Technology is evolving rapidly; every day new products or services are conceived to solve the ever-growing number of problems facing organisations and consumers worldwide. Some of these products and services are so “innovative” that they may even claim to solve problems that people aren’t facing or issues that haven’t happened yet!

As applications and challenges become more complex, the risk posed to organisations by “digital snake oil” is increasingly high as applications, and in particular software-as-a-service products, become more ubiquitous. An application might look impressive, but it’s important that the user organisations fully understand what it will do for them, if it is appropriate and whether or not it will add real value.  Just because a variety of expensive technology is available to produce something that looks great, it doesn’t always mean that it’s fit for purpose. 

Many organisations often look to digital transformation projects to save money. An example of this is turning to machine learning to replace manual processes undertaken by people as a more efficient and cost-effective solution. Vendor X calls an organisation to tell them about a software package that will solve all their problems for one low monthly cost. Then, after signing on the dotted line, it becomes apparent that the manual process was more complicated than first thought, or a specific detail was overlooked that the digital process can’t initially do. This quickly leads to customisation costs and although the technology still doesn’t do the exact steps, it does them slightly faster, so the solution is chalked up as a success and the fact that the organisation is now paying more money for the same level of efficiency is ignored, and everyone gets a pat on the back.

Worryingly, a recent study by McKinsey found that over 70% of Digitalisation projects worldwide technically end in failure. This may be due to exceeding budget, failing to meet their basic goals, overshooting their planned timescales continually, or a combination of all three.

So, how can organisations ensure successful delivery of digital projects and guarantee they will add value?

CAN Group has been in business for over 35 years and in that time, has brought a significant amount of innovation to the market. Technology has been at the forefront in helping us advance the field of inspection and asset integrity, from pioneering alternative access solutions in the 80s and 90s to extending into the field of Advanced Non-Destructive Testing (ANDT) in the 00s and most recently, bringing to market a comprehensive cloud-based digital intelligence platform; ENGAGE.  In this time, we’ve seen considerable innovation but it’s fair to say that for every ground breaking solution or way of working that’s changed the industry for the better, we’ve seen 10 “next-big-things” never get beyond preliminary trials and end in abject failure. A strong understanding of the appropriateness of technology has always been key to successful delivery.

Being one of the first to do something innovative doesn’t always mean it’ll be the best, an example being the “Joo Joo”, one of the first tablet-based computers. Announced in 2008, a full two years before Apple officially announced the iPad, it was beset by massive project delays, an underwhelming final product and almost immediately consigned to history. In addition to this, the famous Sinclair C5, ultimately the downfall of the once great tech company of the same name, suffered a similar fate in the 1980s (although one might argue it was a good idea that was hobbled by the available technology of its time, given the abundance of single user electric transport like scooters and e-bikes around today). The energy sector is not immune from tech failures and has seen a number of promised technological innovations fail to live up to their initial promise (several “Wave Energy” tech companies being the most notable casualties of this). Nevertheless, by understanding the reasons for these failures in the past and controlling what we do in the present will help to ensure success in the future. At CAN Group we follow some simple guidelines for success:

1) Define Transformation Goals
Too often digital projects are conceived as a way to make the company “look good”. Instead of looking at problems and how they can be solved. Solutions in the marketplace are often shoehorned into an organisation to try to solve issues that don’t exist. Ensuring goals are clearly established from the outset means that the outcomes can be measured.

2) Ensure Buy-In and Establish a Shared Vision
It’s important that all stakeholders are involved in the digital transformation process. Having a shared vision across the organisation and its supply chain will ensure that everyone is reading from the same script and share the same goals. 

3) Respond, Don’t react 
Digital transformation should be a response to the needs and problems faced by your organisation. Too often it’s initiated as a reaction to what competitors are doing. Ultimately, key to success is to ensure that the needs of the organisation will be met by the proposed technological solution and that it’s not being done simply to “keep up with the Jones’s’”.

4) Ensure Value 
The Transformation process needs to add value. No matter how innovative a piece of technology may be, if there’s no value to it there is almost always no need. For example, if humans can be replaced with Artificial Intelligence to perform a task, but the software costs twice as much as the labour, or ends up only being 60% as accurate, there is little value, irrespective of how much more “efficient” it may be on certain metrics.

If your digitalisation journey is asset integrity related, CAN Group’s experts have decades of experience to draw upon to help set you up for success. 

This article featured in the 2023 Innovation & Technology Issue of the OGV Energy Magazine, click here to read more. 

Image source: iStock.com/NicoElNino