Different facets of a digital enterprise
"A clever person does not make all the mistakes himself - he gives a chance to others as well."
Winston Churchill
Digital enterprise is a fashionable theme, trend and roadmap of progressive humanity entering Industry 4.0. The latter is another industrial revolution, characterized by the digitalization of the incredible flexibility of enterprises in the formation of business models, coupled with the global reach of the potential client base in the integration of "cyber-physical systems" (CPS) and so-called. The Internet of Things (IoT - Internet of Things) in manufacturing processes.
The term “digital enterprise” was first introduced in the book Being Digital by MIT Media Lab’s director Nicholas Negroponte, which was published in 1996. True, it was only now possible to approach the practical implementation of the idea of ​​a digital enterprise - thanks to the development of appropriate technologies. The emergence of digital enterprises logically leads to a digital economy. Accordingly, the adoption by the Government of the Russian Federation of the Digital Economy of the Russian Federation program in the summer of 2017 demonstrated a hot and, one might even say, the country's sincere desire not only to keep up with the trend, but also to settle down confidently in the new digital reality.
With the huge amounts of data generated in modern enterprises, people can no longer cope, but machines can easily cope. In turn, the machines get the opportunity to interact with each other in certain areas of production, which makes it possible to make many processes more efficient, flexible and cost-effective by creating an environment equipped with measuring equipment.
To move to the digital form of business, it is necessary to carry out a digital transformation of the enterprise, which implies the use of the entire pool of modern ICT technologies for a fundamental increase in productivity and value of enterprises. Perhaps it would be better to say it differently: a drastic increase in productivity, competitiveness and enterprise value is possible today with parallel digitization of business processes and their fundamental reengineering (BPR, Business Process Reengineering).
Previously, only the optimization of its individual phases or stages was considered in production, but today, within the framework of digital transformation and the creation of a digital enterprise, the end-to-end process is analyzed, including not only purely production steps from idea, development, design, procurement to manufacturing, but also related financial activities , work of personnel, logistics, operation, support, partner network, subcontractors, etc., etc. After all, the main goals of the digital transformation are to increase the speed of adoption second, an increase in the variability of processes depending on the client's needs and characteristics, reducing the number of employees involved in the process (ie, chain of decision-making and value creation). In general, sociality, mobility, analytics and “clouds” are the foundation on which a digital enterprise is built. And it is quite logical that this results in a potentially higher level of labor productivity, teamwork, cooperation, control, support and, accordingly, predictability of the result of work. And the timing and cost of launching new products are sometimes reduced by several times. All this is done in the name of a cardinal increase in profits, competitiveness and market value of the enterprise. And if it is not visible, in what way it is possible to seriously increase the competitiveness of an enterprise, immediately the question arises of payback or the targeted use of investments in digital transformation. Especially important this question will be for monopolies.
A digital enterprise provides for digitalization and integration of vertical processes throughout the entire enterprise, ranging from product development and procurement to production, logistics and in-service maintenance. In turn, the horizontal integration of a digital enterprise goes beyond internal operations and covers suppliers, consumers, and all key partners along the entire value chain. It uses various technologies: from tracking and monitoring devices to integrated planning integrated with real-time execution. All this is done on the basis of the corresponding digital platform and all together constitutes the so-called digital ecosystem of a digital enterprise.
A digital platform is a set of digital data, models (logic, algorithms) and tools (methods, tools) that are informationally and technologically integrated into a single automated functional system designed for qualified management of the target subject area with the organization of interaction of interested subjects. In short, this is the essence of any digital enterprise, in which at least there is a digital twin of the product being produced and a digital twin of the enterprise itself. And, as the President of the Russian Federation noted at a meeting with journalists of Komsomolskaya Pravda on January 11, 2017, “after some time nothing will be possible to produce without owners of digital platforms, the world will be divided between them”.
A corresponding digital enterprise ecosystem is emerging around each digital platform, including resource and component suppliers, customers, and service and maintenance services. It is also important that all data on operational processes, process efficiency, quality management and operational planning are available in real time in an integrated network of a digital enterprise. Of course, all this is not done in order to simply report on the transformation.
However, if you are told that a digital enterprise is the logical conclusion of the automation process in an enterprise of everything and everyone, don’t believe it. At least because, as one intelligent person said, one cannot automate the disorder, not to mention all the “jambs” of outdated business processes or information systems that serve them, which is objectively common everywhere.
First, the digital enterprise is a product of another industrial revolution, rather than the evolution of IT-based automation, on which previous Industry 3.0 was based.
Secondly, although industrial automation systems half a century ago were able to interconnect thousands of devices, control them, collect and process the data obtained from them, today a change in the concept of data analysis is required. The world is entering the digital business era, which is characterized by an unprecedented level of convergence of technology, business processes, communications, artificial intelligence (AI) and various “smart” things.
An example of a digital enterprise is the change in the business model of production and sale of aircraft engines. If each aircraft engine is equipped with a set of sensors that monitor all of its key functionality and performance, then regular collection of information from them (and in the case of IoT, this is the case) allows the manufacturer to constantly analyze the performance of the product, wherever it is, comparing it with the so-called factory "Digital twin". Now the manufacturer can understand in advance that it is time for a specific engine to do unscheduled prophylaxis, or even promptly fix it for repair, replacing it with another, in order to avoid possible major troubles. In addition to improving flight safety (prevention is usually carried out on schedule or depending on the working resource, which cannot prevent sudden failures and various possible problems with equipment, or even refueling with low-quality fuel or the notorious “human factor”), this allows business to change Model aircraft factory with the sale of engines directly for the sale of their working resource. In other words - you pay only for the direct “time of the engine in flight”, and all other efforts are taken by the manufacturer. So sales are replaced by rent, and capital expenditures (CAPEX) - by operating expenses (OPEX). Not only operational services, but also financiers will quickly find in all this a lot of advantages for both the supplier and the consumer. Actually, new digital business models are often aimed at obtaining additional revenue from digital solutions, optimizing customer interaction and improving customer access.
Instead of automating the work of employees responsible for working with clients, you can now create self-service systems, minimizing the number of intermediaries between the client and the final service or product. Here today are the processes in the banking sector: it turned out that almost 80% of standard banking procedures can be carried out not by an employee-operator, but by a robot program. And the rapidly developing mobile banking, which does not require any buildings or employees (and only the availability of a competent IT service) also illustrates what digital transformation is.
Today, among the "foremost" of digital production are: high-tech industry, banks and retail - they now receive the greatest benefits from the digital transformation. As for Telecom, he recently completed the process of his own fundamental (and, of course, digital) transformation associated with the implementation of the SD-WAN concept (Software-Defined Wide Area Network - software-defined global network). Now the company - a telecom operator can build for its client a corporate network not from physical equipment in the form of hardware and software, but in the form of their virtual digital models in the cloud. But the main thing is that the client can easily manage his extensive corporate network, upgrade it and introduce new services, which was previously very difficult (and not only in terms of investment). It turns out the finished model of a digital enterprise.
The best companies - the so-called “digital elite” (Digirati) - combine digital activity and strong leadership, making the transition from just using IT to business transformation. This is what they call digital maturity. Companies on this basis are significantly different, and those that are more mature in terms of digital technology are superior to their competitors in the business.
Analysts from Capgemini Consulting and MIT Sloan School of Management analyzed more than 400 large companies from various industries to understand what digital business means to them. The results of the study showed that financial indicators depend on the use of new technologies and management methodologies:
• companies actively using technologies and new management methods, on average, 26% more profitable than their competitors;
• organizations that invest a lot in digital technology, but at the same time pay little attention to management, have financial performance 11% lower;
• more conservative companies, which improve only management, get plus 9% to profits, but they can potentially acquire three times more with the help of digital technologies;
• those who have not chosen a development strategy have negative financial indicators in comparison with other market players - minus 24%.
What follows from all this? Today, we need people who can not only carry out digital transformation, but also come up with new business models for digital enterprises. Even the “Digital Economy” program cannot, with a click of the fingers, transfer the national economy to the rails of digital transformation, but is only intended to “prepare the ground” in the face of infrastructure, regulation, training, technological backlogs, etc. And what is the "soil" without ideas? - A waste of investment (albeit with the remaining hope for the future).
Thus, to come up with a business model for Industry 4.0 will have on their own. And if those are not yet visible, all the “spells” about, for example, the massive deployment of IoT (the capabilities of which are not yet fully understood by potential customers) or some digital platforms are premature. The presence of the IoT telecommunications infrastructure, which mobile operators will create sooner or later (and if they haven’t yet created 5G networks, there is already a set of proprietary solutions), is just one of the necessary prerequisites. It's like scattering the net where there is no fish yet. And, probably, it is logical that at the beginning there should be a “word”, and only then (at least 7 days) - infrastructure.
Tell me, if you are going to do end-to-end business processes, to bring transparency and savings in terms of productivity, decision-making speed, operational tracking of needs, etc., isn’t it logical that the weakest link in the development of digital enterprises is not the janitors with clerks ( how do journalists like to frighten us), and the huge "army" of multi-level managers, which has covered today the entire production sphere, the service sector and, what can be said there, the sphere of government? Yes, it was with them that the extremely important optimization of individual phases or stages of production or public administration verticals was once connected with fixation or installation of barriers with corresponding areas of responsibility. It looks like this time is running out. By the way, the state has already tried itself in a digital transformation in the part of electronic public services. - And it turned out! The current trend on, excuse me, process “draft” is aimed at the maximum removal of barriers in the name of, above all, competitiveness and, accordingly, profitability. Isn't this the main thing that a business needs?
It should also be clarified that each of the digital enterprises will create its own digital ecosystem. In Industry 4.0, new value chains will be created along different verticals and, possibly, through different ecosystems. Moreover, all these ecosystems can be fundamentally different, with different digital twins, formed according to different standards and, possibly, will conflict with each other when trying to build a vertical from them. The task of the future regulator is to see this future problem along with the general classification and identification, which in the digital age can undoubtedly be solved. But by whom, at what moment and for whose money?
Not less difficult is the involvement of potential customers in Industry 4.0. Actually, there is a rule in the market: the customer is not interested in how you did it, but it is interesting what exactly you did, what it will give the customer and for what money. To do this, it is not enough to come up with a new business model for a digital enterprise, it should contain some undeniable advantages for the client, who today is pretty spoiled by numerous services of Yandex, Mail.ru Group, Google, etc., etc. Obviously, under the conditions when the line between Industries 3.0 and 4.0 is very thin, the advantages and features of many digital services will need to be proved, explained, and helped to download and activate. But first, they will need to be explained to themselves. Industry 4.0 should play a large role of creativity (if not futurology), so even highly motivated, but low-skilled or non-creative personnel will not help there.
As for the expectations of universal prosperity upon the onset of Industry 4.0, it should be understood that when even “Our Father” begins with a request for bread, in the digital economy, from the well-known formula “bread and circuses”, there is not enough bread, which cannot be directly produced from numbers . Digital enterprises can optimize resources, save on the production and sale of products, but someone initially needs to extract all these resources. At least with the help of water and steam. Therefore, all the abundance of dreaming about the future blissful swinging on the IT waves of the “smart” digital sea should not forget where everything comes from and at what point and why it can end suddenly.
And finally, all the promised cardinal improvements in planetary life in terms of speed, reliability, transparency and accessibility of any data due to the global development of the digital economy have quite logical consequences, which are probably still not fully understood even by the Digital Everything preachers. Or, on the contrary, everything is very clear and has its own goals. For, as they say, the best punishment for virtue is virtue itself.
For example, the concept of “smart” home, “smart” city and, obviously, “smart” digital state (though, who would doubt it), supported by the enormous potential of artificial intelligence, should be complemented with some “trifles” that society will bring from its past, so to speak, "stupid" existence. It is quite logical that smart scammers, smart robbers and other smart offenders and plunderers will appear in a smart city, the lack of which modern civilization clearly does not feel, the presence of which and which should also be countered.
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: radio.ru, lastmile.su, PCWeek, ComNews, pwc.ru, isicad.ru, itweek.ru, digenforum.ru, tops.ru, denreymer.com, ngmsys.com
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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/353864/
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