The darker side of digital transformation at Siemens
Lecture by Stephanie Chalmers and Mark Seall from Siemens at the Smart Business Day 2019
Stephanie Chalmers and Mark Seall from Siemens will address the topic "The dark side of digital transformation - what we have learned in the course of a hardcore transformation at Siemens" at the Smart Business Day. The presentation is in English.
Starting point is a picture of the modern newsroom at Siemens. But what is missing? Diversity. It was necessary to open up, for example away from centralized communication to a decentralized organization with "feelers in the market".
It was an extremely demanding task to transform the caterpillar into a butterfly. However, according to Stephanie, they did not encounter a caterpillar, but rather an elephant that was to be transformed.
At the same time, the process was initiated to cut communication costs in half and increase efficiency. This always has the problem, which is shown in the marshmallow test: Short-term results are more desirable than successes that come in the long run.
One way to achieve this was an easy-to-understand concept that brings (small) pleasures. And people who responded to it were used as ambassadors.
The fundamental basis was the transition from "I need money to buy success" (money is always the limitation in this mindset) to "we invest in tools and skills" with the aim of creating long-term success. A thinking in opportunities.
In other words, away from short-term expenditures (e.g. to advertising agencies) and towards long-term investments in communication. Or as Stephanie and Mark put it entertainingly: "From Junk to Joy".
For the implementation, the executing persons ('operations') are essential, since the (reduced) existing budget had to be used for the intended purpose. In addition, a separate unit ('IT transformation studio') called 'Ingenuity Studios' was founded in South Africa. IT must be your friend or: Let's make the elephant fly.
