Digital transformation - where are you, where do you want to go and are you going in the right direction?
With I 4.0 READINESS app, you can effectively and credibly determine the actual level of your digital maturity, compare it with a representative sample of companies from developed markets, and find out if your digitalization activities are in line with global trends.
We asked Damjan Vavpotič, PhD, and Tomaž Hovelja, PhD, from the Faculty of Computer and Information Science, University of Ljubljana (FRI), with whom we collaborated in the development of the application, why is it important to obtain such an assessment. We asked Valter Leban, a member of the Board of Management of Kolektor, and Aleš Gajšek, Business Development Director of Kolektor Digital, what challenges companies most often face on the path to digital transformation and how to overcome them successfully.
Damjan Vavpotič, PhD: "This is currently one of the most comprehensive questionnaires for assessing digital maturity.”
Do you know what is worth to invest in?
The I 4.0 READINESS application provides the highest added value to those companies that want to accurately, credibly and comprehensively assess where they actually are in the field of business digitalization and gain valuable insight into those factors that have the greatest potential for improvement. "This way you will find out in which area you can make great progress with just a little effort," said Damjan Vavpotič, Associate Professor and Head of the Information Systems Laboratory at the Faculty of Computer and Information Science (FRI).
One of the most comprehensive questionnaires
”To provide users with a superior methodology, we reviewed a multitude of different models. If we take into account all eight areas covered by the application and the possibility of comparison with the average of a representative sample of related companies, especially from Germany, where Industry 4.0 originates, we can say that this is currently one of the most comprehensive questionnaires covering all key dimensions of digitalization,” explains Damjan Vavpotič, PhD. ”If we evaluate the application from an economic point of view, it is clear that the price for such a quality of analysis as provided by I 4.0 READINESS is very competitive, especially if we compare it with what global consulting houses have to offer. The advantage of the application is also that our model is adapted to the local market and takes into account the specifics of the local business environment,” adds Tomaž Hovelja, PhD, Associate Professor and Assistant at FRI.
Think about motivation and vision first
Before you start determining your company’s digital maturity, consider factors, such as motivation, vision and digital competence, advises Valter Leban, Member of the Board of Management of Kolektor. ”How do we perceive the opportunities that the megatrend of digitalization brings? What are digital competencies of our company? Do we have enough human capital to carry out these processes successfully? These are questions that all good "leaders" must ask themselves. At the same time, they must have a clear, long-term vision of what they want to achieve with digital transformation, especially in terms of customer satisfaction and ownership interests. It is therefore necessary to have a good corporate strategy first, and then to include digital transformation in it, step by step, thoughtfully and in line with the results of a thorough assessment of the company's digital maturity, ”advises Valter Leban.
Valter Leban: ”It is necessary to have a good corporate strategy first, and then thoughtfully and gradually include digital transformation in it.”
Technologies are merely enablers
We asked Aleš Gajšek, Director of Business Development at Kolektor Digital, who is an excellent expert on market conditions, about the challenges of companies looking for suitable solutions for digital transformation. “In fact, strong leadership support and human competence are most important in this process. Technologies such as artificial intelligence, advanced robotics and visual and simulation technologies, on the basis of which we develop solutions for smart factories, are only enablers. It is necessary to be able to connect and use them for a set of solutions with which we solve real problems in production and ultimately achieve key performance indicators, ”says Gajšek and adds that the word digitalization is unfortunately already too commercialized, making it difficult to extract the real added value in a flood of different providers and promises. Furthermore, Slovenians are still quite conservative and we need quite some time to change our mindset and adopt new business models, which are dictated by the megatrend of digitalization, says Aleš Gajšek.
Aleš Gajšek: ”The word digitalization is unfortunately already too commercialized, making it difficult to extract the real added value in a flood of different providers and solutions.”
From classic OPEX to modern service models
According to Aleš Gajšek, it is very welcome if a professional, long-term partner, who has walked a similar path before you and learned a lot from his own mistakes, helps you during the process of digital transformation. “Kolektor is a group of companies with almost 60 years of experience in the process industry and part production. In the last 30 years, Kolektor has successfully designed and implemented more than 10,000 industrial informatization, automation and digitalization projects for itself and its clients. We use all this experience and rich domain knowledge to our advantage when working with clients - from introductory consultations and discussions with management, to the preparation of a strategy and implementation plan. We are thus moving away from classic CAPEX investments and introducing more modern "As a Service" business models, which have significantly faster positive effects on financial operations. However, since a large part of companies feels uncertain due to market conditions, we help them by providing support in finding sources of financing for digitalization projects, ”explains Aleš Gajšek.
Digitalization should not be confused with automation
When working with clients, it is often noticed that digitalization is still quite often confused with automation, which has been implemented by manufacturing companies for the last 50 years, but has nothing to do with big data and machine learning or artificial intelligence, which is one of the basic enabling technologies for transforming companies into the smart factories of the future. “Furthermore, we should not ignore the segment of collecting data on products, not only in the production process, but also when they are already in interaction with the customer. This way, you can add value to your customers by improving quality and functionality, and ultimately with new services that you can develop around products for which you collect and process data internally and externally, ”explain Valter Leban and Damjan Vavpotič, PhD.
Digital transformation should be led by a visionary, not a manager
From the very beginning, Kolektor Digital wants to demystify the digital transformation and make it comprehensible to all by using colloquial language rather than fancy “buzzwords”. Based on our own experience, we know it’s not just reserved for PhDs or large global corporations with billion-dollar digitalization projects, says Valter Leban. “Therefore, we have decided to work primarily with small and medium-sized companies that until recently could not afford certain solutions, or were concerned about how to provide a team of 20 qualified people to work on the implementation. With new business models and scalable, modular solutions, we can assure our customers that such concerns are just a thing of the past, ”Aleš Gajšek is convinced. "It is also very important here whether we work with managers who are only interested in costs and numbers, or visionaries who want to ensure long-term growth and success for their company," added Valter Leban.
Keywords: I 4.0 READINESS, digital transformation, digitalisation
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