Introducing …
The Engineering Toolbox for effective Design, Evolution and Digitalisation
of your Organisation and its Processes.
At a Glance
Organisations need digital transformations to ensure and improve the productivity, quality and innovation of their products and services.
Only: Digital transformation (short: digitalisation) is a high-risk endeavor, as is sadly evidenced by too many failing projects.
A closer look at organisations struggling or even failing in their digitalisation strategy reveals recurring patterns.
Different Awareness and Proficiency of Complexity and Risks
Each organisation is different, but over time, two typical digitalisation scenarios have emerged depending on the maturity of the respective industry.
1. Established, Standardized Field
Organisations that are active in well-understood subject areas and that rely on industry-standard processes can significantly reduce their digitalisation risks by adopting proven digital solutions that require no or few adaptations.
The organisation will mostly adopt the out-of-the box modules and processes of the chosen solution; the solution is branded and customised largely through configuration rather than full-on software development.
2. Non-Standard Business
Organisations with non-standard subject areas or processes have particularly high digitalisation risks due their unawareness to the enormous complexity own their own operations. These organisations usually choose between two main options both of which lead to strong, long-lasting dependencies on technology partners.
a.
Adopt a standard, commercial software solution with significant adaptations to the organisation's needs by a technology partner:
The organisation should adapt to the standards of the solution platform and exploit it as much as possible. Domain experts need to make meaningful sacrifices.
This approach requires the organisation to gain a thorough understanding of the solution platform, its concepts and out-of-the-box processes, its capabilities and limitations. This should occur prior to any actual transformation steps, but is usually skipped, thus surrending transformation leadership and control to the technology partner.
However, organisations cannot count on technology partners acquiring a deep understanding of the organisation's subject areas, of its business processes, of particular qualities and idiosynchrasies of its services and business partners. Eventually, neither organisation nor technology partner master the «business» complexity.
The potential of the new platform cannot be exploited due to the lack of mutual knowledge and understanding. The new solution will not meet important goals.
b.
Develop a custom software solution for which the technology partner will integrate proven software platforms, components and services.
The organisation's management and experts will face the greatest challenge of their careers in the technology-partner-dominated transformation.
While this approach offers an organisation the opportunity to distinguish itself from the market and from its competitors in terms of productivity, quality and innovation, this potential comes at great risks.
Organisations that so far relied on smart humans and mostly-manual processes always underestimate the complexity that they are managing day in and day out. It is only because of skilled, experienced and creative individuals that organisations are able to handle that complexity. However, in this scenario, there are no out-of-the-box components and processes the organisation could rely on. It is thus even more important to come to terms with the current subject areas and processes.
That complexity will be augmented further by the complexity of mastering a new strategy and new requirements, new technologies, changes in responsibilites and organisational structure, etc. The technology partners do know the technology side but they cannot and should not try to support on the «business» side. The project will see exploding complexity and cost while progress slows down.
The predominant digitalisation strategy of organisations is to cast out their nets in hope of finding a technology partner that «runs» the digital-transformation show for them.
Eager technology partners are taking on that challenge in the absence of experts able to methodically explore and master the organisation's «business» complexity. Instead, they seek remedy on the technology side — which won't work because this is not where the root of the problem lies. Inevitably the wrong solution is built. Project failure is then a matter of time.
Can this be avoided?
Yes. There is a third, preferrable option.
In order to contain the great threats digital transformations create for organisations, we need to change the narrative:
Organisations must take full responsibility and leadership of their own digital transformation — instead of trying to offload them to technology partners and hope for the best.
But how should they do that?
Currently, the digital-transformation industry that takes care of organisations and their processes does not provide widely accepted methodology or tools to even remotely match other industries' established maturity and track record in dealing with complexity. Think of building construction, automotive, aerospace, computer-game design, or chip design and manufacturing! In fact:
There is no integral methodology and technology for the safe and predictable digitalisation of organisations.
The Semantic Eye Framework was specifically created to fill the abyss that is opening when organisations decide to take fate into their own hands:
- It empowers organisations as the source, the target and the driver of their own digital transformation
- It reduces dependencies on IT suppliers by relying on new, impactful methods, tools and processes
- It makes organisational processes and digital transformation a successful and satisfying endeavour
See the About page for a short intro to the Semantic Eye initiative
Learn More
The Semantic Eye Framework in a Nutshell
The Semantic Eye White Paper
The Semantic Eye Framework digitalises the digital transformation of organisations 😉