Strategies for the digital future

Making a successful business fit for the future, deploying new skills

The corona pandemic is presenting companies with economic and social challenges. Restructuring business units or entire companies is often the only logical path to ensure business continuation. Supply chains are showing their vulnerability even after a year of the pandemic. They need to be redesigned and made more resilient at every level of the value chain.

Digital transformation in companies is in full swing. This transformation is going far beyond remote working and web conferences. Digitization is connecting companies directly with end customers. Trade levels are being questioned or even eliminated. On-demand manufacturing platforms are bundling producers on the supply side and forming the bottleneck to the customer on the demand side. In the industrial Internet of Things, more and more products, machines and people are communicating directly with each other. Digitization is changing not only the organization of work within companies, but also across company boundaries. Working in ecosystems and value networks is the new normal.

Transformation starts with corporate strategy. The success factors of this transformation are: Customer Focus | Organization | Leadership.

The demand for individual or customizable products continues to rise in almost all industries and markets. It is therefore necessary to have in-depth knowledge of customer needs and their degree of fulfillment from the customer's perspective. Consequently, more and more companies are taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT | IoT) for a permanent exchange with their customers. They are gaining deep insights into the usage behavior of their customers and consequently, know-how for new products. This has resulted in new business models such as Product as a Service (PaaS), Pay-per-Use models or On-Demand-Manufacturing.

Our business world is globally connected, dynamic and increasingly digital. This exerts massive influence on the organization of companies. In order to harness the full potential of resilient supply chains and value networks, exploit the opportunities of new business models and use the potential of digital technologies to the full, processes must be adapted and optimized specifically for company requirements. Functional boundaries should be consciously overcome. The starting point for organizational changes are the customers and their needs.

Remote-working and web conferences are only one part in the new normal of the digitalized economy - just a small one.

Crisis management and strategy development are the core tasks of leaders. The Corona pandemic is sweeping across the world like a storm. Short-term crisis management is required in many companies. At the same time, dramatic upheavals are continuing in many industries and companies. The triggers of these changes are, for example, the 4th Industrial Revolution and digitalization, climate change, electromobility and autonomous driving. In addition, customers are becoming more demanding and are increasingly asking for individualized offers. Managers are faced with a wide range of questions! Most answers focus on the "what" to do. But is there also clarity for the "how"“ to do it?