The digital economy has highlighted the role of data and technology in improving the customer experience, but a great customer experience depends on dedicated, productive employees. Digital technologies not only enable us to eliminate work that is not value-adding (the junk), but also to re-design work to unlock value for employees (and therefore customers) in new ways. In previous interviews with CIOs, CDOs and CXOs we found that companies are breaking knowledge work processes into components, many of which are then capable of being digitized. In this way work components become visible, can be easily shared, and are able to be linked and re-organized in ways that were never possible before. We identified three capabilities that enable companies to start to design knowledge work in this way: (1) digitizing of work to make it visible and sharable (e.g., platforms that automate repetitive work and provide better information to decision makers); (2) ways of organizing collaborative teams to search and share re-usable components to inspire new work designs (e.g., Agile teams, Journey Mapping, Communities of Practice); and (3) building a common understanding of what it means to work in a way that is fit for a digital enterprise (e.g., more evidence-based, mobile, cloud-based, personalized).
In 2020 we will be exploring these findings further to get new insights into how high-performing firms are building these capabilities. Specifically, we will be looking at the following research questions:
- Who should lead this digitization of work effort?
- What are the typical goals or metrics of progress used in these types of efforts?
Seeking: Companies that are proactively digitizing work beyond automation for increased efficiency, and considering how work components can be shared, linked, and regrouped to transform how work is done
Contact: Kristine Dery
