An Evolution of People, Process and Technology
Hi, I'm Paul and I write blogs to help process the thoughts in my head... :-)
AKA, the musings (post series link) of a slightly grumpy, battle hardened data engineer, technology strategist and enterprise architect.
Context
'Digital native' industries is a term I first encountered a while ago when chatting to Databricks as part of some webinar conversations. At the time, it made perfect sense and I just updated my brain with the terminology without thinking much more about it. Until recently anyway!
If you haven't encountered the term before, digital natives are those companies that have emerged or transformed in the digital era. You may want to Google or dig into the 'digital era' part here as well. But for this blog, we can think about industries such as e-commerce, social media, online gaming, streaming services and even our very own Cloud Formations (professional services). Just to name a few examples. These industries have been at the forefront of innovation and disruption, leveraging technology to create new value propositions, business models, and customer experiences. However, as technology becomes more advanced, the challenges faced by digital natives are shifting.
In this blog post, I want to explore how the relative importance of people, process and technology has changed over time, and what implications this has for the future of all industries. But grounded in the digital native context.
Evolution
Traditionally people, process and technology have been considered as the three pillars of any organisation, and the key factors for achieving competitive advantage. As you may be aware I like Venn diagrams and the classic way to represent those three pillars, with competitive advantage where we can make them work together (overlap).
However, the relative weight and complexity of these factors have varied across different stages of the digital era.
In the early stages of the digital era, technology was the main driver of innovation and differentiation. Digital native industries had to invest heavily in developing, acquiring, and integrating new technologies, such as web platforms, mobile apps, cloud services, big data, artificial intelligence, and blockchain. Technology was the most challenging and costly factor, while people and process were easier to manage and standardise, relatively speaking.
In the middle stages of the digital era, process became the main focus of improvement and optimisation. Digital native industries had to design and implement agile, lean, and customer-centric processes, such as scrum, Kanban, DevOps and design thinking. Process was the most challenging and dynamic factor, while technology became more mature and accessible, and people were more adaptable and skilled.
In the current and future stages of the digital era, people are becoming the main source of value and differentiation. Digital native industries have to attract, retain, and empower talented, diverse, and creative people, who can drive innovation, collaboration, and customer satisfaction. People are the most challenging and unpredictable factor, while technology becomes more commoditised, and process becomes more automated. Almost as the wrapper to technology to support the people.
That said, we end up with a new picture as part of this evolution, like the below:
Implications
The shift in the challenges faced by digital native industries (and others) has several implications for their strategy, culture, and performance. Those that currently spring to mind are:
Digital native industries have to invest more in human capital, such as training, development, mentoring, and recognition. They also have to create a culture of trust, autonomy, and feedback, where people can experiment, learn, and grow.
Digital native industries have to foster a culture of diversity, inclusion, and belonging, where people can bring their whole selves to work, and leverage their unique perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. They also have to promote a culture of collaboration, where people can work across teams, functions, and geographies, and leverage their collective intelligence and creativity. Almost describing ourselves, this feels especially relevant to professional services.
Digital native industries have to balance the use of technology and process. Avoid overreliance on one or the other. They have to use technology and process as enablers that facilitate the people and enhance, not substitute, the outputs from human potential.
Conclusion
Digital native industries have been pioneers and leaders in the digital era, but they also face new and evolving challenges. As technology becomes more advanced and ubiquitous, the relative importance of people, process and technology has changed over time. People are becoming the main source of value and differentiation, while technology becomes more commoditised. While process becomes more automated and even intelligent. Digital native industries have to adapt to this new reality, and invest more in human capital, culture, and balance.
In saying this I ultimately feel conflicted as the co-founder of a digital native company. Hence writing the blog. What do you think?
Can automation and intelligence reduce the need for human capital if we do it correctly?
Has technology become so advanced that it will come full circle for certain applications?
Does this generic view only apply to certain industries? And which have already made the swift?
Easy technology now the easiest part? And will it stay that way?
Many thanks for reading.
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