Digital change: its not about systems, its about people

Delivering successful information technology projects can be a nightmare. Many business leaders have been scarred by the experience – the delays, the way one problem generates another and the spiraling costs. In my discussions with coaching clients and other business leaders one other aspect keeps emerging: that IT change means changing the way the whole business works. Fail to change the business and the IT investment never delivers its intended return.

Digital construction

I know about this from my own experience. In 2010, as Construction Minister, I signed off the first stage of adopting Building Information Modelling (BIM) for Government civil engineering contracts. BIM digitises the design and delivery of such projects, saving time and money.

However, digitising these activities is not about software or hardware. Digitising construction is about sharing. Sharing risk, sharing data and even sharing know-how and resources. It means accelerating the move from the traditional competitive business model, towards a collaborative approach, both within a project team and most significantly between that team and the client.

The ‘collaborative’ business model

This collaborative business model has also emerged in big pharma. Fifteen years ago, the emergence of biotech firms caused the major pharmaceutical companies to realise that they would need to find a way to work with these start-ups. Information would need to be shared and more importantly, a way for the different specialists to exchange ideas and information, if they were to achieve the breakthroughs vital for the long-term success of their company.

However, getting large companies – with clear hierarchies and rigid departmental goals and resources – to work alongside tiny, flexible start-ups is not easy. The mismatch in outlooks, approach to risk and remuneration is considerable. However, after some mis-steps real progress has been made in the last five years or so and this collaborative approach can be seen in some of the remarkable advances in gene therapy and in the breakthroughs in Covid-19 vaccines.

Dumb Cities?

The sense of shared responsibility for delivering change is also important in the adoption of smart city technologies. The emergence of sensors and the Internet of Things now enables city authorities to transform how they can manage transportation, planning, pollution, and even public participation in key decisions. However, whilst some authorities have progressed, many have struggled.

Talking with leaders in this field one emerging problem is that Mayors have often treated this technological change as a new activity distinct from the daily delivery of services. A new ‘Smart City tzar’ is appointed. Reports and ideas are produced, but little changes. What’s gone wrong?

Often what emerges is that by making someone outside the core activities of the authority responsible for change, the division heads – planning, transport or waste for example – continue with business as usual. They feel no sense of involvement in deciding how to proceed. Worse, the silos in which those activities are run – planning, transports, economic development- continue as before, losing the key benefit of this technological change which is the new ability to deliver holistic change to the organisation and to the services provided.

So, when planning your next IT project make sure that the whole team is involved and that you understand how the technology will change your business, and not just your password.