Industrial companies are facing enormous challenges: The smart factory, its internal organization, and new markets and products need to be developed at the same time. But how durable is an Industry 4.0 strategy today? We address the following questions in the Capture Industry Focus:

• How should strategic tasks be exercised in times of digital transformation?
• What characterizes a powerful digital strategy?
• What digital skills do managers in industry need?
• How can project portfolio management software support strategy development and implementation?

The strategy paradox of industry

In 94% of industrial companies, the highest priority is given to the in-house Industry 4.0 strategy. According to Deloitte, however, only one in two CEOs believes that the digital transformation will have a positive impact on profitability in the coming years. This divergence between priorities and the assessment of their actual effectiveness is referred to by the consultancy as the strategy paradox. It is caused by the following factors, among others: 

• Often there is a lack of real visions - accordingly, they cannot be realized.
• There is a lack of a generation of decision-makers who can deal strategically with the scale of digital change.
• Immediate profit is preferred over long-term investments
• Fundamental strategic tasks for a successful digital transformation, such as change management, are not sufficiently perceived.

Four prerequisites for a sustainable Industry 4.0 strategy 

So what is needed as a foundation and turbo for future economic success in the industry?

• Cross-functional cooperation

One thing is clear: the demands of the digital world of work and business are also changing in the boardrooms. In order to be able to set a strong corporate strategy, numerous stakeholders should be involved with their knowledge and assessments. And only if cross-functional cooperation is also promoted at the operational level can valuable strategic insights develop into a convincing vision.

• Holistic perspective in the digital age

Strategic thinking requires taking a holistic perspective. However, the sharp increase in complexity and fast-moving nature of business - driven by technological progress - makes effective strategy work immensely difficult. Consultants warn against the trap of orienting the Industry 4.0 strategy too strongly to purely technological development trends. Digital transformation is a far-reaching paradigm shift that must be approached in an iterative and agile manner. This also includes the inclusion of human resources management and corporate culture.

• Digital competence: data and gut feeling in harmony

Data is the new oil, but data is not always directly available for sound decision-making. Often the C-level does not know which data analyses would actually be possible.  Basic knowledge of the digital tools used is also useful at board level. These could change the process of data-based strategy making and contribute to an important reality check.

• PPM: The operational and the strategic working cockpit

Due to the flood of information and the cross-hierarchical responsibilities, a dynamic working tool is needed in the development of a sustainable and continuously re-sharpened Industrie 4.0 strategy. Today, PowerPoint presentations and Excel sheets can neither do justice to the communication of corporate goals nor to the regular processing of information. Project portfolio management software has clearly proven itself as a management tool in highly digitalized companies and will also be increasingly used in industrial companies in the coming years.   

Powerful project portfolio management software for strategists

Industry-specific, end-to-end project portfolio management software supports decision-makers from the planning and presentation of the strategy to the brainstorming of projects and their implementation, including the controlling function. With the rich feature spectrum of market-leading PPM suites such as those from ServiceNow and Clarity, strategic goals are realized across projects:

• Roadmapping

Map your Industrie 4.0 strategy with dynamic roadmaps. Store key financial figures or link individual roadmap elements with already existing sub-projects. The preconfigured roadmap templates enable a multidimensional structuring of existing data and information for the convincing presentation of your strategic goals.

• Balanced scorecards

Balanced scorecards are proven performance tools and a central feature of market-leading PPM platforms. The vision and mission of a company can be broken down and tracked using the sub-areas of financial indicators, customer expectations, processes, and human resources. This ensures that projects serve strategic goals or that the risk is managed if this is not the case.

• KPI dashboards

With project portfolio management software, numerous data can be collected primarily. Furthermore, thanks to modern interface management, data from third-party systems can be consolidated in PPM and used to evaluate project portfolio performance.

The Capture Industry Webinar Series

Are you looking for strategic management software? Then you are looking for project portfolio management software. In the on-demand webinar, our consultants will show you various possible uses of portfolio management software for the effective further development of your Industrie 4.0 strategy.

Watch the On-Demand Webinar now!