Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1267313
JULY 2020 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 15 way—started to grow. That led to very signifi- cant improvements in the core metrics of our company from a customer and an internal per- formance perspective. Three years ago, when it became apparent that our journey internally was something very meaningful for others in the industry to explore, we wanted to do something to inspire the same results within their manufacturing halls. We began to share our lessons learned with many of our customers—how we got there, and what we did to pivot in terms of early mistakes. They were very intrigued because it was just prac- tical insights being afforded, and we weren't selling anything. As a function, we were opera- tions, talking about how we do manufacturing differently, why, and what it took to get there. The popularity of those customer interactions led to an incredible amount of time spent by me as the COO and members of our staff engaging with these customers. Our CEO and I agreed it was time to create a capability within our company where we no longer went about shar- ing those experiences with industry part-time. There were simply too many people in search of the same things from an outcome perspec- tive, which was making it difficult for us to do that well, along with our day jobs. That's when we created the Connected Enterprise Consulting function. I have a team of about 20 folks who were some of those deployment experts from a subject-matter per- spective, and we brought in people from other realms of the industry who have had equally intriguing experiences. Now, we talk to cur- rent and prospective customers all over the world about what they're in search of from an improved business outcome or aspiration perspective and the transformation challenges they're trying to overcome. We often discuss how easy it is to get over-enamored with shiny technological objects, and if that's not coupled with high respect for the people element of transformation—as well as how processes and technologies come together—a firm is going to land well short of where they want to go. And if they finally do get there in spite of that respect, it's going to be an arduous trek with legitimate concerns for sustainability. Our job is to help them find the consider- ations they have to entertain, and many times, engage in the development, partnering with them on their transformation roadmaps—the actual stages that they can go through to get improved performance as a company. Johnson: You touched on three major factors: people, processes, and technologies. When you're doing your consulting work and talk- ing to your customers and prospects, where do you start with those three? Murphy: It has changed. When we started inter- nally, because it was so natural, the focus was on technologies and processes. But we learned that you only go so far, and in some elements, you don't get anywhere without considering the human factors, change management, and the organizational dynamics at work. We have veered ourselves, and, with our clients, sup- ported the notion that if you don't lean into the realities of how much change is going to be introduced—and how your people are going to embrace and adopt that in a willing and a knowing fashion versus a dictatorial one—just getting there is not the way to do business these days. When we're thinking of digital transforma- tion, there's an IT component and an OT com- ponent. And the Connected Enterprise—in terms of the enabling technologies, processes, and services that we afford, as well as how we define that as being the convergence of IT and Operational Technology (OT)—those aren't just technologies; those are people. IT and OT are functions in corporations that everyone knows didn't grow up close together in the industry. When we started internally, because it was so natural, the focus was on technologies and processes.