WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: CTO position often comes up in discussions, and more often than not the question is "what do they do?". This is a good start to think about it.

WHY IT MATTERS: interesting solution developed at Cloudflare, a technology company, to facilitate conversations across the organization. The paper highlights the challenges of making random chats truly random (and useful). As work from home and remote work become the norm post-covid, this will become required in all organizations. Not only large distributed companies but also startups that decide to go full work from home.

WHY IT MATTERS: no surprise, companies will hire technologists and agile methodology experts post confinement to enable their remote workforce ... and reduce the need for humans!

WHY IT MATTERS: the article very well sums up the changes that will impact us all - and the conclusion is bleak. When production is plentiful, very few have jobs. Having access to what is produced becomes the issue - if you don't have a job, you don't have the means to buy what gets produced. We will enter an era of social tensions and can only hope it will not be resolved in a 3rd world war.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

I've been tracking the impact of digital in HR for a while and have been surprised at how slow the HR professionals have been embracing the digital tools at their disposal. This summary from CBinsights shows that innovation is very dynamic and that there are many new tools to improve HR. However, I find resistance in the corporate leaders to fully finance HR departments to transform (HR is still seen as a cost center - so you minimize its expense / If you see it as a strategic group then you fund it appropriately because you see returns) - but I also see resistance in HR professionals not willing to transform their processes and ways of doing things. Lots to do in this field IMHO.

Also read:

- http://fmcs.digital/blog/tag/hr/

- http://www.scoop.it/t/digital-transformation-of-businesses/?tag=HR 

- www.rekruti.com

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

I love those stories because they are real-life, pragmatic, and reflect the reality of startups. Should be true not only for startups but intrapreneurs and small groups that burst into life in larger organizations. Lesson to learn: don't grow until you know your business model. Also: self-service is good. Must read to give you confidence, hope and also scare you a little.

One important stat from The Future of Jobs report is that the top trend that will drive change in work is new technology and innovation.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

All jobs will be affected by technology and thus every good digital transformation should include the human disruption and its impact on current and future employees. Too often, we implement digital change and fail to consider people impact.

Look at UBER taxis: their model is to plow ahead and disrupt the market but they have failed to accompany the taxi drivers that are impacted. Because of it they are facing huge head winds from governments and established corporations.

On the other hand, Teo Taxi (Montreal-based) has recognized the people impact and embraced human transformation of the cab drivers which results in much better relationships and less confrontation. Same technology, same process, different human approach.

With the introduction of robots, the fear is that humans will loose their jobs. In the short term at least, it may only transform work.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

Any strategic plan should include a chapter on robotics and the replacement of human labour with robots (and possible AI as well). The article shed some insights on historical perspective - farmers have not disappeared with introduction of mechanical devices but they have become much more productive - as well as raises some interesting ideas about our cohabitation with robots in the near future.

An interactive chart that graphs 800 different jobs along with their automation potential - as estimated by McKinsey.

WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT

If you are in school or just out of school, this chart should be of particular interest. For all the others, this is essential must read tooling when preparing strategy and planning for the future of your business unit, organization - large or startup.

Jobs with highest potential for automation represent opportunities for cost reduction, process improvements to reduce lead times, or creation of the automated tools and software that will replace them. For example:

• medical appliance technicians: 100% automation potential. If you are in this field your business plan should include major shift from human workers to robots. If employees are unionized, look at contract negotiation and employee retraining. If you build medical appliance, ensure your hard-software appliance includes the necessary components to make this automation simple and effective.
• sewing machine operators: 100% automation potential, 143K workers in the US. Replacing human by robot sewing machine is efficient but will require capital expenditures: has it been forecasted in your budgets? If that throws your business model out of whack, you have to think like a startup and "pivot" your company to a different yet adjacent space such as custom apparel design and fabrication.

And 798 other sources of inspiration.