The Digital Industrialist... The tip of the spear for Industry 4.0

 The fourth industrial revolution is here. Driven by digital disruption with the objective of delivering greater value for customers through positive user experience. This new era of digital industrialisation requires a new type of leader. Similar to the previous industrial revolution, successful business leaders were referred to as industrialists. They had a the foresight, skills and drive to organise machines and labour to deliver goods to the market.

"There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible." - Henry Ford

Context - What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 is the result of digital disruption on traditional businesses and the advent of new businesses providing services within a digital economy. The following are examples of industries entering Industry 4.0 era:

• Financial Services - Testing digital currencies and blockchain technology to enable trusted digital trades.
• Transportation and supply chain specialists - Leveraging sensors (Internet of things (IoT)) and geolocation to optimise delivery services.
• Construction and development companies - Investing in smart systems within buildings to allow tenants to automate utilities and access common concierge services via self service portals.
• Energy Utilities - Developing smart grids to optimise energy generation, asset management and usage.
• Governments - Investing in smart cities that bring all of these elements together to drive efficiencies for the broader economy and policy making.

In order to enable these advances in the digital economy a new type of leader is required that knows how to leverage not one or two technologies, but has breadth and depth across multiple technologies and capability areas.

Who is the new Leader within Industry 4.0?

The digital industrialist is the business leader for Industry 4.0. Traditional industrialists of the 19th and 20th Century applied themselves to the organisation of labour and the application of machines. Since then machines have become much more complex (e.g.: The Internet, Big Data Analysis, and integration dependencies). This digital industrialist requires a broader skill set that takes into consideration the complexities that have arisen from the continued evolution of technology, business and regulation.

The digital industrialist must operate in an environment that requires the organisation of stakeholders, technology, physical assets and soft skills expected by modern leaders. The following digram provides an indicative view of the complexities of the digital industrialist and modern business leader.

Challenges for Digital Industrialists

The Digital Industrialist will not be perceived as the "lone ranger" of the past. They will require internal organisational support and external services, cooperating for a common goal. The following is a list of common challenges that the digital industrialists will encounter in the future:

• Organisational culture - A culture of cooperation and collaboration will be required to deliver within Industry 4.0. Organisations where departments are "at odds" with each other will create internal barriers delaying entry into the digital industry the associated benefits.
• Leveraging 3rd parties and service providers - A mature and trusting partnership with service providers is essential to deliver the multiple capabilities required for Industry 4.0. Organisations that keep partners and providers at arms length will struggle to leverage market knowledge and be slow to act to build internal capabilities.
• Technology architecture - A robust technology architecture function is required to plan and maintain the capabilities to deliver within Industry 4.0. Organisations without clear understanding of current architecture and dependencies will struggle to plan and implement digital transformation projects. Leveraging technology capabilities is essential in delivering the lowest cost solution to shareholders. Lack of architecture will result in capability duplication across the organisation.
• Service operating model - A new service operating model will be required to deliver an improved digital experience layer beyond traditional technology and business services. Organisations that are already struggling with delivering positive user experience across technical and business services will be further challenged by convergence and the requests for a ubiquitous user experience across the organisation.

Digital Industrialists - The tip of the spear

Digital Industrialists need to lead organisations within Industry 4.0. They will need to know how to manage providers of underlying technologies that have been commoditised (e.g.: cloud); They will need to create a positive user experience to enable stakeholders; and they will need to be driven to deliver maximum benefits and create competitive advantage for the organisation.

To update the words of Henry Ford; The digital industrialist will need to create the best user experience for stakeholders at the lowest possible cost, paying the highest possible wages. 

Take aways for Leaders:

• Develop a long term view of your organisation with the support of digital industrialists either internal or external to your organisation.
• Build a strong team of Digital Industrialists deliver Industry 4.0 focused on over coming the challenges of organisational culture, architecture, sourcing and service operation model.