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Swarovski’s Jochen Schmidt: Embracing Digitalization in Retail and the Need of Reliable Data

One of the keys to achieving success in the retail industry is to adopt a data-centric approach to make educated, fact-based decisions for customer satisfaction, better return on investments, and having an overall better retail experience. However, with only 16% of retailers considering themselves experts in data harnessing, it’s clear that retailers are still behind in fully utilizing the power of data. 

As the Vice President of Distribution & Real Estate for Swarovski Corporation AG, Jochen Schmidt shares with us his insights on embracing the digital transformation, the need for clean and reliable data, and why talents are the key enablers for data-driven retailers. 

 

Embracing Digital Transformation and Abandoning Legacy Systems 

The value of digitization has increased significantly in the last few years due to the pandemic with digital transformation efforts for retailers focusing more on improving the overall customer experience, becoming more agile, and providing better collaboration within the supply chain. 

With the global digital transformation market expected to reach 388.51 billion by 2026, Schmidt shares his insights on what challenges await retail leaders that have yet to embrace digital transformation and how they overcome and abandon legacy systems. 

 

What are the challenges for retailers to fully embrace digitalization?

The challenges might be different from organization to organization. Larger retailers with a global footprint have the challenge of overcoming legacy systems, which is a hurdle. Others might face challenges in resources or strategic priority and the speed for implementation of the transformation. That can be a real challenge because the world is evolving so fast and COVID brought an acceleration into it.  

Swarovski operates in more than 100 countries and has legal entities in more than 30 countries. The challenge for us, which goes along with the speed of transformation, is the need to relate with local laws, to adjust processes and systems, depending on the country. It’s not like you just push a button and roll things out on a global scale. There is a complexity which comes with operating in different countries.  

So, think “speed”, whether the systems in place today correlate with each other, and the complexity with different legislation through different countries. 

 

Legacy remains a challenge for retailers. How can retail leaders encourage their organizations to abandon legacy systems?

It’s just a matter of priorities, providing the right funds and the right resources. When given the funds and resources, then every organization can move towards abandoning legacy systems. If there is no investment into IT infrastructure, then there won’t be any movement. 

Essentially, it starts with the willingness to invest and the need to invest is understood by the management. And it is what Swarovski has done in the past. where we released budget to significantly invest into our systems to upscale online and bring systems together. 

This is the starting point. You then bring the different teams, the organization behind it, have change driven by the leaders of every department, create transparency, create understanding, and have one joint vision of where you want to go. So, a good game plan and change management is needed. 

 

Cleaning Up the Data and The Key Enablers for Data Utilization 

Data is the fuel that drives the decision-making process for organizations. In the journey towards becoming a data-driven organization, retail leaders will have to understand and prepare for the major hurdles along the way. 

Whether it’s ensuring that there is clean and reliable data to power a better decision-making process or utilizing data effectively with the right tools and people, Schmidt highlights the necessary foundations for data-driven organizations. 

 

What hurdles do Swarovski and other retailers face in their journey to become a data-driven organization?

One of the key elements for Swarovski was to clean up our internal data. When Swarovski started working with data, we also saw the need to improve the quality of data, as some of the fields were not maintained properly. And we have not been paying attention to data quality over the last couple of years as much as we should have, which affected how we used data.  

And to be honest, this was one of the key hurdles of data. That partially was just not updated and maintained. When it comes to third-party data from external sources, it was the same thing. There is a need to double-check if the data is clean and whether it makes sense to use it in a certain way. Here, it comes down to the people who work with the data itself, who process the data, and how they need to have an eye on data quality both internally and externally. There needs to be a process set up to ensure data quality and bring the organization behind this idea. 

That’s the first step. You need to have your data checked, and once you have that, you need to have the right team. The experts that can work with this huge amount of data, make it readable, make it understandable for the people in the business and create an outcome that is understandable and allows you to act on it. 

 

In terms of data adoption, what initiatives or strategies should retailers adopt? What can others learn from Swarovski’s approach to data utilization?

One of the key elements we work with quite a lot is GIS, Geo Intelligence Software tool. This strong partnership helps to understand the technical capabilities of the software, brainstorm with externals (without being influenced by internal structures) It basically helps us to make the most out of the system, learn and adopt fast.  

This tool makes data more tangible when it comes to geographics, store locations, to let us see the correlation between offline and online sales, develop distribution masterplans from it, and see consumer data and identify the market potential.  

As well as bringing “live” data to see consumer behaviours on a local level. This approach is very changeable because you can, for example, specify your data such as for the US on a county-level or a double digital postal code in Europe. 

 

Attracting Talents and Transitioning into a Data-Driven Organization 

As the demand for talents in data science continues to rise, retail leaders will have to find ways to attract better talents to handle the immense volume and complexity of data available effectively as they transition into becoming a data-driven organization. 

“Another enabler is having the right people in your organization. I always say, if you want to play Champions League, you need to have the best players.  A company needs to attract the best talents to be able to make best use of the data available and set the right action.” 

For Schmidt, the strategies for attracting talents do not have to be complicated and the main priority for retail leaders in becoming data-centric should always come back to the main foundations of clear governance, data, resources, and the deployment of talent. 

“Once you have the right people brought together, you can see the difference in results. There’s so much movement, but also the quality of the outcome is so good. Having the right people in place is a key pillar of the strategy because someone needs to process the data and work with the data.” 

 

How should organizations approach nurturing and attracting talent in data science? What initiatives or strategies should retailers push for?

I think what organizations can do is to provide a good workplace, culture, leadership, and have good employer branding. Having an attractive location, or an attractive working environment that also provides a good package for the people that lets you tap into those highly talented people and attract them into our industry. Make them understand the bigger picture, their contribution to the overall strategy, and let them do their job. 

The retail industry isn’t known for that background in working with huge data whereas other industries are more advanced in terms of data talent. But I think retail is such an exciting industry and there are really cool brands out there that want to work with data.  

If you provide the right work environment, good scope of responsibilities, and make work fun with the other teams. Not just purely data crunching stuff, because we sometimes forget how isolated working with data can be. Make it fun to work cross-departmental and celebrate successes together. 

 

What should be the priority for retailers transitioning into a data-driven organization? What pitfalls or mistakes should they avoid?

Again, I would repeat and emphasize getting the data right. That is one of the first things your organization needs to focus on. Have an internal assessment of where you are and fix it if there is something to fix. And trust me, we found topics to fix. 

The second is to define the processes and structures that works on a central level through all the necessary departments with clear roles and responsibilities. Then kick off with a strong external partner and talents to define the main topics you want to solve. If done in the wrong order, you process data, but you maybe won’t be able to draw conclusions.  

Another pitfall that organizations need to be aware of is to provide the right resources. Compiling data is the first step, step two is to make the data understandable, actionable and visualize it. And to do that, you need to allow resources for your people to work with the data.  It’s a time investment where you need to have people quantify, qualify, and draw conclusions out of the data. If you don’t provide the resources to understand the data, you’ll just wade through endless data with no action. 

I’m involved in a project where we work with heavy data and when the team is provided a fantastic tool to work with, we also need to make sure that people in the field have time to work with it and get the actions from it. Otherwise, you have this fantastic tool but you’re not able to get the benefits out there if your team does not have the time to work with it. So, I would say it’s about providing the time, the right resources in the field, to work with the data and earn your return on investment. 

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How to Equate Your Digital Transformation Journey to Sustainable Success

Have the following questions ever crossed your mind? 

  • What is the pace of digital transformation in my organization?  
  • Do recent digital initiatives align with the company’s overall business strategy? 
  • How far ahead are my competitors? 
  • What do I need to do to remain ahead of the game?

Matthew Bertram, a Future Point of View (FPOV) senior consultant, has answers to those questions. We were happy to host Bertram’s insightful presentation on digital transformation in a recent installment of 90Minutes CxO Insights — Fast & Furious Digital Transformation: Charting the Course for Sustainable Success vs. A Temporary Fix. Here are the highlights of his presentation. 

 

Digital Transformation: 50 Years of Digital Assimilation 

According to Bertram, the birth of digital transformation can be traced back to 2000. Although we are halfway through the age of machine intelligence, we have only just begun to scratch the surface. “We have AI and ML beginning to truly integrate with our society and our daily lives.” Bertram predicts that by 2050, society will be truly connected through the concept of transhumanism, “where you have computers and machines that are fully assimilated.”  

“One of the challenges that we have with digital transformation is risk.” Bertram explains the biggest risk in the digital business world is data extortion and AI attacks. “What you’re going to see is more of machine intelligence, extortion, and machine learning that targets AI. Whereas right now, attackers are targeting the data.” 

In addition, Bertram highlights that the rate of change in technology is not in tandem with the rate of change in people and organizations. Technology grows exponentially, while organizations grow logarithmically. He calls this the transformation dilemma.  

“What does that do as a leader? That creates a risk, it creates a gap between what’s possible, where we are, and where our organization is.” Bertram names this gap the Leadership Danger Zone. “This is the zone where we as leaders have to bring our organization up, we have to get them from where we are now, see what the capabilities are, and what it is in the future that we can move our organization to.” 

 

The Power of Pre-Emptive Vision

“Think about the technology that we’re talking about over the next five years or 20 years. You can break that technology down into five different categories.” The categories are conceptual technology, leading-edge technology, early technology, established technology, and mature technology. 

With each technology, there is timing, advantages and disadvantages, market reward, and market cost. When should leaders implement a new technology, taking these factors into account?  

“The longer you wait to implement a technology, the less risk there is in implementing. However, the reward from the market from being able to implement that technology goes down first, there’s a first-mover advantage. The goal is to be able to take advantage of new technology without having to be leading edge without being bleeding edge.” 

Bertram says leaders should have a good idea of conceptual technology five to seven years out, and leading-edge technology like blockchain, two to three years out. There are a lot of doubts about the metaverse, augmented reality, and specific types of AI. How do leaders know whether these technologies fit within their organization?  

Awareness, exploration, and adoption of new technologies

Firstly, leaders have to be aware of available technology, explore ways to bring that technology into their organization, and finally, make a bet to adopt the technology through investment. However, Bertram says that most organizations’ field of vision of the future is limited. They start exploring technology only to find out that they are already too late. “For example, Meta virtual reality. There are companies right now that are just now starting to talk about Meta, that are just now starting to wonder about this VR.” 

To avoid lagging behind the latest technology, Bertram calls for leaders to extend their vision as it is a critical skill set. “The way you do that is something that we call rivers of information®, which is simply a systematic way of learning.” 

“Winning organizations don’t look at what’s right in front of them today. They look at what’s coming out several years down the road and begin to explore. So right about the time it becomes leading-edge technology, they are prepared and ready to adopt.”  

According to Bertram, a combination of the rivers of information® and the high beam process has the potential to give leaders a two-year lead over their competitors.  

 

High Beam Strategy Process

Shared future vision 

“It’s important to be able to come to this shared understanding.” Leaders and employees should have a common picture of what the future holds for them and what it means for their organization. 

Trend identification and extrapolation 

Bertram says there are three types of trends to look at — macro trends, global trends, and industry trends. The goal is to identify the top three trends that are going to affect your organization. Once the trends have been identified, the next thing to do is to figure out whether these trends are hurting (anchor) or helping (sail) your organization.  

Develop a portfolio

This portfolio should include three types of investments — “Investments in people, investments in process, and investments in specific tools. Once you have this portfolio, once you have these investments, then you’ve got a way to be able to communicate this out.”  

Bertram stresses that this process should be repeated every year to assess the progress and development of technology investments and make any changes if needed. When executing a strategy or process, Bertram asks leaders to consider eight environmental factors which are culture, motivation, skill and will, key opinion leaders, personality styles, automation acceptance, tolerance for change, and market trends. 

 

Three Capabilities to Help Your Organization in a VUCA World  

The world is getting more unstable from a VUCA (Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous) perspective. “We’ve seen in the last few years what happens when you have a black swan event that totally changes all your assumptions that you did not see coming. How do you deal with a major global event that surprises you?” 

Bertram names three capabilities that are integral in helping an organization navigate a VUCA world. “No matter where you are in your transformation journey, these are capabilities that you need for your organization.” 

Citizen data scientist skill set

According to Bertram, citizen data scientists have a specific skill set to “fill in the white space that a data science team would not be able to catch.” 

The skill set of a citizen data scientist:  

  • Understand the purpose of data activation and the framework for excellence 
  • Thoroughly know your company’s data environment 
  • Understand analytics and how to enrich data insights 
  • How to use visualization, storytelling, and mashups to communicate with impact 
  • Using rules, triggers, and actions to automate insight 

From Bertram’s personal experience, organizations that are made up of 10% to 15% of data scientists have an enormous advantage over their competitors.  

Citizen application specialist 

The next capability is a citizen application specialist who has the following skill set: 

  • Understand concepts of process automation and the future of work 
  • Thoroughly know your company’s automation environment and tools 
  • Systems thinking, data and automation basics 
  • Sustaining automation over time 
  • Proactively solving common challenges of automation  

“An essential part of being a citizen application specialist is understanding how to proactively solve the challenge of displacement and what to do with reskilling and retasking humans.” 

Rivers of information®

The third and final capability is rivers of information® which aims to foster a culture of learning that is intentional and continuous. This is an initiative that needs to be constantly maintained and reviewed. Bertram says it is a big part of an organization’s upskilling program.  

“With rivers of information, it’s not just you as the leader. It’s not just your executive team. It’s not just your board. It’s the entire organization. This is typically driven by HR, sometimes by Learning & Development. As you implement rivers of information®, each department would have their own sources, reviews, and the ability to make this part of job descriptions.” 

 

The Next Steps

Bertram recommends that leaders start working on the following: 

  • Use high beam planning to get a clear vision of the next 3 to 5 years 
  • Identify investments in people, processes, and products 
  • Integrate citizen data science, citizen automation specialist, and rivers of information training into your organization  

“Building centaur capabilities into your organization is a huge advantage that augments any digital transformation. A centaur is a highly advanced human. Someone who has good EQ and good learning habits.”  

A digital centaur is an individual who has the skills of a citizen data scientist, citizen application specialist, and rivers of information® expert. When you pair a digital centaur with advanced technology, they know how to activate data, automate system processes, and continually learn to keep up with the latest developments in technology. 

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HEINEKEN’s Magne Setnes: Resiliency, Risk Management, and “The Swiss Army Knife” CSCO

The supply chain continues to be an ever-growing complex system that, just like precariously stacked dominoes, can be affected and disrupted by several things. Be it from transportation breakdowns (Suez Canal obstruction) or shortage of resources (global chip shortage), the chances of something that can impact a business’s supply chain system are correlatively rising.

With the gaps within businesses’ supply chains being evident, especially after the wake of the pandemic, it is obvious that supply chain leaders and CSCO will need to focus on resilience to overcome them.

As the Chief Supply Chain Officer for HEINEKEN, Magne Setnes shares with us his insights on why resiliency and financial understanding need to be the priority for organizations today and why being a “Swiss Army Knife” is necessary for a modern CSCO.

 
Want more insights from Magne Setnes? Join him and many other industry leaders in Management Events’ 600Minutes Supply Chain Management event in the Netherlands.
 

Prioritizing visibility, resiliency, and sustainability in the supply chain

The supply chain landscape has undergone massive change due to the pandemic, a majority of which had negative effects on many companies and businesses. These changes and disruptions have pushed many supply chain leaders to rethink the importance of visibility and resiliency within their organizations.

Setnes echoes these priorities in his role as CSCO for HEINEKEN, but at the same time, highlights the broader picture that other supply chain leaders will need to focus on for the future.

 

What are the priorities for organizations in facing disruptions? What key areas should supply chain leaders focus on for the future?

 

When it comes to disruption, very often you can make the mistake of thinking that once you deal with the disruption, it will go away. I am not so sure that is going to be the future moving forward and we are seeing now that disruptions are staying longer than expected. As we move into the future, we will see more of these disruptions.

So, you must create a resilient supply chain, which is good advice for the future. And there are other areas that your organization needs to be very aware of, such as the various tiers in the supply chain. It’s not enough to just look one tier downstream or upstream. As a CSCO, you need to start looking at, for instance, your supplier’s supplier and try to understand how all of your supply chain system works.

Of course, to operate on that level, you will need to have more visibility in your supply chain. I see many companies, including ourselves, working hard on creating better insights and visibility, both upstream and downstream. In addition to working on other areas like scenario planning and forecasting consumers’ and customers’ needs.

Another one that is also on the table of supply chain officers around the world is the whole impact on the environment and how it impacts us. Sustainability and social responsibility are very much something that will impact more in the supply chain and might lead to some disruption. 

For instance, the availability of certain raw materials and how they are not sustainably supplied can lead to disruption. Your supply chain needs to pursue sustainability and achieve the goal of being a sustainable company.

 

Tackling supply chain risk management and initiating change in operating models

The supply chain is the fuel that keeps the engine moving for all things retail and manufacturing. Take that out, and you have no product, no inventory, and no revenue. When faced with disruptions to the supply chain, retailers and manufacturers are often scrambling to get everything in order.

Based on a survey conducted by Gartner in 2020, only 21% of respondents have built a highly resilient network, which is less than ideal. Setnes highlights the need for having proper risk management strategies and operating models that can help supply chain leaders get ahead of those risk factors. 

 

How should CSCOs strategize their approach in achieving good risk management? What aspects should they focus on?

 

We have a well-regulated and governed risk management process in the company as a whole. But when it comes to strategizing risk management, our approach is to, as a company across all functions, get together and identify what the biggest risks are and make sure we create a picture of success.

I think that it is important to create a picture of success, work your way back from that, and in this way create a plan on how to get there. Of course, this is not an easy task, and quite a lot of work goes into this, but it is also very helpful for organizations as it shows you the things that you need to get done and what you need to get organized in your supply chain or your value chain. 

In managing this, scenario planning becomes very important. To create ideas and consider, “What if this happened, or if that happens”, and to develop scenarios in order to activate solutions when something does happen. In reality, of course, the scenario you plan for is not exactly going to be what’s happening, however, it brings that mindset of being ready and creating some resilience in your supply chain.

Another important aspect is to look at and understand the financials of your value chain. To get away a little bit from averages, to understand not only the average performance but also certain product lines. That way, when a disruption happens or if you experience a big shift from the consumers, you understand how it is going to impact you financially as well.

Last but not least, having a pulse on customers and consumers is very, very important. 

 

What are the challenges and approaches for CSCOs in initiating change within their supply chain operating models?

 

I think many supply chain officers have to deal with the fact that, in the leadership of the companies where they participate, conversations are very often commercially oriented. 

But the supply chain is a collective of small pieces and it can be difficult to convey changes in supply chain operating models in a way that is easy to grasp. You change something here and several tiers further something else changes and this is not always straightforward to work with.

So, having a clear understanding of all your product lines, understanding where the costs are, and where your bottlenecks and difficulties are, are key factors in the decision-making process at the company level as they directly relate to the financial or sustainability outcome of your company.

Typically, when you have a certain product, it will have a product owner, maybe a marketeer who will eventually own a product line. And if you want to make changes, if you cannot illustrate the true impact of the change in terms of sustainability, financials, or customer appreciation, it’s going to be very difficult to have that discussion.

Having that value chain view will be key in these types of decision-making processes and in initiating change. 

And in the past, we were driven by KPIs that were typically about efficiency, productivity, and availability. However, you have to add the financial and sustainability impact and I think CSCOs are finding themselves having more and more conversations with their commercial and financial colleagues to further strengthen the understanding of the value chain as a whole.

 

Equipping The Right Tools and Traits For The Modern CSCOs

The unprecedented disruptions organizations faced in recent years have shown the importance of the chief supply chain officer in encouraging supply chain sustainability and resilience. This newfound importance and influence the role has on the rest of the C-suite and the entire organization means CSCOs must equip themselves with the right tools for the future.

However, Setnes points out that the necessary traits that the modern CSCO must be equipped with are often not so clear-cut. Rather, it’s about being a “Swiss Army Knife” of sorts where they need to use the right tool in the right situation.

 

Are there necessary traits that CSCOs need to be equipped with within today’s post-pandemic landscape?

 

I think it very much relates to the company or the culture in the company and how they are organized. The supply chain has always required deep expertise and you still need core competencies, whether it’s in technology, logistic management, or business.

So, the core competencies are still very much needed but now, you need to be much wider because the supply chain is an end-to-end game, not just a department in a company. It’s a process that runs from one end to the other end of your entire value chain. A process supported by digital tools, to deliver financial results, customer satisfaction, and overcome the sustainability challenge we all face.

Because of that, the future supply chain officer will need to be more oriented towards understanding the dynamics of their entire value chain and also be well-equipped in terms of customers, consumers, digital and financial understanding. So you can talk with marketeers and commercial colleagues just as easily as with the IT and finance departments. Last, but not least, is the whole dimension of sustainability. 

CSCOs today are becoming broader and broader in their orientation. And while you cannot have deep knowledge of everything, you need to have good core competencies from which you can build your “umbrella”. We are like the Swiss Army Knife. The most used tool might differ a little bit from industry to industry, company to company, but in general, the Swiss Army Knife is becoming bigger.

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Top 3 Challenges of Digital Transformation: How Can You Overcome Them?

Once viewed as a buzzword, digital transformation is now a non-negotiable element of business continuity. The International Data Corporation predicts that digital investments will make up more than 50% of ICT investments by 2024 and will be a large part of 2022’s global economy.  

The digital transformation journey does not come without challenges. According to Gartner, the shift to digital is taking organizations “at least twice as long and costing twice as much as they originally anticipated.” In this article, we explore three of the biggest challenges of digital transformation and effective ways to solve them.  

 

Challenge: Change-resistant culture and mindset

In the process of digitizing tools and processes, culture and mindset tend to be overlooked. In fact, change management and digital transformation are greatly intertwined. However, implementing change in an organization is difficult, with 70% of change management initiatives left unachieved. The main reasons behind this are failure to explain the purpose of change to employees, poor understanding of stakeholders and not voicing uncertainties. In addition to legacy issues and inadequate resources, poor change management may hinder any progress in the digital transformation journey.  

Solution: Build a digital transformation leadership team

As the Chief Digital Officer (CDO) of FLSmidth, Mikko Tepponen says that he is expected to be a catalyst for change as well as a technology leader. Organizations amid digital transformation should expand their C-suite to include a CDO role to ensure business goals are aligned with digital transformation initiatives. Tepponen also mentions that “it becomes a challenge if there is no clear focus on harmonizing your processes”, especially in large companies where there are different ways of working. Therefore, it is imperative that employees and stakeholders are involved in the digital transformation model from the start.  

 

Challenge: Talent shortage

The constant development of digital technologies has resulted in a lack of professionals to realize digital transformation strategies. Finding the right talent has become a common digital transformation challenge. In our trend report, Digital Transformation Investments 2022 and Beyond, 66% of respondents highlighted difficulties in hiring the right talent to fill the digital skill gap. The latest research by Ranstad also supports this finding, with 50% of surveyed employees unsure of the skills needed in a rapidly evolving workplace.  

Solution: Train and retain existing employees 

C-suites must rewire their efforts into reskilling and upskilling programs. Leaders can do an analysis of available digital talent and deploy those with tech skills to essential key roles while training them to further advance their competencies. Furthermore, organizations must always anticipate shifts in technology and be aware of emerging topics to be included in employee training sessions. Petra Ålund, Head of Technology at SEB, shares that the company often collaborates with educational institutions to inspire employees and develop their skills. “We offer mentor programs, volunteer programs, job-shadowing and internal gigs where employees can work in different parts of the bank for short periods of time,” Ålund adds.  

 

Challenge: Security worries  

While data is an organization’s biggest asset in an increasingly digital environment, it is also their biggest liability. Today’s businesses are more vulnerable to cyber risks; and cyber criminals are carrying out more complex attacks. Unsurprisingly, cyber threats were named the biggest external challenge in the transition towards digitalization, according to 58% of our surveyed digital leaders. 

Solution: Foster a security culture  

It is not enough to have cybersecurity systems in place to prevent hacks and data breaches. The path to maximum security starts with building a strong security culture in the workplace. According to Magnus Solberg, VP & Head of Security Governance at Storebrand, “a secure employee is a low-risk employee.” Solberg began working on the company’s security culture program six years ago, and now have “various security tools that help create more individually tailored training programs.”  

As cloud computing platforms play a big role in data storage, organizations should choose a cloud provider carefully. Daniel Melin, Strategist at Skatteverket, advises: “When evaluating security, the customer needs to take the whole spectrum of security into account; physical, IT, information, legal and political. Security is like a chain and every link has to be evaluated.” 

 

Facing the challenges of digital transformation is an ongoing but worthwhile process. Digital-first companies earn improved customer experience, richer data; and increased innovation — three ingredients for a sustainable and successful business.  

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Siemens Mobility’s Bernhard Karollus: Mobilizing Digital Change Towards Hybrid Work Culture

At the heart of hybrid work culture and digital transformation in IT, CIOs play a pivotal role in nurturing these initiatives to ensure their organizations maintain consistent business growth in a volatile market. From data and analytics to cyber security and more, the CIO will push the Digital Strategy of organizations to the next level. 

As the Head of Regional IT EMEA2 for Siemens Mobility Austria, Bernhard Karollus shares with us his insights on digital transformations, post-pandemic growth, and the key technologies for organizations making the shift towards new work environments.

 
Want more insights from Bernhard Karollus? Join him and many other industry leaders in Management Events’ 600Minutes Executive IT event in Austria.
 

The Transition Towards Digital Transformation

Digital transformation and change culture continue to be the main focus for IT leaders across industries. The pandemic has shown that organizations that are agile enough to incorporate digital strategies while prioritizing flexibility will be the ones that survive.

For Bernhard, however, identifying the challenges shouldn’t be the focus. Instead, keeping the organizations focused on the big picture while understanding what it means to embrace change culture should be the priority of CIOs.

 

What remains as major challenges for companies in achieving digital transformation? How do you, and Siemens Mobility, approach these challenges?

 

Defining remaining challenges would mean we know a target state. I perceive this approach as wrong. We are playing the infinite game, tackling the challenges of today, realizing there are new ones just around the corner.

As part of Siemens, we are concentrating on the platform economy and digital ecosystems when looking at the very broad picture.

 

Are organizations still resistant to change? What can those in IT leadership roles do to nurture the culture of change?

 

Tough cookie, because there is no general response to this question. There is a wide range of positions towards change even within single organizations. 

Avoiding the view and prejudices of one’s own IT bubble helps to understand the pace that a specific organization can take when going through massive change. As a permanent activity, I like the approach of small life hacks to nudge diverse parts of the organization and single employees to embrace change.

 

New Work Culture and Hybrid Environments 

With over 60% of companies allowing or incentivizing remote work, it’s clear that the home office is here to stay. While there are still challenges in complete remote working, the idea of hybrid working culture is an area in which IT leaders need to consider seriously.

However, the transition towards new work culture comes with its unique pitfalls, and Karollus outlines the challenges and how Siemens Mobility approached the idea of a hybrid workplace environment.

 

What are the pitfalls the CIOs should be aware of when transitioning into and implementing new work cultures?

 

When the pandemic started, the challenge for IT was to act quickly and provide technology solutions. Implementing new work cultures is a different corporate challenge with employees and a complex mix of stakeholders involved.

Technology is part of the solution but considering the digital dexterity of your workforce, resistance to change, and close attention to the interests of other stakeholders should be carefully considered.

 

What was Siemens Mobility’s approach toward a hybrid workplace environment?

 

We are using a holistic new normal approach with our HR, real estate, IT, and EHS departments joining forces to provide a wide variety of components building the hybrid work environment of the future. It all started with top management attention when our CEO announced 3 of 5 days working outside of the office wherever legally possible. 

What should I add? Tone from the top plus all relevant organizational units working together simply is a successful approach.

 

Incorporating Emerging Tech and Modern CIO Traits

The journey towards a hybrid working world will require IT leaders to work hard to build and maintain team dynamics. At the same time, investing in tools that will help further strengthen their business strategy can go a long in establishing a solid foundation for a successful new landscape of work

From initiating small-scale PoCs to encouraging the adoption of emerging technologies, Bernhard shares his insights on how Siemens Mobility faced these challenges and what other IT leaders need to be aware of in their journey towards a new working world.

 

What are the key investments in emerging technologies that companies need to focus on in the transition towards hybrid work culture?

 

Companies should derive their investment focus from their business strategy using tools like technology radars and core technology definitions. Gladly, many technologies can be tested in small-scale PoCs or garage projects when looking further down the horizon, while others looking at industry or topic leaders can provide guidance.

There is only a very limited technology scope that Siemens in general is not active in when it comes to digitalization. Siemens Mobility is part of the Siemens innovation ecosystem and has defined corporate core technologies. 

 

What are the strategies for IT leaders to encourage team growth and collaboration while maintaining talent wellbeing in a hybrid environment?

 

There was never something like a one-fits-all solution in the productivity/wellbeing equilibrium. Even less, when it comes to growth and collaboration. Especially as managers of managers, IT leaders, in my opinion, are well-advised to be members or partners to decisions that influence the large picture of the new work environment, actively shaping it.

At the same time coaching your direct reports openly and inclusively, while carefully optimizing team structure will shape teams that grow and collaborate in a good way. 

A word of warning: all the teams within one’s organization are different, there can be conflicts between different areas of responsibility due to the more and more individual approach of leaders. These need to be sensitively managed or avoided.

 

Finally, in the post-pandemic world, what are the traits that CIOs and IT leaders should possess to lead the workforce and the overall organization’ into the new working world?

 

Closeness to all business and support functions units is key for sure. Being open and having a team that is open to challenges from whatever topic field will not only allow to lead the workforce into the new working world but also one’s organization.

And finally, nothing told us as the pandemic did, that continuous learning is key to overcoming the challenges from permanent change.

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Brussels Airlines’ CFO Nina Oewerdieck: Managing Change, Challenges, and Culture In a Crisis

The airline industry was hit the hardest during the pandemic as the number of global passengers drastically reduced to 1.76 billion compared to the 4.5 billion before COVID-19. As chief financial officer (CFO) of Brussels Airlines, Nina Oewerdieck was tasked with overseeing a crisis that saw the role of finance changing from one of support to strategy.

In this interview, we dive into and talk about how Oewerdieck approached the challenges as a finance leader in the airlines’ industry, how she managed and encouraged a “change” mindset, and the traits of a modern CFO in a post-pandemic world.

 

Weathering The Crisis and Challenging Legacy Habits

 

COVID-19 has pushed many financial executives beyond their traditional role as a support for an organization. To weather the crisis caused by the pandemic, the role and scope of the CFO function have expanded to include leadership roles and to act as an agent of change.

As CFO of Belgium’s largest airlines, it was a challenge for Oewerdieck to ensure that the company survived during the pandemic. However, focusing on flexibility and challenging legacy habits proved to be the key factor in Brussels Airlines’ survival.

 

How were you forced to change your role as a CFO for Brussels Airlines? What were your challenges and key focuses as a finance leader during the pandemic?

 

For us as an airline, it was the heaviest crisis we have ever seen. We were used to managing crises such as “9/11”, the bird flu, or the bomb attack in Brussels 2016. But this crisis was heavier and longer than expected and even caused that Brussels Airlines’ fleet to be grounded for several weeks in 2020. That means we were not able to operate any flights, and really, to come out of this crisis was a tremendous challenge for everybody. 

Our priority was to save the company and we were in discussions with the Belgian state to get a loan to overcome these challenging times. It was a heavy challenge for everybody, not only on the personal side, to safeguard the future of this company and its employees. 

We made it through the crisis with very strict cash management and changing our perspective from EBIT-driven and bottom-line to a cash focus. We switched to micro-management on a C-level and challenged every single expenditure, every flight that we were operating to make sure all our operations were cash-positive, meaning covering all variable costs. That was the change in our view.

 

How did you make the change from support to strategy from a finance position and grow the business? What were the initiatives you had to take and what can other businesses learn from this?

 

We are not yet in a position to talk about substantial growth. I would love to focus a little bit more on strategy because we are still in crisis mode. And we are tackling this very carefully. However, it was part of our business plan, which we also went through with the government, to do a very thorough restructuring of the company. 

The focus was not to get the money to overcome this challenging period and go back to “normal”, as it was pre-COVID. It is our responsibility not only to lead the company through this crisis but also to do a restructuring to come even stronger out of this and to reach structural profitability. 

What that meant was to challenge the setup of the company, the size of the company, and to question how we have done things before. The crisis allowed us to use the momentum to get rid of some legacy habits and issues.

As a CFO, we need to have a business focus. Not only just as the support role, to provide the data and the numbers, but to also understand the business and to see what the business needs are and then, to jointly find a solution on the financial side.

I think, we have to be able to play different roles: Our finance departments have to provide data, consultancy and support the business with all their knowledge to find the best way for the company. And at the same time we – as CFOs – have to take our C-level responsibility serious and sometimes have to act differently to what our departments recommend, e.g. when it comes to business cases that only foresee a low or negative contribution to the bottom line proposing an investment which will (only) safeguard our market position vs. competition. Usually, these business cases don’t come with a return rate, they are labeled as ‘strategic decisions’.

 

Pushing Change Through Communication and Commitment

 

The pandemic has shown that businesses that are willing to change and adapt will be the ones that survive through the major disruptions. Encouraging change and overcoming legacy operations were key factors for Brussels Airlines’ ability to withstand the COVID crisis.

For Oewerdieck, COVID-19 meant an opportunity to push for change in the processes and take steps towards digitalization. At the same time, overcoming the challenges that come from encouraging change in an industry that is set in its ways.

 

Change is always hard for any company. Was it an uphill battle for you to implement change during a crisis?

 

It was an uphill battle. The need for change was very visible in our situation, which provided good momentum for us to go through this restructuring. Everybody in our organization understands that we can’t go back to how it was before, after the crisis. 

So the need for change was tangible and we were in this position to set up an organization with the right people in place and to define the right size. To go through such a crisis, to go through a restructuring, and to set up a state-of-the-art finance organization, you need to have the right people in place. People who are willing to change, who like change, and maybe also drive the business through change with new ideas and openness.

 

How do you encourage change within the workforce? What were the challenges and initiatives you had to push for?

 

It was a lot of communication work, people-driven communication work. We were very transparent and kept everyone informed throughout. We had to let them know that we were fighting for their jobs and to keep them in our company.

It was important for us to give them confidence, prove the commitment to the company, and let them know what the current status is so that they are always involved and to let them be part of the change. 

We involved our people, encouraging them, and let them come up with ideas on how to make this “change” happen. One of the positive aspects of this current situation is that it allows you to foster talent.

Of course, we are still currently in crisis mode so there’s a lot of micro-management and usually, talents are not very positive on this, but that’s the challenge, to keep them on the right track and to show that there is some light at the end of the tunnel. And finally to find the right momentum and time to steer back and to give back ownership. 

 

The Modern CFO and Bridging The Digital Gap 

 

The CFO role in a post-pandemic landscape has gone beyond just being a financial executive. Finance leaders today need to take on the role of digital transformation bastions and as people leaders.

Throughout her time as CFO for Brussels Airlines during the pandemic, Oewerdieck realized and highlighted the fact that the traditional roles of a CFO have to be more than just the numbers and the path towards digitalization and growth starts from the top.

 

Digital transformation is top-of-mind for many businesses today. How should CFOs approach and encourage digitalization for their organization?

 

In my opinion, we have to reverse our approach and let change and digital transformation be pulled by our people. If you are just saying from the top of management “this is the way want to go” or figure out the next tool, that does not work because the strength of the organization will be too heavy to fight against that. 

I had good experiences with implementing smaller lighthouse projects to make robotics, automation, or digitalization a little bit more tangible to the people so that people don’t have to fear it.

It shows that we want to foster and focus on their knowledge for higher quality work. A skill set of a financial expert can’t be used only to compile reports – we need their expertise, their knowledge to read a story out of numbers.

With lighthouse projects we can prove that there are benefits for the entire organization and also for our people, that will make acceptance easier and even let them pull new ideas.

 

In your point of view, what are the necessary traits for a modern finance leader? What is the duty of a CFO in a post-pandemic landscape?

 

From my point of view, CFOs nowadays do not have to be the best expert. Rather, you have to be a people leader, to encourage your people, to listen to your people, and to steer them through uncertainty, or even into profitability, and to reach growth and to let them grow. 

We have to be very open to change, to new ideas, and to challenge our company and our people about which new ideas are out there, such as robotics, automation, or artificial intelligence. 

I think that’s one of our major duties as CFOs. To steer the organization, to foster our talents, and let them rock in the end.

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What Does the Future of Cloud in Europe Look Like?

Cloud technologies have been catalysts for growth, innovation and agility for data-driven organizations across Europe. How do IT leaders ensure that their organizational cloud-based environments are scalable, effective and comply with relevant data privacy regulatory laws?  

Daniel Melin, Strategist at Skatteverket; and Kaj Kjellgren*, Senior Network Architect at Netnod Internet Exchange; help us navigate the current volatile cloud landscape and provide answers to important questions on cloud security, compliance, and challenges. In addition, we hear about the roles they play in the highly anticipated and talked about cloud project, Gaia-X.  

 

How can businesses ensure effective cloud data protection?  

Daniel: Customers need to choose cloud services that are sufficiently secure for their information. When evaluating security, the customer needs to take the whole spectrum of security into account; physical, IT, information, legal, and political. Security is like a chain and every link has to be evaluated. 

The Swedish Tax Agency has established a cloud center of excellence consisting of experts in IT security, legal, data protection, document and archiving, physical security, procurement, and architecture to make sure that all aspects are looked at before a new cloud service is enabled for users. 

Kaj: Protection of data must be based on an initial categorization of the data itself and identification of requirements on each data element. Not every piece of data requires the same protection. Of course, there are legislations and traditional security requirements that have to be followed.

For information security, this normally comprises availability, correctness, and confidentiality. If you start from zero, orchestrated microservices are the easiest way of ensuring adequate protection using the zero trust concept to isolate the various containers touching the data. Once again, this has to be according to the defined requirements for each data element. This orchestration, often called cloud, can be self-hosted or hosted by third parties, just like any service an organization needs.  

 

What are the biggest challenges concerning compliance with cloud data protection regulations and laws? 

Daniel: There are direct challenges with laws like the Swedish Public Access to Information and Secrecy Act (offentlighets- och sekretesslagen) and the GDPR. Both are challenges for Swedish public sector customers today. However, the Protective Security Act will be the hardest law to comply with, especially when a non-Swedish cloud provider has access to huge amounts of aggregated information. 

Kaj: The main legal challenge for any IT-related issue since 1990 is that legislation is different in different jurisdictions. The market economy pushes for large specialized organizations, services, and products that are bigger than any jurisdiction. This has hurt the flow of money and created tax havens for a number of years. A similar situation now exists for services. 

Those rules made by politicians with imaginary borders do not comply with the foundation of the Internet, which was made by technicians and engineers to be open, free, and unlimited by country borders between jurisdictions. On top of that, no single economy today is large enough to produce services for that economy alone without having to scale impact price for production. 

 

Tell us about your role in the Gaia-X project. 

Daniel: The Swedish Tax Agency currently has an assignment from the Swedish government to monitor Gaia-X. That work includes talking to all relevant stakeholders, gathering information, presenting at conferences, and taking part in the Swedish hub. We are positive about Gaia-X and what it brings to the table. 

Kaj: Netnod is one of the founding members of Gaia-X in Sweden, and together with similar organizations helps with basic services like transport which are needed for players higher up in the value chain. We are currently most active in the Sub-working group Interconnection & Networking which lies under the Architecture Workgroup within the Technical Committee under Gaia-X AISBL. 

 

What role does the human factor play in cloud security and vulnerability? 

Daniel: The human factor is as relevant as always; I don’t see that cloud services create any particular new challenges. However, a successful breach of a hyperscaler yields an extreme effect due to its size and storage of aggregated information. 

Kaj: When implementing any kind of service, there are many different kinds of threats where insider actions, both mistake or intentional, are included. This is where a proper orchestration of microservices using zero trust comes into play. The integrity of a pod managing certain data is important so that it is self-contained and secure regardless of how an attack against the data is designed. One never knows the goal of the attacker, so second-guessing detailed attack scenarios is always doomed to failure. There are always unknown unknowns.  

Most cloud services are provided as unmanaged components, pieces of a bigger puzzle, regardless of whether the cloud is self-hosted or not. The engineers at a company have to create a functional workflow that creates, configures, and secures solutions based on these pieces. This is both a big risk and a safety net, since a lot of people don’t fully understand the complexity of said services and tools, and don’t understand what needs to be secured or how. That being said, those tools are built to be robust and not expose users to dangerous or even impossible configurations. 

 

What areas should organizations consider when choosing a cloud service provider? 

Daniel: One of the biggest concerns today is that cloud service providers have to adapt better to customer needs. Currently, there are a handful of providers offering a one-size-fits-all model. It is certainly a cost-effective model, but the price tag on the invoice does not tell the whole story. The legal implications when using cloud services based in countries with extraterritorial legislation will be an ongoing issue. 

Kaj: Categorization of information must take place, followed by an analysis of what requirements there are in each category. The requirements have to take both legal and security (availability, confidentiality, and correctness) aspects into account. In some cases, there is a balance between goals where the so-called risk appetite is to be decided upon. Be aware of benefits and risks, and make sure you avoid creating solutions where there are too many unknown unknowns.  

 

What are your predictions for cloud trends in the next five years?

Daniel: We will see a market with more cloud providers, from small to hyperscalers, which will provide cloud services that fit different customers. The American hyperscalers will continue to license their technology to other cloud providers. Laws and regulations related to national security will be broader and will affect both cloud providers and customers more and more. The effects of geopolitics will be worse over time and the EU will follow China and USA in being more protectionist. 

Kaj: We see more legislation, specifically in the EU, that isolates the EU from the rest of the world. This will create more borders that force us to use different solutions for different jurisdictions. What we instead need to do is harmonize the laws and regulations in different jurisdictions with each other so the market for IT-related services will not be as fragmented. We are close to a situation where we have serverless environments, with only pods managing information. Everything is orchestrated by mechanisms that understand both information and the policies applied to the information. 

 

The answers have been edited for length and clarity.

*Part of Kaj Kjellgren’s answers were contributed by his colleagues at Netnod: Mattias Ahnberg, Head of Architecture & Development; Patrik Fältström, Technical Director & Head of Security; and Christian Lindholm, Head of Sales and Marketing & Senior Product Manager. 

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Sofia van Berlekom: Why Risk Management and Business Continuity Must Exist Together

The last 18 months have been synonymous with risk and uncertainty. More organizations are pushing risk management initiatives to the top of their agenda to prepare for unprecedented threats in the new world of work.  

In this article, we share highlights from our conversation with Sofia van Berlekom, Risk, Business Continuity and Compliance Director at AstraZeneca Sweden Operations; on emerging risk & compliance trends, effective risk & compliance communication and the importance of risk management in business continuity.  

 

Risk as a Vital Process in Business Continuity 

An effective risk management system not only protects an organization, but helps in recognizing new market opportunities. According to van Berlekom, “The pandemic has taught us that we have a lot of common risks and compliances regardless of business sector. But there are opportunities as well, not just risk and compliance issues that have emerged.”  

Risk management is one of the most vital processes companies can do, allowing them to be prepared and mitigate whatever they can in a proper fashion. “Business continuity and risk are linked from a risk perspective, and you know what to focus as resources never are unlimited.,” van Berlekom says. When it comes to allocation of resources, she stresses that “it’s also about priorities, and not wasting resources on something that is not needed.” 

A high level of organizational flexibility is needed for viable business continuity, especially in the wake of a global health crisis. “With the pandemic hitting hard, it was important to be agile and be able to think differently,” van Berlekom says. 

 

Communication Challenges in the Risk Space 

NAVEX Global predicts a rise in Chief Risk Officer (CRO) or Chief Risk and Compliance Officer (CRCO) appointments in the next few years. More organizations will have a more holistic risk management strategy, integrating compliance, IT, operational, reputational, third-party, and ESG practices. The success of this rests heavily on effective communication and van Berlekom says it’s much broader than the 3LoD.  

“Communication around risk is difficult because it’s a specialized area. It’s also an area which is very general and generalized in the everyday life of people.” There is difficulty speaking the right language that can be understood company-wide. “It’s quite easy to get people confused when you’re talking about business risks compared to the general risks people encounter in their everyday life,” van Berlekom states.  

“Risk & compliance managers on all levels need to practice good oversight without getting lost in the details,” van Berlekom adds. In risk management, a big communication challenge is to find that balance and ensure employees understand “what they can do and what they are obliged to do.” At AstraZeneca, risk identification and risk discussions are incorporated into the tier structure. Regular meetings are held where questions such as “Has anybody seen any risks?” and “Are there any risks that should be mitigated?” are commonplace. Risk awareness at all levels of an organization will improve decision-making and support a culture of innovation. 

 

Effective Digital Tools in Risk & Compliance  

The shift towards cloud technology has resulted in an exponential increase in data. There is a high demand for trusted data for compliance purposes in addition to real-time data to deal with unexpected events. Therefore, companies need to have a good grasp of technologies that can help them understand and interpret important data about potential risks. Another use of digital tools in the risk space is to increase transparency, according to van Berlekom. 

Here are the top technologies used in risk & compliance: 

  • Robotic process automation (RPA) is helpful in automating rules-based GRC processes. With RPA, all business tasks can be managed through a single device, effectively facilitating compliance.  
  • Advanced data analytics in risk data management is useful for predicting, measuring and reducing risk. 
  • AI and its subsets — machine learning, and natural language processing — can be applied to large data sets to help find indicators of known and unknown risks. 
 

Risk & Compliance in 2022

“The digital world presents a lot of threats such as cyber threats and information threats,” van Berlekom says. It is no secret that the remote working environment brought IT risks such as data breaches, policy violations, audit failures, and third-party risk to the GRC space.  

Therefore, it makes sense that cybersecurity is now weaved into an organization’s risk management strategy. “At AstraZeneca, digital threats and cyber threats are a part of our risk landscape. We also have the IT department connected to the global operations network, which means that it is a natural part of the risk discussion,” van Berlekom states.   

In addition, van Berlekom says that the effects of the global political landscape should not be underestimated, as they can impact an organization’s operations and value chain. Moving forward, companies must be aware of the latest developments in today’s geopolitical environment and the possible regulations and enforcements that will follow. Risk & compliance officers must also extend their expertise to supply chain teams to build a strong supplier risk management strategy.  

 

Risk management professionals will play a key role in creating future-proof business continuity plans alongside C-level peers. As workplaces continue to evolve, risk & compliance initiatives will remain a priority as organizations find new and innovative ways to do business. 

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Gunnar Hagman: Digitaliseringen avgörande för miljö- och hållbarhetsarbetet i byggbranschen

Det har gått snart fem år sedan Gunnar Hagman tog över posten som VD för Skanska Sverige, när han i slutet av 2016 efterträdde Pierre Olofsson. Som ansvarig för ett av Sveriges största byggföretag ser han inte bara till att man bygger säkert – utan strävar även efter att få med hållbarhetsaspekten i alla delar av verksamheten. Digitaliseringen underlättar det arbetet. Men det finns även utmaningar på den fronten – inte minst när det kommer till lagstiftningen menar han. 

 

Hur kommer byggnads- och konstruktionslandskapet att se ut efter pandemin tror du? 

Det är en spännande fråga. Något som har stuckit ut är att bostadsmarknaden varit överraskande stark ända sedan förra sommaren. Det är kanske först nu som vi ser att det planar ut något. Troligtvis börjar fler och fler personer att lägga pengar på andra saker än sitt boende. Man kanske vill återvända till jobbet och spenderar inte lika mycket tid hemma. Därför svalnar bostadsmarknaden av litegrann och blir lite mer “normal” nu när pandemin klingar av.  

Sedan har många kommuner och regioner haft ansträngda finanser och fått statligt stöd. Inte bara i Sverige utan även i andra länder. Även detta måste trappas ner och då finns en risk att det kan bli en tuffare marknad. Men – alla prognoser pekar på att det blir en ganska stark ekonomi generellt i samhället och även för vår bransch. Så jag skulle säga att det ser ganska positivt ut.  

 

Efterfrågan på smarta byggnader ökar som svar på behovet av mer hållbara bostadsutrymmen. Vilka smarta byggtrender kan vi förvänta oss 2022? 

Om vi tar bostäder som exempel tror jag att fler och fler insett att man kommer att spendera mer tid hemma och jobba hemifrån i större omfattning än man har gjort tidigare. Det gör att kravet på att hitta en avskild arbetsplats i sin bostad kommer vara något man värderar högt. Givetvis ställer det krav på bra teknik likt fiberuppkoppling som man har i de flesta projekt idag.  

Tittar man sen på kontorsbyggnader tror vi på Skanska att dessa också kommer spela en viktig roll framgent, men det kommer att vara utmanande som företag att skapa samma “sköna känsla” som det är att vara hemma. Arbetsplatsen kommer att behöva vara mer som en magnet. Trevlig, energigivande, och kreativ. Mer av en mötesplats än bara ett skrivbord att sitta vid. Det är inte minst viktigt för att kunna attrahera de smartaste och bästa medarbetarna.  

Sen är det klart att hela digitaliseringsprocessen är i en form av brytpunkt nu, något som startade innan pandemin. Det har varit mycket förberedelser för smarta byggnader och göra de mer integrerade med datorverktyg. Det tror vi kommer att ta fart nu på allvar. Tekniken är så pass billig och datakraften så pass stor. Det finns även exempel på techjättar som investerar stora pengar i byggsektorn. 

 

Vilka är de viktigaste utmaningarna för bygg- och fastighetssektorn när det gäller just hållbarhet. Vad är förhållandet mellan digitalisering och hållbarhet?  

Man får se lite på kort och lång sikt när det gäller hållbarhet. Vi har satt som mål som många företag att gå ner till noll klimatpåverkan till 2045 och en halvering till 2030. Den planen bygger bland annat på att vi måste minska CO2-påverkan av stål, cement och fossila bränslen. Just cement har blivit en aktuell fråga i Sverige under sommaren som många noterat med Cementas tillstånd som nekades i Mark- och miljööverdomstolen. Det tycker jag var mycket tråkigt eftersom jag vet att Cementa fortfarande har höga ambitioner när det kommer till koldioxidneutral tillverkning av cement på Gotland.  

Cement står kanske för en tredjedel av alla utsläpp i Sverige i byggbranschen som helhet. Om vi tvingas köpa den från länder likt Kina, Turkiet eller Algeriet som verkar vara enda alternativet, ja då kommer utsläppen att vara större än de är idag. På kort sikt är jag lite bekymrad måste jag säga. Det är ganska tydligt att vår miljölagstiftning troligtvis behöver ses över och reformeras. Vi behöver göra en väldigt dramatisk omställning till grön produktion av stål, elektrifiera mer och bryta exempelvis kobolt som kan användas i batterifabriker. Alla inser efter FN:s senaste klimatrapport att tiden är knapp. 

Just när det gäller klimatet skulle jag säga att digitalisering är en förutsättning för att kunna uppnå en väldigt låg klimatpåverkan. Det är helt avgörande med ny teknik om vi ska kunna göra medvetna och kvalificerade val av material och produktionsmetoder. Inte minst för att få beslutsverktyg som gör att vi kan fatta vettiga beslut och därmed en låg klimatpåverkan. 

 

Skanska banar väg för hållbara lösningar inom byggbranschen. Är företaget på väg att nå sina hållbarhetsmål om koldioxidneutralitet innan 2045? 

Jag tycker att när det kommer till de delar som vi kan påverka själva ser vi en väldigt bra utveckling. Då tänker jag på sådana saker som att om vi har möjlighet att välja fossilfritt bränsle, ja då gör vi det. Den utvecklingen går ganska snabbt och vi har fler och fler kunder som kräver detta också. När det kommer till stål respektive cement är vi beroende av materialleverantörerna. I Sverige har vi två stora företag som vill tillverka koldioxidneutralt stål. Både HYBRIT som är ett samarbete mellan LKAB, SSAB och Vattenfall och H2 Green Steel som är ett fristående privat företag. Jag tycker det är jättespännande. Till 2045 är min förhoppning att vi kan ha fossilfritt stål till byggindustrin och att vi även kan återvinna material i en mycket större omfattning likt beton. 

Cirkulärt byggande är en superviktig del och jag tycker det går framåt. Vi har våra första helt klimatneutrala bostäder som vi har sålt i år och vi har startat ett nytt kontorsprojekt i Malmö i Hyllie som också är helt koldioxidneutralt räknat enligt vår livscykelanalys som bland annat bygger på att att tillverka solenergi i det här fallet i de här projekten som neutraliserar de utsläppen man har åstadkommit under själva byggprocessen. Vi försöker även jobba med att minimera vår påverkan ytterligare så klart genom smarta materialval och partnerskap med en del leverantörer av material. Och givetvis vill vi ha fler kunder som ställer tuffa krav på oss och som gärna vill utveckla klimatneutrala byggnader tillsammans med Skanska. Vi gör inte det här helt själva – det är en insikt som vi har.  

 

Det låter verkligen som att det går framåt och att framtiden ser positiv ut. 

Man måste vara positiv tycker jag. Man får inte blunda för att det finns utmaningar längs vägen som är ganska stora. Men redan idag finns de tekniska lösningar som krävs. Sen är frågan mer om vi kommer att hinna ställa om i den hastighet som krävs. Jag är själv personligen bekymrad och många med mig så klart. Det känns som att klimatförändringarna går fortare än vad forskare och experter har trott i sina scenarier och det känns bekymmersamt. 

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Karin Immenroth: Developing Competency In a Data-Driven Business Culture

The advent of readily available data has fostered a new era of fact-based innovations in corporations, where exploring innovations and new systems can be backed up with empirical evidence. And with the disruption caused by COVID-19, there is accelerated adoption in data technology.

So why is it hard for businesses to adopt data as part of their organizational structure?

The biggest obstacles do not stem from the technical side of things; it’s about the culture. In this interview, Chief Data and Analytics Officer for RTL Deutschland Karin Immenroth shares with us how a business needs to transition into a data-driven culture and the approaches that a modern chief data officer (CDO) needs to adopt in today’s digital landscape.

 

The New Landscape of Data Culture

Over the past decade, data has steadily become an influential factor for decision-making processes. Especially in the past year where almost 60% of the global population is constantly online, businesses are looking into data analytics to better understand their customers and employees.

As with the aftereffects of the pandemic and the changing demands of today’s market, Immenroth highlights how the role of the data officer today has changed significantly while pointing out the underlying driving force for data transformation.

 

How has the role of the Chief Data Officers (CDO) changed and what challenges do they face in a post-pandemic market?

Companies didn’t have Chief Data and Analytics Officers ten years ago. That role didn’t exist yet. But because the market is changing dramatically due to progressive digitalization, “Data” as a topic is becoming more and more important. 

The biggest challenge, however, is cultural – it is not enough for a central data area to drive the cultural change, rather the entire company must start working in a data-centric way. 

The DATA Alliance is the central catalyst for RTL Deutschland on its way to becoming a content, tech, and data powerhouse. The pandemic has permanently changed the way we work. 

For us, as the DATA Alliance, the development surrounding the “mobile office” is very positive, as it means we can now work across Germany and in a completely flexible way. This helps us find and attract the best talent in the German market.

 

Why are companies still struggling to implement data competency and how has the pandemic affected their hesitancy towards adopting data culture?

We are in the middle of a cultural change, transitioning into a data-driven company. 

RTL Deutschland is a company with over 3,000 employees – a cultural change doesn’t happen overnight. It takes time, and it’s also important to have a few lighthouse projects that carry the topic of “data” into the organization and help spread awareness. 

We must make it easier for our colleagues throughout the company to access data, support them in interpreting data, and, of course, show them how to make better decisions based on this data. 

Just like the motto goes, “Use data, be better”. The pandemic has been a positive and driving force behind our cultural change – greater digitization has also brought the processing and implementation of data more broadly into society.

 

Developing and Simplifying Data For Organizations

Without a solid foundation for data culture, businesses will often miss out on the chance to fully utilize the data they’ve collected, or even encounter issues with data consistency or internal processes.

Deloitte reports that only 21% of the global workforce is confident in their data literacy skills. And with 70% of organizations expected to shift to new analytics techniques known as “small data” and “wide data”, businesses that are not data literate will get left behind.

Immenroth dives into how the leadership in RTL Deutschland has steered the company towards developing its analytics sector and advises those who are still trying to find success in building a data-competent organization. 

 

What can those in leadership roles do to improve data literacy within their organizations?

We have launched various projects that help our colleagues make better use of data for themselves and their day-to-day work. 

These are, for example, projects like our Reporting Center or our quota tool, Key Vision. We also support various stakeholders in the company by building data products and decision-support tools for their businesses. 

At the moment we are particularly active in the marketing, content, and digital sectors. And it’s also crucial for us to continue developing in the analytics sector, as it will enable us to make even better use of the treasure trove that is data analysis.

 

For companies and organizations that are struggling to find success in data, what key metrics and best practices should they focus on to drive the importance of data?

Our experience shows that it makes sense not to overcomplicate the initial steps. Very exciting and useful insights can often be found in simple descriptive data metrics. 

If you then go one step further and use analytics or even machine learning, data science, etc., you’ll often find unexpected results and insights that have been “fleshed out” by the data. 

I recommend a good dose of courage to use unconventional methods and approaches – we have had very positive experiences here and have been very pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion.

 

Starting Small and Establishing Data Competence Centers

In 2021, global big data and business analytics was forecasted to grow to $215 billion while connected IoT devices are expected to create 79.4ZB of data by 2025. 

With global economies adopting data analytics at an accelerated pace, businesses might be tempted to “go big” with investments in a data-driven culture. Immenroth believes that CDOs and organizations should do the opposite instead while building on Data Competence Centers to kickstart their digital transformation.  

 

In the pursuit of a data-driven culture, what pitfalls or common mistakes should CDOs or organizations be aware of?

More doesn’t always mean better. My experience is that it’s best and most sensible to start “small” and then expand gradually. In concrete terms – it is better to always start with a small proof of concept and then decide whether something bigger can emerge from it.

Fail fast and have the courage to make and admit mistakes… This is the best way to learn and then use what you’ve learned in your organization.

 

How would you advise CDOs or data leaders who want to seamlessly integrate competence centers?

My recommendation is to look at where topics related to data are anchored throughout the company. 

Then, based on that, you can build the core for the so-called Competence Center. It is advisable to define central topics and make them the heart of the Competence Center, and it is also fundamentally important that enough “data” ambassadors are distributed throughout the company in the areas correlating to each topic. 

In my opinion, it’s this balance that counts. In any case, our experience shows that a central Data Competence Center can be a very successful catalyst for the transformation of a company.