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Digital Healthcare: How Is Technology Transforming Health?

In a post-pandemic world, it’s clear that the need for digital transformation in healthcare has become important. A survey done by McKinsey with 213 European physicians claims that more than 50 percent believe that telemedicine will be a significant part of a modern healthcare system. 

With the digital healthcare revolution underway in European nations, it’s evident that hospitals and clinics will need to adapt to emerging technologies and integrate digital health solutions as part of their strategy. 

But what is digital healthcare? And how is technology transforming healthcare?

In this article, we take a look at some of how hospitals and clinics are integrating health digital solutions, how digitalization is used to fill the healthcare skill gap, and why data will be a significant tool in the care industry.

 

Adoption of Digital Technologies In Hospitals

Europe has been facing unprecedented pressure within the healthcare system and the pandemic has shown that despite the improvement in quantity and quality of care, there is still a gap in efforts toward digitalization.

This is in part, due to several challenges such as bureaucracy in healthcare and the costs of technology for organizations to implement digital technologies.

However, it does not mean that digital technologies are not being experimented with and utilized at all. In fact, due to the pandemic, certain countries are accelerating their adoption of digital and telemedicine solutions to help improve the quality of healthcare services provided.

One such example is Portugal’s use of the ePatient system for centralized and real-time patient data management. ePatient allowed clinicians to monitor and communicate with their patients remotely if they were not able to be present. 

 
 

This adoption of a digital healthcare solution has made home care easier for healthcare professionals in Portugal as they can communicate with each other over the application.

 

The Skill Gap In Digital Healthcare

With digital systems in place, hospitals and medical professionals will need to learn how to fully utilize these solutions to deliver care. However, many in the workforce, especially in the nurses’ field, are still lacking the skills and proficiency to handle digital healthcare solutions and technology.

Before organizations can scale up these digital systems, the digital divide and skill gap within the workforce need to be acknowledged. The workforce that delivers care to patients needs training and support to use new systems, and to use these technologies effectively to deliver high-quality digital care. 

How should organizations overcome this skill gap challenge?

Everything starts at the top and clear strategic directions from those in leadership roles to integrate and train the workforce to embrace new technologies and skills must be the priority. It’s important, however, that when investing in new systems, it needs to be guided by the organization’s long-term visions and account for sustainability.

Beyond that, investing and supporting educational initiatives that provide a platform for the workforce to develop these skills will be essential in filling the medical skill gap. One such initiative is the NURSEED program by a Danish collective company that seeks to address the nursing shortage and skill gap in Denmark through a digital platform.

 
 

Future of Health Is Digital and Data

Putting digital solutions in place and equipping the workforce with the necessary skills will lay the foundation for a digital healthcare revolution for many organizations. The next step is to fully embrace the healthcare digital transformation and understand the role of data analytics.

In recent years, big data tools have played significant roles in healthcare decision-making. This is in part due to the pandemic, which resulted in an enormous surge of health data being available, allowing for bigger and better analytics.

How can the health industry utilize these data?

Through descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics, healthcare providers will have immediate access to necessary information, and improve overall efficiency. 

 

For healthcare professionals, this would mean improved predictive modeling that can alert them of potential risks of chronic illness or even self-harm. And on a larger scale, it can even predict outbreaks.

With predictive and prescriptive analytics, organizations can expect a reduction in overall healthcare costs by reducing appointment no-shows, preventing equipment breakdowns, decreasing fraud, and even managing supply chain costs.

Bottom line: better data leads to better healthcare.

 

Technology Is Transforming Healthcare

There is no doubt that the healthcare digital revolution is underway and technology will transform the solutions and approaches in modern care. The question is now whether organizations are changing fast enough to keep up with the demands of modern healthcare.

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Sustainable Manufacturing: Do the Opportunities Outweigh the Challenges?

Supply chain resilience is the top business priority for manufacturing companies in 2021. This finding is no surprise as investors have been putting more effort into implementing sustainability programs. Kemira’s Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain, Jori Fabricius, states that “no company today can say that sustainability does not have a role in their business strategy.”  

There is pressure on the manufacturing industry to ramp up sustainability efforts not just from an environmental standpoint, but in terms of readiness and continuity. This article provides an overview of the opportunities and challenges in four key areas related to sustainability — green manufacturing, digitalization and technology, smart factories, and talent management.

 

Green Manufacturing  

 

According to Fictiv’s 2021 State of Manufacturing Report, 40% of respondents are increasing investments in sustainable manufacturing to reduce carbon emissions and slow down future environmental degradation. The spotlight is on companies with textile-based products, where the environment bears the brunt of unsold inventory. Here’s an alarming statistic: 20% of the 100 billion garments produced annually are buried, shredded, or incinerated.  

Fortunately, companies like Vestre want to prove that sustainability is not only necessary but profitable. 

“It is possible to operate a profitable manufacturing firm in Scandinavia. It is possible to build a business based on longevity and sustainability. It is possible to self-generate sufficient solar power for all operations. It is possible to phase out materials that are harmful to the environment.”  

 

Opportunities:

  • Lean manufacturing is the gateway to zero-waste operations, using AI and IoT to transform green considerations into lean initiatives. For example, the Saturn Kanban implementation saved General Motors 17 tons of air emissions and eliminated 258 tons of solid waste per year.  
  • On-demand manufacturing makes supply chains shorter and more efficient by eliminating unnecessary production and reducing harmful waste. Also known as cloud manufacturing, the market is predicted to reach $112 billion by 2024.  
  • Circular economy frameworks extend the lifecycle of products and can be applied to every stage of the value chain. IKEA leverages AI and data analytics to identify the best locations for returned items so that they can be recycled and sold instead of ending up in a landfill.  

Challenges:

  • Hurdles in traceability and transparency throughout the supply chain, as well as different definitions of sustainability across cultures, can jeopardize sustainability efforts. Organizations need to communicate their sustainability goals with suppliers and partners alike.  
  • Lack of education among consumers on the environmental or social consequences of their purchases can render sustainable efforts useless. 
  • Missing infrastructure stands in the way of sustainable efforts. Replacing an entire supply chain is a mammoth task and does not happen overnight. For example, shifting from oil-based materials to bio-based ones. 
  • Sustainability is a costly investment. Therefore, leaders must implement change management carefully, considering regulations and investors’ needs.  
 

Digitalization and Tech Investments  

 

A study by IBM and The Manufacturer states that 67% of manufacturers have accelerated digital investments due to COVID-19. Digitalized processes provide real-time information and relevant metrics to help manufacturers with decision-making. Smart tech adoption has been delivering strong results in terms of cost savings, waste reduction, and productivity. The top five technologies according to manufacturers are cybersecurity, advanced data analytics, automation, IIoT, and AI.  

 

Smart Factories  

Smart factories are the heart of smart and sustainable manufacturing. No smart factory is alike as the combination of technologies differs by manufacturing approaches and industry. Therefore, smart factories are hyper-flexible, self-adapting, and scalable manufacturing entities.  

Examples of notable smart factories are HP’s Smart Manufacturing Application and Research Centre (Smarc) in Singapore and the U.S Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII). Both factories are fortified with technologies such as 3D printing, robotics, and analytics to develop new solutions and standardize processes across a global network of operations.

 

Opportunities:

  • End-to-end operations visibility allows traceability of products from manufacturing to delivery. This also allows for real-time and remote asset monitoring.  
  • Machinery utilization management with maintenance predictability reduces downtime. Equipment and products can be tested for malfunction and quality control. This results in fewer errors and human intervention for machine repair.  
  • More efficient planning for consumer demand with accurate material flow and assembly line processes is made possible with machine-driven data collection.  
  • Safety and optimization of working environments are improved with robotics and remote tasking. Automated processes allow operations to continue despite workforce disruption during unprecedented events like COVID-19.

Challenges:

  • Manufacturing is struggling to adopt smart technologies within the supply chain. The top five barriers that stand in the way are time and resources, securing funding, company culture, implementation, and finding the right technologies.
  • In terms of data collection and analytics, manufacturers are still working on finding cost-efficient options that fit their organizations.
  • Factories that use digital twins as part of their existing processes have to mitigate challenges in the five natural laws of digitalization —  people, lean methods, master data, connectivity, and open ecosystems.  
 

“These are the five challenges that you have to master before you can even take the next big leap with AI. Without that, even a digital twin is useless. If there is no basis for this, then the digital twin is lost.” — Johann Hoffman, founder of ValueFactoring® at MR Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH.  

 

Talent Management

 

The manufacturing industry has been majorly affected in the last 18 months and work arrangements are unlikely to return to what it was before. According to Deloitte’s 2021 Manufacturing Industry Outlook, manufacturers are finding ways to reshape the workforce and their tasks to manage disruption and uncertainty. An agile and skilled workforce is a key element of a sustainable manufacturing organization.  

 

Opportunities:

  • Manufacturers can develop a talent ecosystem to incorporate digital capabilities in the workforce. A talent ecosystem allows collaboration with external partners to build stronger talent pipelines for manufacturing. For example, a partnership between a manufacturer and a technical school with train-to-hire programs and role-specific training. 41% of manufacturers have already started forming new relationships to develop robust talent ecosystems.
  • Retraining and upskilling programs for existing employees to fill ‘middle-skill’ roles that demand expertise in robots, cobots, and other forms of automation. These programs will help manufacturers reduce furloughs and increase employee retention and engagement. 

Challenges:

  • Unwillingness to change may be one of the pitfalls for traditional manufacturing companies. From the factory floor to top-level management, the adoption of new skills and their importance must be addressed. 28% of manufacturing executives state that building new skills to match evolving work environments is one of their biggest challenges.  
  • The number of specialized nonstandard roles will increase in tandem with the organization’s digital capabilities. These roles will require advanced flexibility and problem-solving skills. Manufacturers are struggling to fill these roles, as evidenced by the average monthly job postings of 400,000 in the U.S. alone.  
 

Do the opportunities for sustainable manufacturing outweigh the challenges?

 

The answer is a hard yes. Supply chains are still reeling from the impacts of the pandemic and face new hurdles every day. Sustainable manufacturing is a viable solution for resilience and readiness, offering a much-needed ray of hope to manufacturers around the globe.

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The Top Worry In Cloud Security for 2021

The cloud is an environment full of potential. It provides easy access to technologies that simply weren’t available a decade ago. You can now launch the equivalent of an entire data center with a single command.

Scaling to meet the demands of millions of customers can be entirely automated. Advanced machine learning analysis is as simple as one API call. This has allowed teams to speed up innovation and focus almost exclusively on delivering business value.

But it’s not all unicorns and rainbows.

The assumption was that alongside this increased potential, the security challenges we see on-premises would grow as well. Teams should be struggling with zero days, vulnerability chains, and shadow IT.

It turns out they aren’t. At least those issues are nowhere near the top of their list of concerns. The top security challenge for builders in the cloud is very straightforward.

Their biggest challenge is making mistakes in the form of service misconfigurations.

 

Shared Responsibility

First, let’s look at the evidence around the initial assumption that people make about cloud security. They assume the cloud service providers themselves are a big risk. The data doesn’t support this at all.

Each of the big four cloud service providers; Alibaba Cloud, AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure, have had two security breaches in their services over the past five years…combined. Now, before we get into each of these, it’s important to note that each of the big four has had to deal with tons of security vulnerabilities over this timeframe.

A large number of cloud services are simplified managed service offerings of popular commercial or open-source projects. These projects have had various security issues that the providers have had to deal with.

The advantage for us as users, and builders, is how operations work in the cloud. All operational work done in any cloud follows the Shared Responsibility Model. It’s very straightforward.

There are six primary areas where daily operational work is required. Depending on the type of service you are using in the cloud, your responsibilities shift. If you’re using instances or virtual machines, you are responsible for the operating system, the applications running on that OS, and your data. As you move to an entirely managed service, you are only responsible for the data you process and store with the service.

For all types of cloud services, you are responsible for service configuration. despite having a clear line of responsibilities, the providers offer many features to help you meet your responsibilities and adjust the services to suit your needs.

 

Cloud Service Provider Issues

Now, let us take a look at providers’ security issues over the past five years… the first one is from March 2020. In this case, Google Cloud paid out a $100,000 reward through their bug bounty program to a security researcher who found a privilege escalation issue in Google Cloud Shell.

This is a service that provides a browser-based interface to the command line of a virtual machine running in your account. Under the covers, this shell is simply a container running an application to provide the required access. The researcher noticed that they were able to use a socket connection in the container to compromise the host machine and escalate their access.

The root cause? A misconfiguration in the access to that socket.

The second example is from January 2020 and it involved a service offered in Microsoft Azure. Here an issue was reported in the Microsoft App Service offering. This vulnerability allowed an attacker to escape the expected boundaries of the service and access a limited-scope deployment server with elevated privileges.

The reason? A misconfiguration in the open-source tool used to provide this web app hosting service.

In both cases, the vulnerabilities were responsibly disclosed and quickly fixed. Neither issues lead to any reported customer impacts. Both of these cases were in higher-level cloud services. These are services that the provider’s teams built using other services on the platform. As a result, and in line with the shared responsibility model, they were at risk of a service misconfiguration.

Even hyper-scale providers face this challenge!

 

3rd Party Validation

There’s more evidence to support the fact that misconfigurations are the biggest issue in cloud security. Security researchers in the community who study cloud issues have all published findings that align with this premise. Whether from other security vendors or industry organizations, the findings agree: that 65-70% of all security issues in the cloud start with a misconfiguration.

Making it worse, 45% of organizations believe that privacy and security challenges are a barrier to cloud adoption.

Why is that worse?

When understood, the shared responsibility model makes it easier to maintain a strong security posture. Organizations should be pushing to move faster to the cloud to improve their security!

 

Direct evidence

However, surveys and targeted research projects only go so far. What does the publicly available evidence say? Here’s a list of some of the most visible cloud security breaches in recent years;

 
 

If you filter out all the reports of cloud hacks and breaches to remove incidents that were not cloud-specific—so those where the issue wasn’t related to the cloud, the service just happened to be there—over two billion sensitive records have been exposed through a breach in cloud security.

Let’s take this further and remove every single breach that wasn’t due to a single misconfiguration.

Yes, single. One wrong setting. One incorrect permission. One simple mistake…caused all of these breaches.

That leaves the Capital One breach. This more complicated event was caused by …two misconfigurations and a bug. An in-depth analysis of this breach shows that the bug was inconsequential to the overall impact which was 100 million customer records being exposed.

What’s more, is that Capital One is a very mature cloud user. They are a reference customer for AWS, they’ve been a huge advocate of the cloud within the community and were the incubator for the very popular open-source security, governance, and management tool, Cloud Custodian.

This is a team that knows what they are doing. And yet, they still made a mistake.

 

Pace of Change

That’s really what misconfigurations are. They are mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes are oversights, and other times an incorrect choices made due to a lack of awareness.

It all comes back to the power made accessible by the cloud. Reducing these barriers has had a commensurate increase in the pace of innovation. Teams are moving faster. As these teams mature, they can maintain a high rate of innovation with a low failure rate.

In fact, 43% of teams who have adopted a DevOps philosophy can deploy at least once a week while maintaining a failure rate of under 15%.

Critically, when they do encounter a failure, they can resolve it within the day…more impressively 46% of those teams resolve those issues within the hour. But, as we know, cybercriminals don’t need a day. Any opening can be enough to gain a foothold creating an incident.

What about teams that aren’t at this pace? Well, the other 57% of teams, the majority of which are large enterprises, often feel that their lack of pace provides protection. Moving cautiously in the cloud allows them to take a more measured approach and reduce their error rates.

While this may be true—and there’s no evidence to support or disprove this assumption—change is still happening around them. The cloud service providers themselves are moving at a rapid pace.

In 2020, the big four hyper-scale providers released over 5,000 new features for their services. For single cloud users, that means almost 2 new features a day…at a minimum. For the growing set of multi-cloud users, the pace of change only increases. So even if your team is moving slowly, the ground underneath them is shifting rapidly.

 

Goal of cybersecurity

Now the goal of cybersecurity is actually quite simple. The goal is to ensure that whatever is built works as intended and only as intended. In a traditional on-premises environment, this standard approach is a strong perimeter and deep visibility across the enterprise.

That doesn’t work in the cloud. The pace of change is too rapid, both internally and with the provider. Smaller teams are building more and more. Quite often, by design, these teams act outside of the central CIO infrastructure.

This requires that security is treated as another aspect of building well. It cannot be treated as a stand-alone activity. This sounds like a monumental task, but it’s not. It starts with two key questions;

  1. What else can this do?
  2. Are you sure?

This container running the code creates the financial reports. What else can it do? Can it access other types of data? Are you even sure it’s the right container?

This is where security controls provide the most value.

 

Top pain points to address

Most of the time when we talk about security controls, we talk about what they stop. Using an intrusion prevention system can stop worms and other types of network attacks. Anti-malware controls can stop ransomware, crypto miners, and other malicious behaviors.

For every security control, we have a list of things it stops. This is excellent and works well with subject matter experts…a.k.a the security team.

Builders have a different perspective. Builders want to build. When framed in the proper context, it’s easy to show how security controls can help them build better.

Posture management helps ensure that settings stay set regardless of how many times a team deploys during the week. Network controls assure teams that only valid traffic ever reaches their code. Container admission control makes sure that the right container is deployed at the right time.

Security controls do so much more than just stop things from happening. They provide answers to critical questions that builders are starting to ask.

“What else can this do?”. Very little thanks to these security controls.

“Are you sure?” Yes. I have these controls in place to make sure.

When built well and deployed intelligently, security controls help teams deliver more dependable, easier-to-observe, and more reliable solutions.

Security helps you build better.

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Amanda Pusa Edwall: A Positive Company Culture Holds an Organization Together

All companies, from start-ups to MNCs, have one thing in common: a unique company culture. It is the foundation for a company’s identity and plays a big part in employee satisfaction and productivity. After a year of unprecedented changes, the influence of company culture on corporate reputation and organizational growth is undeniable.  

We had an illuminating conversation with Amanda Pusa Edwall, Chief People Officer at Anyfin, on the importance of building a healthy workplace culture and the evolving priorities of HR leaders today.

 

Signs of a Healthy Organizational Culture 

 

Toxic workplace culture has been cited as one of the main reasons behind The Great Resignation of 2021. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, 40% of the respondents are looking to switch jobs this year. In order to retain the best employees, organizations have the responsibility of making them feel valued, respected, connected, supported, and productive. 

Edwall lists the following as indicators of positive company culture:  

  • Employer and employee have matching values: “I have found both personally, but also from my job with HR that one of the most difficult things is when a candidate’s core values don’t align with the company. I think when that happens, it’s almost impossible to do a good job.” 
  • A positive and encouraging environment: When people feel insecure or afraid to speak their minds, it signals an unhealthy workplace culture. Organizations need to work towards providing “a welcoming and positive culture where employees are encouraged to be the best versions of themselves.” 
  • Money is not the main motivator: “People don’t work for a company because it makes the coolest product or pays the highest salary.” Companies with a positive workplace culture have “people who truly want to walk the extra mile and do something more. They genuinely care about their team, manager and company.” 
 

Company Culture in a Hybrid Work Environment 

 

When asked about building a company culture in a remote work setting, Edwall says “it’s very difficult, and the ones who say that it’s not difficult are lying.” She mentions challenges can be found in the following areas:  

  • Onboarding: How do you onboard people when there is no face-to-face interaction? Edwall says that employees need to know that they are part of a team and part of something bigger. A weak onboarding process may leave new employees feeling lost. “If you’re completely new to the company, you don’t even know who to reach out to for the right information.” Therefore, employees must take the initiative to ask questions instead of leaving things up to chance. 
  • Information sharing: Edwall says that this needs to be done “in a very thoughtful way.” Communication challenges in a virtual workplace make it hard to know whether employees have digested and understood the information given. Managers must create a safe space for employees to ask questions and seek guidance if needed.  
  • Working in silos: This is more likely to happen when employees are working remotely. According to Edwall, “people perceive themselves to being extremely efficient but does not know what everyone else is doing. Are you doing what’s most important and in alignment with everyone else? Or do we have three people in the company doing the same thing?” Managers have to identify and eradicate silos in the workplace as they can negatively impact employee collaboration.  

A digitalized HR function has the potential to mitigate these challenges.  According to our trend report, CHRO Investments 2021, there is a significant rise in technologies to increase remote employee collaboration and productivity. Surveyed HR professionals have invested in employee management software (22%) and project management and collaboration tools (20%) respectively.  

 

Characteristics of a Start-up Culture

 

Most start-ups are associated with small tight-knit teams, young and energetic employees, flat hierarchy and flexibility. “I think in a start-up like Anyfin, it’s quite fast moving, and responsibilities can shift quite a lot from day to day,” Edwall says.  

The flat hierarchy structure of start-ups can result in leadership capabilities that are not fixed. According to Edwall, “managers are highly focused on getting results and are extremely engaged.” She adds that HR personnel and managers need to make sure that people take time off and that they need to reset. 

However, she notes that priorities are slowly shifting. “Ten years ago, the focus was on having a career and getting a lot of equity. But now, I think more people care about the softer part of work as well.” It is also important to celebrate success and not rush to chase the next big thing. “There is pressure for perfection in many start-ups and to always aim higher because the work is not good enough. This can be very poisonous for young, motivated people. When can you ever feel proud of all the things you have accomplished if nothing is ever good enough?” 

If company culture is left on the back burner, it could result in a toxic workplace that leads to a high turnover rate. Management teams must create a clear picture of their vision, mission and core values, and communicate them effectively to employees. 

 

Shifting Priorities for Today’s HR Leader

 

Edwall says the HR leader role has evolved in the past 18 months. The biggest priority for CHROs now is to build a robust hybrid or remote working model. “I think for many start-ups, from a technical perspective, this has been a natural thing as the infrastructure is already in place.” 

In addition, Edwall shares the following observations: 

HR brings C-suites together  

“HR has moved from being in the backseat to constantly reminding leadership peers on the company’s direction.” They ensure the top management are united in terms of planning and executing organizational goals. “I think HR is becoming more of the glue in the organization.” 

The mental health of employees 

Work-life balance and mental health need to be investigated more closely. “What do we need to do for employees’ mental resilience? We need to give them the tools to be able to do that themselves.” 

According to Gartner, 68% of organizations have already introduced at least one new wellness benefit to help improve their employees’ mental health. Companies are also taking actionable steps to increase mental health awareness by offering employees mental health leave and shutting down operations for a “collective mental health day.” 

Upskilling and retraining 

“I had to remold my employee base to work on things outside their job scope.” Edwall and her team worked on identifying their strengths and assigned them new tasks accordingly. For example, she encouraged talent acquisition staff to try out lead generation, market research and customer support, among others. This aligns with the findings in our report, HR Key Focus Areas in 2021, where HR leaders fostered a learning mentality and influenced employees to stay interested and open to learning. 

 

Employee Investment is Key  

 

The biggest takeaway from our conversation with Edwall is the urgency for organizations to invest with their employees.  

“Anyfin today will be very different from Anyfin in three years. How do we truly invest in the people we hired today to make sure that they fit the organization a few years from now?” 

Leaders need to rethink their organization’s culture and values, not just on-the-surface perks they can offer. Although it is nice having ping pong tables and fika breaks, Edwall says they are just elements of “shallow employee engagement.” Healthy workplace culture starts with leaders walking the talk and getting to know their employees in depth to identify their motivation for working.  

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Himadri Majumdar: How to Become a Global Industry Leader with Quantum Computing

Digital transformation is advancing at lightning speed. In a perfect world, we would test out every available emerging technology, but in real life, this is impossible due to the required time and budget constraints. Therefore, CIOs must identify and invest in the right IT technologies that will benefit their organizations the most. 

Quantum computing is at the forefront of IT technologies, presenting today’s CIOs with solutions for IT preparedness, cyber resilience and business continuity. We speak with Himadri Majumdar, Program Manager, Quantum at VTT on quantum computing and why it is essential that IT leaders pilot this technology as soon as possible.  

 

Investments in new technologies and digital tools are crucial for business continuity. Why should organizations invest in quantum computing?

It is imperative that companies try out quantum computing as soon as possible. The world is moving forward fast, making it important to see and adopt the benefits of quantum computing to stay ahead of the competition. 

Luckily, organizations actually do not need to invest in quantum computing to try out or gain the initial benefits it enables. As quantum computer procurement is a significant investment, it is wise to leverage other methods of access to quantum computers rather than building or buying one. There are multiple providers of access and services of quantum computers in the cloud. IBM is one of the biggest and earliest players. 

The smartest thing to do is to pilot the available services and evaluate whether quantum computing could be beneficial for your business according to the following guidelines:  

  • Only make decisions once you see a clear business benefit. The investment will depend on the magnitude of the benefit. The bigger the benefit, the better the investment should be. 
  • If you decide that the benefits are so great that you would like to buy or build a quantum computer, there are companies that provide customized, problem-specific quantum computers.  
  • If the benefits are good but not that big then continuing with quantum computers in the cloud might still be a good option. In that case, you also do not need to hire or build a large company quantum computing team. Companies can leverage the service provided by consultant companies who can deliver solutions customized to your business needs.  

Any model that works best for your company is ideal.  

 

Which industries will benefit from quantum computing the most? 

In simple words, decision-making in any business is based on the compromise of a huge number of, often conflicting, choices or parameters. Therefore, industries that have optimization-related aspects playing an important role in their business will need quantum computing. This can be related to process optimization, logistics optimization, and data optimization, among others. 

For example, if you are in the logistics business, in-time delivery might depend on parameters such as in-time delivery of goods from a partner, availability of fleet, choices of drivers, weather conditions, and real-time traffic towards the destination. When multiple parameters are considered, more accurate predictions can be made.  

However, computing various options with many parameters utilizing classical computers will take a long time – hours or even days. This often results in businesses making compromises by considering fewer parameters.

This can be illustrated by going back to the logistics example: businesses can compromise by choosing to ignore data on real-time traffic. The worst-case scenario of omitting real-time traffic is delays in delivery and poor customer experience.  

For more accurate predictions based on as many parameters as possible, we need computing that enables faster optimization. This is why quantum computers are critical. 

 

In 2020, VTT launched an ambitious three-phase project to acquire Finland’s first quantum computer. What are you most excited about leading this project? What progress has VTT made so far? 

I am excited for many reasons. Firstly, I am very excited that we are able to build almost the whole computer indigenously.  

Quantum technology is so strong in Finland that we do not need to rely on significant parts and components from elsewhere to build the machine. Companies like Bluefors and IQM are big domestic players with a strong global presence and acceptance. They have successfully capitalized on the deep low-temperature physics expertise and technology developed in Finland since the 1960s and are now leading the field. Therefore, we can be very proud that we in Finland invested in this technology so well and so early that we are now in the perfect position to reap the early benefits and lead quantum computing globally. 

Secondly, I am excited about the possibilities that Finnish companies will have. Companies that will be users of quantum computers will be able to find world-leading solutions close to home. They can become global leaders in their respective fields by leveraging quantum computing.  

There are so many other excellent reasons too. We are on track for the first phase of building the quantum computer in Espoo, Finland. We expect to demonstrate the 5-qubit quantum computer by end of 2021. We will then continue building phases 2 and 3 with 20 and 50 qubit computers respectively. We are also making excellent progress in the R&D front which will help us make quantum computers more integrated and cheaper in the future.  

At VTT we now have a dedicated quantum algorithm team comprising experts in quantum theory, mathematics, and AI. The team is ready to help companies see the benefits of quantum computing in their businesses. 

 

Organizations are more vulnerable to cyber-attacks than ever before with the rise of digitalization. What is your advice on building a resilient and scalable cybersecurity system? 

Indeed. Cybersecurity is one of the biggest threats for businesses in this decade. We already witness the risks in the U.S., where the vulnerability of even traditional businesses, like oil and gas, are exposed through ransomware attacks. So, we need to be prepared.  

Quantum computing and quantum communication add another dimension to cybersecurity. Quantum communication is an emerging topic that will be the mode of quantum-safe (tele)communication protocols based on things like quantum key distribution (QKD). It needs to be understood that quantum computers are amazing codebreakers. Once there are affordable and fully deployed quantum computers in the market, malicious players will take advantage of them to break the current cryptography protocols like RSA. We also must be prepared for that. Europe and more specifically, Finland, is also at the initial stages of making its communication infrastructure quantum-safe. Currently, available QKD solutions involve dedicated hardware in special-purpose networks, but in the long term we will need to improve safety protocols for communications more generally.  

Apart from the quantum communications hardware I mentioned above, we also have to be ready from a software perspective. We have to update or replace the classical software with new quantum-resistant algorithms, that will be unbreakable with quantum computers. This software is what we call post-quantum cryptography. Finland is already running a big national project on that topic. We are getting prepared with cryptographic and cybersecurity codes that will protect us from attacks made with quantum computers. 

This is a two-pronged approach where we use quantum communications to our advantage to strengthen cybersecurity and create solutions that keep organizations secure from attacks by malicious quantum computers. 

 

How do you expect quantum computing and post-quantum cryptography to affect IT trends in 2021 and 2022? 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the U.S. is leading the effort globally. The goal of post-quantum cryptography, also known as quantum-resistant cryptography, is to develop cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers and can interoperate with existing communications protocols and networks. Almost 70 potential candidates have been narrowed down to seven in 2020. In 2021, the winner(s) will be declared, and it will become the chosen platform for future post-quantum cryptography.  

Efforts in 2021 and 2022 will be dedicated to the identification and understanding of new standards and how they can be implemented. Following that, the implementation phase will begin. Time is of the essence as quantum computation, the potential threat that makes post-quantum cryptography relevant is making progress very fast. Preparedness for the future needs to start early enough for companies to have business continuity in the post-quantum era. 

 

Today’s CIO no is longer just a manager of the IT department. How has the IT leader’s role transformed since the pandemic? 

I agree. The CIO’s office is now both the first line of defence for a company’s IT department and solution provider for companies’ current and future ICT needs. During the pandemic, the CIO’s office went into overdrive to create IT solutions that could enable maintaining the companies’ business in remote settings of employees without compromising security.  

Finding solutions for remote work placed a lot of pressure on IT teams, that they had to, very unwillingly, make some security compromises over business continuity. The pandemic was an unforeseen, unfortunate event and not every business was prepared for it. 

The IT security vulnerability caused by this sudden change has left many companies susceptible to ransomware attacks. We will probably learn in the future the extent of this during the pandemic, but it is not hard to imagine the magnitude of it.  

Therefore, the CIO’s office should also look into future opportunities and threats like quantum computing and communications. This could be a strong aspect of their IT preparedness for the future. If the situation demands, they will not need to make any security compromises. In that respect post-quantum cryptography is one topic that CIOs of companies should start paying attention to. 

 

 *The answers have been edited for length and clarity. 

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Smart Manufacturing: Die Zukunft der Industrie?

Johann Hofmann, Founder von ValueFactoring® bei MR Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen GmbH zählt mit über 30 Jahren Berufserfahrung als Experte im Bereich Industrie 4.0 und Digitalisierung. Schon zu Beginn seiner Karriere hat er für sein Unternehmen den digitalen Weg bereitet und ein Assistenzsystem für die digitale Hochleistungsfertigung entwickelt, für das er mit dem Industrie 4.0 Award ausgezeichnet wurde. 

Der charismatische Maschineningenieur hilft heute EntscheidungsträgerInnen dabei, Sicherheit und Know-how rund um Digitalisierung und Industrie 4.0 zu erhalten. In diesem Interview zeigt er uns auf, wie der Stand im Smart Manufacturing heute in Deutschland ist und wo es noch Verbesserungsbedarf gibt. 

 

New Normal in der Industrie 4.0

Wie hat der aktuelle Normalzustand, das „New Normal“, die Aussichten für Industrie 4.0 verändert? Sind die Hersteller auf dem richtigen Weg in Bezug auf die nötige Digitalisierung?

 

Es geht um Hersteller von vernetzungsfähigen Produkten. Die Werkzeugmaschine oder der Werkzeugschrank ist zum Beispiel ein vernetzungsfähiges Produkt. Diese Produkte sind auch als Assets im Sinne von Industrie 4.0 bekannt. Und ebendiese Assets müssen zu Industrie 4.0 Komponenten werden, damit das Ganze funktioniert.

Dazu braucht jedes Asset eine Verwaltungsschale. Die Verwaltungsschale ist im Prinzip Teil des Digital Twins (Digitaler Zwilling). Damit wird die Vernetzung vereinfacht, so dass wir von diesem „Gefrickel“ wegkommen, das beim Vernetzen von Dingen oftmals entsteht. 

Beim Drucker hat das ja wunderbar funktioniert. Wenn wir heute unter Windows 10 einen neuen Drucker installieren, steckt man den ein und der installiert sich von selbst. So etwas stelle ich mir auch bei Werkzeugmaschinen vor. Doch dazu müssen die Hersteller von diesen vernetzungsfähigen Produkten eine Industrie 4.0 Komponente ausliefern, also nicht nur das Produkt selbst, sondern auch den digitalen Zwilling, wie die Verwaltungsschale. Dann sind sie auf dem richtigen Weg.

 

Veränderungen durch das New Normal

Hat das New Normal, dieser neue Normalzustand, in den letzten Monaten viel verändert oder war das von Anfang an Thematik?

 

Worüber ich eben gesprochen habe, ist nicht die Wirklichkeit, sondern eine Wunschvorstellung. Das muss sich erst Schritt für Schritt über alle Asset-Hersteller ergeben. Die Hersteller von vernetzungsfähigen Produkten halten sich aktuell zurück, weil es noch keine Software gibt, die damit umgehen kann. Gleichzeitig halten sich die Software-Hersteller zurück, weil es noch keine vernetzungsfähigen Produkte gibt, die eine Verwaltungsschale mitbringen. 

Da muss die Industrie 4.0 Plattform noch richtig Druck auf die gesamten Hersteller ausüben und ein Regelwerk kreieren, damit das in Gang kommt. Dieser „Normalzustand“ ist also noch nicht da, ist aber ein „gewünschter“ Normalzustand irgendwann in der Zukunft.

 

Wie fortgeschritten ist dieser Plan denn schon? Kannst du uns eine Einschätzung geben?

 

Das ist branchenabhängig. Unterschiedliche Branchen sind also unterschiedlich weit. Und ich habe das Gefühl, dass die Branche, in der ich unterwegs bin, die diskrete Fertigung, am weitesten hinterher hinkt. Aber das ist nur eine persönliche Einschätzung (lacht).

 
Wünschen Sie sich weitere aufschlussreiche Diskussionen? Treffen Sie Johann Hofmann und andere BranchenexpertInnen auf unserer nächsten Veranstaltung IndustryForum Smart Manufacturing.
 

Zukunftsausblick: Augmented Reality, Wearables und Cloud

Gibt es andere aufstrebende Technologien, die Hersteller im Auge behalten sollten? Welche Herausforderung gibt es bei der Einführung solcher Technologien?

 

Da fallen mir auf einen Schlag drei Technologien ein. Zum einen wären das die Datenbrillen, also Augmented Reality über Datenbrillen. Diese Technologie kränkelt aber ein bisschen. Wir hatten vor Jahren schon mal einen Versuchsballon zum Umrüsten von Maschinen über eine digitale Brille gestartet, bei der man den Arbeitsraum dann digital sieht. Das lief jedoch noch nicht ganz reibungslos, deshalb wurde das Projekt erstmal auf Eis gelegt. Trotzdem habe ich dahingehend eine große Erwartungshaltung. Mit jeder neuen Version einer Datenbrille wird es sicherlich besser und umfangreicher. 

Überholt werden könnte diese Technologie von Wearables, also am Körper tragbare Computer, wie beispielsweise eine Smart Watch oder Datenhandschuhe. Hier wird sicherlich eine Zeit kommen, bei der der Meister durch eine Fertigungshalle läuft, dabei auf seiner digitalen Uhr Informationen von einer Werkzeugmaschine bekommt, die gerade irgendein Problem hat. Das wird bestimmt Standard in der Zukunft werden. 

Die dritte Technologie ist die Cloud. Vor Jahren war ich ein größerer Fan der Cloud. Das hat jetzt ein bisschen abgeflacht, weil all unsere Kunden in der Fertigungsbranche Angst vor der Cloud haben. Doch das Thema sollte unbedingt weiterverfolgt werden. Es gibt Branchen, die sind komplett in der Cloud, zum Beispiel Amazon. Aber genau in unserer Branche hinkt man da ein bisschen hinterher, wir müssen aber am Ball bleiben.

 

Die Wichtigkeit von Digital Twins im Smart Manufacturing

Der Digital Twin ist bei den Herstellern immer beliebter geworden um mit Start-Ups wie Tesla Schritt zu halten. Wie sollten ältere, alteingesessene Fabriken die Einführung eines Digital Twins angehen?

 

Aus der Sicht des Anwenders ist die Frage einfach zu beantworten. Wenn eine Fabrik etwa eine neue Maschine, einen Werkzeugschrank oder ein anderes Produkt bestellt, sollte sie vom Hersteller einen Digital Twin fordern. Es soll also nicht nur die Maschine, sondern auch der digitale Zwilling geliefert werden. 

Und das kann ich vom Hersteller verlangen, da ich als Käufer auch eine gewisse Macht habe. Wenn ich diese Macht nutze, dann werden alle Hersteller mit der Zeit ganz sachte dazu gezwungen, den digitalen Zwilling zu liefern. Und daran scheitert es ja momentan. Dazu fällt mir ein Beispiel ein: 

Vor ca. 15 Jahren, als ich die Werkzeugdatenbanken aufgebaut habe, hatten wir kein Bild bzw. eine Grafik dazu. Wir mussten nebenbei Studenten beschäftigen, die uns die Grafiken für die Werkzeuge gezeichnet haben. Damals habe ich unseren Einkäufer also darum gebeten, bei jedem Kauf in den SAP Datensatz reinzuschreiben, dass das Werkzeug UND eine Grafik geliefert werden müssen. Wenn eines davon nicht geliefert werden sollte, zahlen wir auch nicht. 

Natürlich war das damals in der Werkzeugbranche erst einmal ein Riesenaufschrei, ist heute aber Standard. Wer heute ein Werkzeug kauft, bekommt selbstredend eine Grafik dazu. Jeder der also Produkte kauft, kann beim Hersteller Druck aufbauen. Jetzt jedoch müssen wir nicht nach der Grafik verlangen, sondern nach dem Digital Twin. Wenn das jeder fordert, kann man sich den Zugzwang ausmalen, der plötzlich bei den Herstellern herrschen würde.

 

Das fehlt also noch. Aber ist es auch umsetzbar und realistisch?

 

(Lacht) Wir müssen das halt erst einmal probieren. Es gibt ja viele Hersteller, die bereits einen Digitalen Twin liefern, aber teilweise noch nicht vollständig. Die Industrie ist da auf jeden Fall auf einem guten Weg, aber eben noch nicht am Ziel. Um dieses Ziel jedoch schneller zu erreichen, können Einkäufer diesen Druck bei den Herstellern aufbauen.

 

Die fünf Naturgesetze der Digitalisierung

Was sind die größten Herausforderungen für Fabriken bei der Anwendung von Digital Twins als Teil ihrer bestehenden Prozesse? Was können Hersteller tun, um diese Herausforderungen zu meistern?

 

Ich beschäftige mich mittlerweile seit 33 Jahren mit der Digitalisierung. Dabei haben sich immer die gleichen Herausforderungen herauskristallisiert. Wenn ein Projekt gekränkelt hat oder gescheitert ist, war das immer eine von fünf Herausforderungen, die nicht vernünftig angepackt worden ist. Diese fünf Herausforderungen nenne ich die „fünf Naturgesetze der Digitalisierung“. Diese muss man abarbeiten, damit solche Projekte auch gelingen können. 

Das erste Naturgesetz ist: Menschen mitnehmen. Klingt erst einmal ganz banal, aber wenn die MitarbeiterInnen nicht wollen, wird das Projekt immer scheitern. Man muss Menschen also von dem Projekt begeistern. Da gibt es eine Metapher, die man vor allem auf Konferenzen häufig hört: Wenn du ein Schiff bauen willst, erzähl den Leuten nicht, was sie alles für den Bau benötigen. Erzähle ihnen nur von der Schönheit des Meeres. Dann wirst du auch das beste Boot bekommen, das du dir vorstellen kannst. 

Das zweite Naturgesetz ist: Wenn man einen schlechten analogen Prozess digitalisiert, dann bekommt man einen noch schlechteren digitalen Prozess. Analoge Prozesse müssen also schon vorher schlank und einfach gemacht werden. Dazu eignen sich LEAN-Methoden hervorragend. Also LEAN einführen und leben, das ist das zweite Naturgesetz der Digitalisierung und somit auch eine Herausforderung.

Das dritte Naturgesetz sind Stammdaten. Viele Projekte scheitern an unvollständigen Stammdaten. Diese müssen vollständig und fehlerfrei sein. Wenn du beispielsweise mit einem Navigationssystem durch Deutschland fährst, dann sind die Landkarten die Stammdaten. Wenn ich nun in ein neues Industriegebiet fahre, und mein Navi diese neue Landkarte noch nicht kennt, dann fehlen mir hier die Stammdaten. 

Das vierte Naturgesetz ist: Die Konnektivität im Brown-Field herstellen. Wir leben und arbeiten ja alle in einem Brown-Field. Green-Field wäre eine nagelneue Fabrik mit nagelneuen Maschinen und Werkzeugen. Doch das hat keiner. Wir alle haben einen historisch gewachsenen Maschinenpark. Wir haben also einen maschinellen Zoo an unterschiedlichen Maschinen, die 24 Stunden am Tag und 365 Tage im Jahr stabil vernetzt sein müssen. Wenn ich diese Konnektivität nicht erreichen kann, kann ich alles andere auch nicht schaffen. 

Das fünfte Naturgesetz ist: Offene Ökosysteme. In unserer Branche soll man nicht nach einer eierlegenden Wollmilchsau suchen, denn die ist Illusion. Die Lösung sieht so aus: Die digitale Fabrik besteht aus verschiedenen, eigenständigen Öko-Systemen, in deren Zentrum ein planendes META – System sitzt, Stand heute ist das das ERP System. Unterhalb dieser META Ebene befinden sich die jeweiligen ÖKO Systeme mit ihren domänenspezifischen Abläufen und Prozessen. Wie z.B. eine Feinsteuerung, ein Warehouse System, ein CAQ System, ein PLM System, ein Shopfloor System, etc. Die Interoperabilität dieser Systeme ist dabei ein entscheidendes Kriterium für deren Auswahl. Die richtige Orchestrierung der einzelnen Ökosysteme bringt den echten Mehrwert der Digitalisierung.

Das sind die fünf Herausforderungen, die man erst einmal meistern muss, bevor man überhaupt mit der KI den nächsten großen Sprung machen kann. Ohne das bringt auch ein Digital Twin nichts. Wenn es dafür keine Basis gibt, dann ist der Digital Twin auf verlorenem Posten.

 

Nachhaltigkeit in der Industrie 4.0

Aufgrund von Megatrends, wie dem Klimawandel, ist die Nachhaltigkeit für die Infrastruktur von größter Bedeutung. Welche wichtigen Änderungen nehmen Hersteller vor, um mit den Nachhaltigkeits-Vorschriften Schritt zu halten?

 

(Lacht) Jetzt hast du ein Riesenthema aufgemacht. Was heißt denn Nachhaltigkeit überhaupt? „Die natürliche Regenerationsfähigkeit der beteiligten Systeme gewährleisten“. Am Beispiel der Forstwirtschaft heißt das etwa, nicht mehr Holz zu fällen als nachwachsen kann. Schneide ich einen Baum ab, muss ich einen Baum anpflanzen, der auch irgendwann abgeholzt werden kann. Das ist Nachhaltigkeit. 

Aber was bedeutet das für uns in der Produktion? In den Produktionshallen würde das bedeuten, dass nicht mehr Rohstoffe verbraucht werden als Rohstoffe nachwachsen können, wie beispielsweise seltene Erden, Erdöl oder Eisenerz. Das geht aber nicht. Diese Aussage („geht nicht“) verwende ich äußerst selten. In diesem Fall hat das allerdings Millionen an Jahren gebraucht, um überhaupt zu entstehen. Die ganze Nachhaltigkeits-Thematik ist in der Fertigungsbranche also eher scheinheilig, weil es sowieso nicht geht. 

Wir beuten die Erde aus, bis sie kollabiert. Punkt. Das ist das Problem, das wir alle auf diesem Planeten haben. Was sollen die Hersteller jetzt also machen, um einigermaßen etwas richtig zu machen? 

Sie könnten in energieeffiziente Anlagen investieren, damit auch der CO2-Ausstoß reduziert wird. Auch könnten Reisezeiten minimiert werden. Durch die Coronavirus-Pandemie habe ich so viel Reisezeit eingespart, das kann man auch nach Corona noch beibehalten. Zudem sollte Home-Office – soweit möglich – auch nach der Pandemie ermöglicht werden. So wird jeden Tag der Weg ins Büro gespart, und damit auch Sprit. 

Ein Beispiel: Manche fertigen ein goldenes Lenkrad mit Lenkradheizung, während andere einen Tesla bauen. Nicht das goldene Lenkrad sollte optimiert werden, sondern es sollte an den richtigen Stellen weiterentwickelt werden. Aber ob das Elektroauto für den Klimawandel wirklich so gut ist, ist eine völlig andere Diskussion. 

Eine weitere Methode, die bei der Nachhaltigkeit helfen könnte, wäre die Just-in-Time-Produktion. In meinem Studium im Jahr 1989 wurde das sehr stark thematisiert. Hier heißt es: Das beste Lager ist kein Lager. Der beste Transport ist kein Transport. Es könnte also direkt in die Montage produziert werden, statt erst einmal ins Lager und von dort aus wieder weiter transportiert zu werden. Das ist zwar eine uralte Methode, aber die könnte durchaus nachhaltig sein.

 

Ist das eine realistische Methode? Setzen dies Hersteller vielleicht sogar schon um?

 

Die Automobilindustrie setzt das großartig um. Sitzhersteller zum Beispiel fahren ihre Sitze in kein Lager, sondern direkt an die Montagelinie im Autowerk und vor dort werden sie Just-In-Time montiert. So gut, wie das die Autoindustrie hinbekommt, bekommt das keine andere Branche hin. Da gibt es für unsere Branche noch viel Optimierungs-Potenzial.

 

Richtig auf die Zukunft vorbereiten

Inwiefern können Zukunftsszenarien EntscheidungsträgerInnen helfen, ihre Pläne zu verfeinern und Strategien zu entwickeln, um sich auf die Zukunft vorzubereiten?

 

Zukunftsszenarien helfen EntscheiderInnen immer nur dann, wenn sie die Zukunft auch richtig vorhergesagt haben. Sonst kann es sein, dass Pläne entstehen, die das Ganze nicht verfeinert, sondern ruiniert haben. Wenn ich von einem komplett falschen Szenario ausgehe, dann treffe ich ja die komplett falschen Entscheidungen. 

Dazu fällt mir immer der Komiker Karl Valentin ein. Er hat folgendes gesagt: „Prognosen sind schwierig, besonders wenn sie die Zukunft betreffen“ (lacht). 

Aber bei Zukunftsfragen kann ich trotzdem eine Hilfestellung geben, wie beispielsweise die fünf Naturgesetze der Digitalisierung. Diese haben sich über Jahrzehnte als Basis für richtige Entscheidungen bewährt und haben auch noch in der Zukunft Gültigkeit. Wenn man sich daran orientiert, kann man eigentlich keinen großen Fehler machen.  Wenn Sie diesen QR-Code entschlüsseln, dann finden Sie dazu eine wertvolle Hilfestellung, in der meine Erkenntnisse aus 33 Jahren Digitalisierung komprimiert dargestellt werden: 

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Hartung Wilstermann: Surviving Disruptive Trends Through Change and Adaptation

Major industries of the world experienced a massive shift due to the pandemic with many corporations navigating through the disruptive scenarios hoping to achieve growth and recovery in a post-pandemic landscape. 

For Hartung Wilstermann, Executive Vice President Battery Systems of Webasto Group, the journey towards achieving growth is to understand one simple truth: change and adapt.

In this interview, Wilstermann discusses and explores a wide range of topics such as the future workplace, the megatrends that the automotive industry needs to know, and how all of it comes back to the need for change and adaptation.

 
Want more insights on the automotive industry from Hartung Wilstermann? Join him and many other industry leaders in Management Events’ IndustryForum Automotive event in Germany.
 

Understanding The Post-Pandemic Landscape and Challenges

It’s safe to say that everything changed due to the pandemic and with the economies opening back through rampant vaccination, corporations are preparing future scenarios to keep up with business growth in 2021 and beyond.

However, Wilstermann believes that the focus should not be on creating scenarios or predicting the outcomes of the future. Rather, what is important is for organizations to understand that reacting and being flexible to situations that arise should be the priority.

 

What is your outlook on the European automotive industry in the latter half of 2021?

 

My personal opinion here is, let’s not try to find the right scenario for the future. Instead, understand that whatever you have planned, will come differently.

Of course, you can have plans and scenarios, either internally or through different companies that are analyzing and predicting what will happen in the industry. However, if you look at the past year, they have all been wrong.

Nobody foresaw Corona(virus), and nobody was prepared for the crisis.

It is not that important to predict or analyze what will come. It is more important to be able to react to whatever will come. So for me, the answer is, whatever happens, we need to be prepared to react and be flexible to the situation.

Be flexible, have your scenarios but expect it will come differently.

 

What about post-pandemic challenges for the European automakers? Will it be different?

 

Again, it’s not new and there will always be new changes and challenges. Our whole life is nothing but changes and currently, there are several big changes in society that corporations need to keep an eye on; namely, autonomous driving, connected vehicles, and e-mobility.

These are well-known megatrends that we need to focus on, that is clear. 

But for the European automakers, the challenges are the same as it was in the past. They need to adapt to new realities, be it to jump into services, invest in e-mobility, or autonomous mobility. 

This is my key point here. Corporations must react faster to the changes because the changes are occurring faster and faster.

 

Interconnected Industry Megatrends, Climate Influences, and The Speed of Change

2021 kickstarted a global effort to bring COVID-19 under control through massive vaccination and a reenergized global agenda towards climate change. There is no question that 2021 will be a year of transition, but how has it affected the megatrends amongst major industries and the automotive industry in particular?

Wilstermann highlights that many facets of the automotive industry’s megatrends have shifted towards sustainability and e-mobility, in addition to digital transformation, and how change is at the core of all these megatrends.

 

What are the key megatrends or changes that will drive growth for the European automotive industry?

 

The big ones are the well-known ones. You have digitalization, which can be a megatrend and a source for change.

And then you have e-mobility, which for me, is something which I have believed in 15 years ago and is now coming through. And the e-mobility trend will not just be batteries, it will be a global trend, for all the mobility that we have on earth. Like aviation, automotive, and marine mobility.

Another megatrend is the speedup of changes. The speed of change is a megatrend itself because it influences all of our challenges and pushes organizations to adapt. The world has become closer and globalization has shown how connected we are on a global scale.

And when one industry goes down, it influences the rest of the industry as well.  A virus can influence the production of chips and the supply chain, which shows how fully integrated and highly connected our industries are.

Yes, organizations are reacting to this, by getting more local. But we need to get faster. To react and still be calm when we experience changes. 

And of course, we also need to adapt to climate change. It is something which we can see, and is happening now. Climate change will influence the way we need to think, the way we need to act, so, I would also call it a megatrend. 

It might not be one which we like to have, but it is happening. It is a megatrend we need to understand and realize it is there. It will influence our way of thinking, of acting, and therefore the industry.

 

The New Balance of Future Workplace and The Roles of Leadership

The pandemic has disrupted the structure of the workplace as more and more corporations have adapted to the idea of mobile work offices. However, finding the balance for the future workplace is a question that many leaders within the automotive industry are struggling to answer.

For Wilstermann, the focus should not be on finding a single solution or a sweeping generalization on what the “next-normal” workplace will be for an organization.

But rather, to adapt and change as necessary, create a new balance that works for the culture of the company and at the same time, having those in the leadership roles lead the way for these changes.

 

What will the “next-normal” workplace look like and how can organizations achieve it?

 

The “next-normal” is something we cannot predict. But, we can create it.

We can create it by understanding what are the needs of the workplace, and what are the changes.

For example, before COVID-19, most companies were reluctant to have mobile offices. Now, we’ve all understood that mobile offices are possible because we were forced to do it.

Will we stay completely with mobile offices? Of course not. 

There needs to be some kind of balance where we will integrate this new change into the new workspace. Yes, there are a lot of different solutions depending on the department, but the new reality will be a very diverse one.

Each area, each department, each team, needs to find its balance and adapt it to the changes that will come up. So this, for me, will be a new reality. It is much more flexible and more reactive to the needs of the customers, the employees, the industry, and the megatrends.

 

What role should those in leadership roles play to help transition into a diverse workplace?

 

For me, the most important part of leadership is to lead people, and sometimes also results. This also means that you need to create an environment where people can do their jobs.

And being in that leadership role means setting an environment that allows people to adapt individually and react quickly to changes.

Leading, or being in a leadership role, does not mean setting a goal and waiting until somebody reaches those goals. It means creating an environment that allows people to adapt, fast and individualized, to their needs while still being part of the team.

This is what I would call, real leadership. It is setting the environment for people so that they can find their solutions. Not setting solutions, or defining what the “next-normal” will be, how it looks, or how it will work.

 

Adaptation Is Key In Organizational Structures And Embracing Change 

Corporations are constantly in search of the perfect organizational structure that will help align their vision and drive growth, especially in today’s volatile market. 

With major industries within Europe pushing towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), corporations are scrambling to find and develop the necessary elements needed to overcome the disruptive changes coming due to sustainable initiatives. 

But as Wilstermann points out, there is no “perfect” solution or structure, and that companies must react and evolve constantly to the changes that occur within the industry.

 

How should organizations structure themselves to overcome disruptive changes such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?

 

I would say it is very important to first understand the history of the company, the mindset, and the culture of the company. 

There is no one organizational setup that is the best as there are many elements that you need to take into account, such as the culture, product, and even the size of the company. 

The only consistent element that I see the same for every organization is the need for change and adaptation to the megatrends, the society, your customers, and the competition.

The best setup is to have a continuous improvement and change of the organization and not assume that the organization you have now will be the same for the next ten years.

If you’re open to changes, you will be able to find the perfect organization for this point in time, in this situation, the environment you are in, and for your industry. And tomorrow, it will be a different one. 

But, if you’re open to adapt, you will find another setup.

Of course, it all depends on different factors such as region, product, history. Adapting to all of these factors and elements will lead to a temporarily optimized organizational structure.

 

What advice would you give to organizations on overcoming changes from disruption?

 

Let me share a personal experience from when I was in the Philippines for one year. 

Coming from Germany where everything was structured. Safety was, for me, having insurance, enough money, and all these things which were related to planning and stability. 

Then going to the Philippines, and seeing how different it was. I came back with a different understanding of what feeling safe meant. 

It was not having money, insurance, a car, plans, and so on.

I came back with the understanding that feeling safe means having the confidence of being able to deal with every upcoming change. 

Do not try to avoid changes and replace them with plans, which will never come true. Rather, it is necessary to adapt to the future, deal with all the changes that come from disruption, and keep pace with the speed of the changes.