My friends at Cognizant and I have been having a healthy discussion on the Internet of Things and how these technology changes are shaping the way we work.
- Part 1: SMAC in the Middle of Supply Chain Change
- Part 2: Will the Internet of Things (IoT) Help Eliminate Information Latency and Deficiency in Supply Planning?
This is part 3 in our series. Some colleagues and friends think I am nuts to put so much emphasis on the Digital Natives, and perhaps I am. Being a Digital Immigrant myself, I am only too aware of the command and control structures with which I grew up and which have been the foundation of all organizations for which I have worked. I’m not so naïve as to think that this change will happen quickly. Throughout history major changes in technology have driven changes in social and business structures, the classic being the Pony Express and the steam train. But more fundamental change came from the printing press. This is a closer equivalent to the impact digitization will have on business structures, including a major shift in business models and therefore winners and losers. We used to go to an office (many still do) because this was the easiest way to organize a workforce and structure work. Similarly with factories. People have to go to where the machines are. But in a digital world the only reason to have an office is for the management, which are almost always Digital Immigrants, to enforce a structure and linear decision making processes, the very things that Digital Natives find most constrictive. I’d also like to point out that these are the very things that cause siloed organizations and long decision cycles in our supply chains. The hand-offs and approvals which are the basis for our existing organizational structure date from the days of runners and carrier pigeons. Jonathan Lofton raises many of these points, form a different perspective, in his blog “Unleash Pixar-like Creativity in Your Supply Chain Management Organization”. The braintrust Jonathan writes about has no authority, is collaborative, and is consensual. This is how Digital Natives like to work and what Digital Immigrants find threatening. Technology is simply an enabler. It is how we use it that brings value. And much as we have had to rethink the first applications that were simply a digitization of a paper based paradigm, we need to rethink how we structure our organizations and get work done to get maximum utility out of the digital world. And the Digital natives are experimenting with these as we speak. As we have in the past, let us, the Digital Immigrants, extract the value from their experimentation rather than resist the inevitable change. I find these tremendously exciting times. For additional reading on the topic of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, check out my recent blog on “Do Supply Chain Planning systems generate any value?” as well as the following presentation by Marc Prensky from the Handheld Learning conference.
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