Digital Transformation: Empirical Values

00:07 In summary, I want to share the most important lessons with you.

00:11 First and foremost, we were yearning for a unified meaning of the term "digital." It is not real. Digital implies something different to each department, which is OK.

00:24 For sales, it implies e-commerce; for marketing, it could be the next platform, such as Instagram; and for supply chain, it will mean something else entirely.

00:34 That's OK. The essential thing is to stick with it and constantly evolve your own notion of digital. Then it's obviously as follows: There are several reactions to change processes. There are opponents, and there are supporters who think they are fantastic.

00:53 Then there are those who are incredibly tough to A) identify and B) manage.

00:59 Those are the outspoken boosters, the people who nod when they hear a keyword, say "agility," and remark, "Ah, yes, that sounds good, will do!" "Well, honestly, I didn't really understand what agility was all about; I just pretended," they explain later during their coffee break.

01:19 But I'll keep doing what I've been doing." Nothing occurs after that.

01:24 This group is quite difficult to identify.

01:27 What I've discovered is as follows: Do you include everyone in the discussion? Do you inquire, "How is this for you?" What is it that keeps you from doing certain things? Why don't you have faith in certain things? "How can I assist you in locating these vocal supporters?" Because this path can only be completed in collaboration.

01:46 What I've also discovered is that all of the changes that have occurred in the past can result in a mindset known as digitalization.

01:55 This will come to an end at some point.

01:57 The excitement will pass, and I won't have to deal with it.

02:00 This isn't really an issue for me right now.

02:03 The best course of action is to do nothing at all.

02:06 This is a typical attitude.

02:07 The only thing that matters is that we talk about it, that we are aware of it, and that we work on it together.

02:15 I've also noticed that numerous initiatives with the word "digital" in their title are suddenly waved through or accepted, for example, by the controlling department or the person in charge of the budget.

02:29 That means that a project labeled digital controlling is more likely to acquire funding than a project called SAP HANA, which is not always the case, and I believe it is important to be aware of this.

02:45 "Learn to think like an animal." It is critical to learn and to provide employees and all of us with the opportunity to evolve constantly, and we require a self-learning infrastructure to do so.

03:00 And there are numerous vendors, such as Blinkist or Headspace, that can assist in the development of this infrastructure.

03:08 We trained people at all levels, including our senior management.

03:14 However, we never got to the application level in upper management.

03:18 We were always on the inspiration or awareness level, which meant we had a very, very basic comprehension of the subject.

03:27 This does not work for everyone.

03:29 It occasionally becomes sense to reach the application level with high management and, for example, build a landing page in three hours so that top management can ask, "Hey if we can do this in three hours, why are we taking three months for things like this?" To summarize, the entire experience is a roller coaster.

03:51 There are highs and lows, which is perfectly normal.

03:54 Just keep calm and carry on.

03:59 And at the end of the day others cannot be changed.

04:04 You can only improve yourself and utilize your actions to motivate others.

04:09 So begin with yourself.

04:10 Begin small. alter yourself; do not alter others; instead, inspire others through your actions.