrupters like Amazon and Tesla. They are implementing new digital services and adjusting their operations. However, typical hurdles—e.g., old enterprise systems, bureaucratic red tape, delayed decision making, and segregation between IT and business units—make them slip back into the outdated ways of doing things.
Sustainable Digital Transformation involves building not only the technology infrastructure but also revisiting the operating model. Successful Digital Transformations essentially involve embracing 4 key strategies to enable an ecosystem that encourages change to stick as well as scale:
- Create a strong Digital Foundation
- Integrate and consolidate the Digital Ecosystem
- Front-end to back-end approach
- Create a new Business Model
Let’s delve deeper into these strategies.
Create a Strong Digital Foundation
Manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries are the major sectors that employ this strategy. The typical state of affairs in organizations implementing this strategy is such that they are in need of developing new digital capabilities from scratch to tackle nimble rivals who are churning out novel value propositions using digital tech. These companies are burdened by dated tech infrastructure, sluggish decision making, and dated business models. The risk of disruption to these businesses is growing but it hasn’t challenged them to transform drastically.
To them, building a digital foundation warrants acquiring novel foundational capabilities. Their approach should be to start implementing and managing small changes one step at a time. For instance, building a smart technology architecture with advanced Big Data, Analytics, and predictive modeling capabilities. This should be followed by testing prototypes of the new model to prove their worth before implementing a full-blown execution.
Integrate and Consolidate the Digital Ecosystem
This strategy has gained traction most in organizations from the Consumer Products industry. These organizations are typically marred by scores of fragmented IT systems running in different parts of the organization. There is a general inability to prioritize the most viable projects and scale them. The need to reform and rapid deployment of Digital Infrastructure is critical for survival.
The approach to Digital Transformation in these organization should be to establish a central management position to manage the initiative and streamline dispersed technology landscape. This entails revising the technology infrastructure and operating model, deploying a unified IT platform for gathering and storing customer data, establishing a common data repository accessible to all units to recognize customers’ needs, and creating a culture that encourages innovation, acts on creative ideas, and refines them through experimentation and advanced tools.
Interested in learning more about the other strategies to enable Digital Transformation? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Sustainable Digital Transformation here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Did You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Data and Analytics, today, play a key role in competing with rivals. Every passing day leads to creation of enormous amounts of data by organizations across the globe. These huge data lakes often go unused, or are underutilized, by organizations. This data, if utilized properly, is of great assistance in informed decision making.
Multiple data types and sources generated by discrete systems are often inconsistent, dispersed, and lacking integration, which makes them unworkable. Such data results in inaccurate analysis and flawed insights. Reliability and confidentiality of data can be ensured by stipulating rules and processes to govern access to data and its Metadata.
Metadata Definition
Metadata can be defined as “the Data in the context of Who, What, Where, Why, When, and How.” It’s the information pertaining to the data itself, its attributes, and elements. Metadata provides searchable key attributes of information to the users e.g., Customer ID or Name. Appropriate identification of Metadata is a major step in uncovering the potential locked in enterprise data assets.
Metadata Management
Metadata Management relates to handling of data, its description, relationships, and lineage within an organization. Metadata enables a user to search and identify information on certain key attributes. Context of data is of prime importance in managing Metadata.
Metadata isn’t all about identification of data. With ever-increasing volumes and complexity of data, Metadata management is getting critical to identify informational assets and convert those into enterprise assets of high business value. This entails setting up policies and ensuring efficient information management. Metadata Management integrates all data at the enterprise level.
Benefits of Metadata Management
- An efficient Metadata Management system helps the business users to comprehend the source of the data characteristic and the calculated measure of that characteristic.
- It supports the technical users in mapping business Metadata with technical Metadata.
- Metadata Management provides a holistic view of the various data systems in an organization.
- It enables automated parsing and loading of variety of Metadata types.
- Building an Enterprise Metadata model based on the data generated from discrete systems—e.g. data warehouse, integration tools, and data modeling tools—is quite efficiently done through Metadata Management.
- Mitigation of any challenges in data accessibility and utility.
- Enhancement of data quality.
- Supporting Digital Transformation by creating data reporting and data analysis experts.
Metadata Classification
People in the same organization perceive Metadata differently. Difference of opinion in the identification of Metadata within the company results in inadequate visibility and access to data. This is where a broader classification of the types of Metadata is helpful. A thorough understanding of the different classes or categories of Metadata assists in developing a standardized perception of data across the organization. These categories include:
Structured Metadata
Structured Metadata provides information on what the data looks like, e.g., data elements names mapped to columns, descriptions of data elements, data types, length of data elements, and the file layout. This can include tags, primary keys, or foreign keys.
Supplier Metadata
Entails information associated with data origination point, directives, constraints, owners, service level agreements for consumption of data, demographic information about the data asset e.g., size, number of records, date of production, or source of origin of data.
Processing Metadata
Refers to data production processes, including data lineage, any 3rd-party sources of data, derivations of data elements, or the process flows related to data pipelines.
Query Metadata
Describes information on the context and classification of data. It includes a glossary of business terms, definitions, taxonomies, master data, historical data, types of queries performed etc.
User Metadata
Provides data on Metadata consumers, their roles, data owners, and data stewards responsible for managing the quality and usability of data.
Interested in learning more about the other categories and classifications of Metadata? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Metadata Management here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced organizations to rapidly adopt virtual work environments, making it the new norm in the Digital Transformation process. Digital Collaboration Platforms have been pivotal in the current scenario and have forever changed the work environment to include Virtual Work and Digital Facilitation.
Digital Collaboration Platforms provide a combination of activities in one place, making meetings almost trouble-free. These platforms take leverage of tools to help perform activities, such as:
- Create agendas and conduct pre-engagement communication
- Documentation and note-taking
- File storage and documents sharing (videos, images)
- Administer surveys / polls
- Chat with facilitator-specific features (anonymize, voting, hide comments)
- Conduct assignments and exams
- Booking system and timer
- Post-engagement discussions and follow-up tasks
However, Digital Facilitation has its own set of challenges, principles, and methods that are to be managed for the future work environment to run smoothly. Digital Facilitation Methods vary from simple to very complex and there is an abundance of them. The following 3 methods are quite popular in facilitating asynchronous and synchronous Digital Collaboration:
- Double Diamond
- Open Space
- Sociocracy 3.0
Let us examine the 3 Digital Facilitation Methods more deeply.
Double Diamond
It is a structured method to Digital Facilitation that is useful in problem solving and idea generation. The method tackles challenges in 4 key phases—Discover, Define, Develop, and Deliver. The Double Diamond method employs the divergent thinking first—to open up the participants to share as much as possible without limiting ideas. The method then utilizes convergent thinking to focus on narrowing down the problems, finding potential solutions to the problem, and implementing the most viable solution(s).
Potential solutions and ideas can be prioritized and filtered using Digital Collaboration Platforms’ features, i.e., polls, likes, or assigning scores. All project phases can be documented on the go, in a single Digital Facilitation workspace and the same workspace can be used to continue the delivery phase.
Open Space
The Open Space Digital Facilitation method is designed for self-organization, inclusivity, and emergent agendas. The method focuses on finding important elements through discussions facilitated by Digital Collaboration Platforms in order to improve further. The Open Space method is governed by the “Law of Two Feet,” which states that if at any time you find yourself in a situation where you are neither learning nor contributing, use your two feet and go somewhere else where you can.
In this method, a collaboration session starts without an agenda, but the process is designed to ensure that the issues that are most important to the people involved will surface and become part of the agenda. This is done by inviting participants to propose topics as chat comments utilizing Digital Facilitation Platforms. Other participants ‘like’ a comment (topic) to show their interest or prioritize by using voting or polling features. The facilitator then organizes the topics by likes or votes and decide how many topics will be covered in a given session. A loose agenda is then created and host of each topic is assigned. Booking feature of the Digital Facilitation Platforms can be utilized for choosing which topic participants will start with. A separate page within a Digital Facilitation Platform workspace can be dedicated to each topic, to document everything and add instructions, videos, or any other files. Video conferencing tool of the Platform can be used side-by-side.
Sociocracy 3.0
This Digital Facilitation method goes a step further in problem-solving than other approaches. As the name suggest, Sociocracy 3.0 method puts everyone really behind an idea and necessitates consent of all the participants for it to work.
Interested in learning more about Sociocracy 3.0 and the other Digital Facilitation Methods and Digital Collaboration tools? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Digital Facilitation Methods here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
Do You Find Value in This Framework?
You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
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– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Today’s information-based, knowledge intensive, and service-driven economy has forced organizations to make substantial changes to the way they compete. Changing perspective and responsibility of top management amidst rapid Business and Digital Transformation and the shifting role of HR from being an auxiliary function to that of a driver are some of the dynamics of the evolved competition.
This evolution of Competition has been reached by passing through 3 phases:
- Competition for Products & Markets
- Competition for Resources & Competencies
- Competition for Talent & Dreams
Throughout the evolutionary phases of competition, the focus of Growth Strategy, the tools used, and the key strategic resources have been shifting. The strategic objective of front-running organizations is on continuous evolution and Transformation, and motivated Human Capital is their key resource. This realization is now at the forefront of Strategy Development as competition for scarce Talented Human Resources becomes more intense. However, modern-day managers are still using old tools to deal with an emerging reality.
Dexterity in leadership and management is a prerequisite for leaders now. Research suggests that the 3 important changes that the CEOs must make in terms of their strategic perspective are in:
- Strategic Resources
- Value Creation and Distribution
- Role of Senior Leadership
More on this topic in our editable PowerPoint presentation on Strategic Human Resources.
With the fast-changing focus in Strategy, Human Resource Managers are finding themselves leading the strategic charge. However, a large majority is ill prepared for the role. With Human Capital becoming key strategic resource and basis of Competitive Advantage, HR must adopt 3 core processes to evolve into the strategic HR function that has become their new realm:
- Building
- Linking
- Bonding
Let us delve into the first 2 core processes to strategic HR function in a little more detail.
1. Building
The first core process of Building is all about creating human resource systems, processes, and culture to counter the deep-rooted bias towards financial assets and recognize the value of Human Capital. For instance, Microsoft annually scans the entire pool of 25,000 U.S. computer science graduates for the best 500 to be given offers, of which 400 – top 2% of that year’s graduates – accept. This only fills 20% of the positions. For the rest, Microsoft maintains industry linkages with 300 recruiting experts who scour the industry for the best and the brightest individuals, often wooing them for years.
2. Linking
Developing Knowledge Sharing Networks is core to leveraging Human Capital. Converting individual expertise into embedded intellectual capital is what linking is all about. For example, British Petroleum in the 1990s introduced the Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning program. The main feature of the program was the “Peer Assist” where frontline workers in one location would help solve a problem for workers in another location without the usual hierarchy intervening. Peer Assist was augmented by the “Peer Groups” of business units—i.e. business units engaged in the same assisting activities as frontline individuals. This way managers of decentralized operations compare experiences and share ideas. Once this Information Sharing Network took root it was supported by setting up information-sharing infrastructure – e.g., video conferencing, chat rooms, video clip encoders etc.
Interested in learning more about the details of the 3 Core Processes required to evolve your HR into a strategic HR function and Key Actions needed to implement these? You can download an editable PowerPoint presentation on Strategic Human Resources here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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The purpose of Human Resources (HR) is to ensure our organization achieves success through our people. Without the right people in place—at all levels of the organization—we will never be able to execute our Strategy effectively.
This begs the question: Does your organization view HR as a support function or a strategic one? Research shows leading organizations leverage HR as a strategic function, one that both supports and drives the organization’s Strategy. In fact, having strong HRM capabilities is a source of Competitive Advantage.
This has never been more true than right now in the Digital Age, as organizations must compete for specialized talent to drive forward their Digital Transformation Strategies. Beyond just hiring and selection, HR also plays the critical role in retaining talent—by keeping people engaged, motivated, and happy.
Learn about our Human Resource Management (HRM) Best Practice Frameworks here.
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“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
The introduction of emerging, digital technologies has ushered in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. To keep the competitive advantage in this era of Digital Transformation, leveraging contemporary technology is an absolute necessity. Using cutting-edge technology means not just augmenting, but in fact, revamping the whole Quality outlook.
Quality 4.0 is the complimentary Quality approach to the Industry 4.0 era. Quality 4.0 is about transforming and improving Organizational Culture, collaboration, competency, and Leadership Development among other things through the application of technology.
Quality 4.0 is characterized by:
- Transforming and improving culture, collaboration, competency, and leadership through the application of technology.
- Digital Transformation of Management Systems and compliance.
- Enabling technology and processes necessary to maximize value, resolve customary Quality impediments, and provide innovative solutions.
Quality 4.0 is not just about Digitalization, but more importantly about the impact of that Digitalization on Quality technology, processes, and people.
Companies can use the 11 pillars of Quality 4.0 Framework to identify how the existing capabilities and initiatives can be transformed and then educate, plan, and act accordingly. The framework uses the traditional Quality methods to build upon and improve them. The 11 pillars of Quality 4.0 include:
- Data
- Analytics
- Connectivity
- Collaboration
- App Development
- Scalability
- Management Systems
- Compliance
- Culture
- Leadership
- Competency
The majority of the companies are still not in a position to take leverage of Quality 4.0. This warrants making investments in improving traditional Quality and bringing themselves in a position where they can spring up to use Quality 4.0 to prepare for the future.
There are strong interrelationships between the pillars of Quality 4.0, and adding new capabilities to certain pillars facilitates new applications on other pillars. Let us delve a little deeper into a few of these pillars
1. Data and 2. Analytics
Data and Analytics form the first 2 pillars. Data is key to informed decision making. Most companies are still using fragmented data while the innovating market leaders have progressed to taking leverage of Big Data. Data can be better understood by understanding its 5 components: Volume, Variety, Velocity, Veracity, and Transparency.
Analytics help reveal the insights contained within raw data. Correct metrics are key to uncovering correlations and patterns—meaningful information. Big Data Analytics using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence is beneficial if the Analytics Framework—comprising Descriptive, Diagnostic, Predictive, and Prescriptive Analytics—is understood clearly.
3. Connectivity
Connectivity encompasses the link between Business Information Technology—e.g., Enterprise Quality Management Systems (EQMS), Product Life-cycle Management (PLM), Enterprise Resource Planning—and Operational Technology that is used in Manufacturing, Labs, and Services. Connectivity is achieved through abundant and inexpensive sensors providing real-time feedback from Connected People, products, edge devices, and processes.
4. Scalability
Scalability creates uniformity in Quality. It is the ability to harmonize processes, best practices, competencies, and lessons learnt across the organization, be it global. Cloud Computing has played a pivotal role in harnessing scalability by providing Software as a Service (SaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Solution (PaaS), and connection of databases.
The reality of the future is Quality 4.0. It is being adopted very swiftly. Those who remain unfamiliar with it or are slow to adopt run the risk of being marginalized very quickly.
Interested in learning more about Quality 4.0? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Quality 4.0 here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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You can download in-depth presentations on this and hundreds of similar business frameworks from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives. Here’s what some have to say:
“My FlevyPro subscription provides me with the most popular frameworks and decks in demand in today’s market. They not only augment my existing consulting and coaching offerings and delivery, but also keep me abreast of the latest trends, inspire new products and service offerings for my practice, and educate me in a fraction of the time and money of other solutions. I strongly recommend FlevyPro to any consultant serious about success.”
– Bill Branson, Founder at Strategic Business Architects
“As a niche strategic consulting firm, Flevy and FlevyPro frameworks and documents are an on-going reference to help us structure our findings and recommendations to our clients as well as improve their clarity, strength, and visual power. For us, it is an invaluable resource to increase our impact and value.”
– David Coloma, Consulting Area Manager at Cynertia Consulting
“FlevyPro has been a brilliant resource for me, as an independent growth consultant, to access a vast knowledge bank of presentations to support my work with clients. In terms of RoI, the value I received from the very first presentation I downloaded paid for my subscription many times over! The quality of the decks available allows me to punch way above my weight – it’s like having the resources of a Big 4 consultancy at your fingertips at a microscopic fraction of the overhead.”
– Roderick Cameron, Founding Partner at SGFE Ltd
Traditional Talent Management practices fail to meet the high-potential talent requirements imperative to compete in the digital world today. In fact, they disappoint the key talent available in the market.
A 2016 Digital Business research by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte on 3700+ executives reveals attracting and retaining talent as the most pressing concern for organizations large or small. The study indicates that organizations that are still using traditional approaches to manage Talent face a number of pressing challenges, including:
- Building new competencies within limited resources.
- Alignment of culture, strategic initiatives, human capital, and hierarchies with organizational objectives.
- Attracting, selecting, and retaining key talent.
- Creating robust Performance Management, compensation, and benefits systems.
- Finding and developing talent with critical capabilities—such as forward thinking, transformative vision, and change focus—alongside technical skills.
- Providing opportunities that require digital skills, to attract and keep critical Talent engaged in the organization.
One of the findings of the 2016 digital business study demonstrate that it’s both the younger as well as middle management people who tend to look elsewhere in case they don’t find opportunities to develop digital skills in their existing organizations. Such results call for senior management to identify, evaluate, and implement more immediate and appropriate digital technologies methods to attract and retain key talent. Leading organizations are now incorporating these Talent Transformation efforts into their Digital Transformation programs.
Research on 3700 plus Digital-native respondents further reveals leading organizations to be using a combination of 2 distinct models to manage their Talent:
- Talent Markets for Contractors
- Digital Tools for Employees
Let’s discuss the first approach to Talent Management in detail, for now.
Talent Markets for Contractors
Acquisition of right talent necessitates fostering linkages with on-demand talent markets for the timely availability of required talent. Many organizations seek help from on-demand Talent Markets to attract and sustain talent in the digital business environment. These organizations pursue a flexible recruitment model using digital platforms to attract skilled contractors and consultants. Digital talent markets can be expanded or contracted depending on the quantity of work and skillsets required.
Digital talent markets can coordinate the work of full-time employees as well as cover live activities of contractors more nimbly and reliably. Digital platforms offer superior talent markets to assess and manage large talent pool of contractors. A few organizations are experimenting with developing their own on-demand talent markets while some have cooperated with other organizations to share talent markets. It’s up to senior management to decide if they want to leverage existing on-demand talent markets or cultivate their own to ensure availability of required skills when needed. Talent markets can be nurtured using 3 best practices:
- Manage on-demand talent markets as a community
- Strike a balance between full-time and part-time talent
- Create an environment where the best people want to work
Manage on-demand talent markets as a community
To make the availability of required key talent certain:
- On-demand talent markets should be considered strategic resources and cultivated carefully with future talent requirements in mind.
- Companies should devote resources and efforts to develop their own talent pool.
Strike a balance between full-time and part-time talent
Talent markets are meant to manage freelancers. However, a few organizations have also begun collaborating with them and deploying their full-time employees to project work that is critical to build new competences. A few considerations in this regard include:
- Companies need to strike an equilibrium between full-time and part-time talent.
- Some people prefer full-time employment while others fancy flexibility or work from home options.
- Some workforce providers even offer services of retired people with expert skills, who have proved to be a valuable asset.
- Firms can choose on-demand workforce providers to have full-time employees to maintain a steady employee base, or pick part-time contractors to handle workload surges.
Create an environment where the best people want to work
Setting up the right environment is central to attracting and retaining the best flexible, on-demand talent. A majority of companies consider freelancers or independent contractors inferior to their permanent employees. Organizations that want to attract great talent should think of contractors as valuable resources and treat them as such. To get top talent, organizations need to:
- Nurture an Organizational Culture conducive to support on-demand workers.
- Devise remuneration and reward systems that value contractors and full-time employees equally.
- Create an atmosphere that offers attractive work experiences for the employees.
- Deploy people on interesting projects and allow them to experience job rotations to improve their skills sets, problem solving abilities, cross-departmental team collaboration, and improve their engagement levels.
Interested in learning more about the 2 distinct approaches to Talent Management through Digital Transformation? You can download an editable PowerPoint on Digital Transformation: Talent Management here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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In the modern age, organizations are striving to form a sustainable Supply Chain system to cope with the challenges that are arising. Such issues include the 
emission of hazardous substances, excessive resource consumption, Supply Chain risks, and complex procedures.
Through Strategic Planning, organizations around the globe are adopting strategies to become a sustainable organization. In fact, there is an increasing trend towards organizations adopting sustainable Supply Chain Management practices.
Gaining a Foothold on Supply Chain Management
Supply Chain Management is the design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of Supply Chain activities. It addresses the fundamental business problem of supplying products to meet demand in a complex and uncertain world.
Looking at Supply Chain Management, we can see that it draws on the value chain concept of business strategist, Michael Porter. It looks at supply issues at the multi-company level. It creates net value, builds a competitive infrastructure, leverages worldwide logistics, synchronizes supply with demand, and measures performance globally.
The need for Supply Chain Management came about when shorter product life cycles and greater product variety has increased Supply Chain costs and complexity. And as outsourcing, globalization, and business fragmentation became a common practice, there was now the need for Supply Chain integration. This was further emphasized with the advances in emergent technologies. which created more opportunities for Digital Transformation within Supply Chains.
The 4 Levels of Supply Chain Management Strategies
There are 4 Levels of Supply Chain Management Strategies. The first 3 strategies are foundational Supply Chain Strategies.
Before any Supply Chain can be considered sustainable, there are 3 foundational Supply Chain Strategies that need to be undertaken.
- Legal Supply Chain Strategy. There are a number of legal rules and regulations that need to be followed by organizations. The Supply Chain Strategy must cater to all legal rules. An example is a ruling according to the Restrictions of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) wherein an organization must not rely on the mercury, cadmium, and chromium as they result in huge emission of hazardous substances.
- Ethical Supply Chain Strategy. To become an ethically strong organization, it is required that the organization operates with integrity and focus on what is right. The organization could develop a policy that governs the organization’s operations. It is also essential that the Supply Chain quality assurance team that is built complies with ethical sustainability.
- Responsible Supply Chain Strategy. To become responsible, the organization could spend resources in compliance with sustainable rules. The organization could set up training and development programs to drive sustainability within the organization. It can also focus on environment-friendly activities to boost its social responsibility.
Before an organization can become sustainable, significant efforts must be exerted to put the 3 foundational Supply Chain Strategies in place within the organization.
Reaching the Level of Sustainability
Sustainable Supply Chain Strategy has become increasingly important as more and more organizations are focusing on putting it in place. According to the MIT Slogan Review, over 75% of organizations listed in the S&P 500 reported sustainability reports where it shows that catering up to the responsibility is becoming highly challenging and important. There has been a significant increase and inclination towards sustainability and this depicts the importance of becoming sustainable.
With the passage of time, it has become evident that organizations around the globe are becoming fond of sustainable considerations.
Interested in gaining more understanding of Supply Chain Sustainability? You can learn more and download an editable PowerPoint about Supply Chain Sustainability here on the Flevy documents marketplace.
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