In a recent article, Stuart Brewer, Partner at Beacon Communications, analyzes the new era of digitalisation and Big Data. He argues that digitilisation can be a game-changer in industry and society as well. However he points out that, although digitalisation is already here, many years will be needed for the new technologies era to be firmly established.
Digitalisation could disrupt the world in really fundamental ways so the media sites tell us – even sceptics in the business markets are preparing to “go digital” without having a clear idea of how their companies are likely to change in this era of Amazon, Uber and Alibaba. This prompts the question – is digitalisation overhyped or a genuine game-changer?
Many people speak of a world where more and more business takes place online, where supply chains are digitalised and processes move electronically through new technology platforms, where the middle men disappear, companies are downsized, and prices are slashed.
Just as machines freed humans from pushing widgets in the factory, so emerging technology should free people from mundane, repetitive tasks, enabling them to spend more time on value-enhancing analysis and decision making.
Machines replacing humans
As an example, automation has gradually freed many blue-collar workers from back-breaking, dangerous and dirty work over the past 50 years. Fortunately, many were able to retrain for new jobs created, largely, in the service sector. Now we are seeing white-collar, middle management and specialist workers being replaced by machine learning algorithms and artificially Intelligent machines.
Also, the Washington Post’s ‘Artificially Intelligent Reporter’ has published 850 articles in the past year and it is widely believed that you won’t be able to get a job as a radiographer within 10 years. Already algorithms can analyse and detect cancer from X-ray’s better than humans. Next year automated trucking may become a reality. Daimler has received permission to start testing self-driving trucks. The White House predicts a potential loss of 1.3 to 1.7 million jobs. In a country where loss of job really does mean loss of income, this will result in a shrinking consumer market and increasing social tension.
But, like climate sceptics, there are always some who cannot see the writing on the wall and are not convinced that digitalisation is going to transform the world beyond all recognition. It is difficult to see where digitalisation will lead us, or which ventures will succeed or fail.
So digitalisation is undoubtedly the new buzzword. But what does it mean? Max Tingyao Lin at The Intelligence asks this question in his recent leader article and eloquently referred to Dan Ariely, Duke University’s professor of behavioural economics, and his description of another often synonymous buzzword: Big Data.
Everyone claims they are doing it
“Big Data is like teenage sex: everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it.”
According to Max, sceptics would not mind swapping the term ‘Big Data’ for digitalisation. “Many companies have been seeking to use digital technologies to transform their business models, improve working processes, and add value to their products and services for years, some even for decades, with varying degrees of success.”
He goes on to describe digitalisation as a change of mindset and corporate culture, rather than IT investments. “That’s why only those who are willing to adopt a new mentality have a better chance of surviving…and that may be the most difficult part. Human behaviours only change gradually.”
Max predicts there will be “a long trial-and-error process – some existing jobs will be lost, though new ones could emerge. Eventually, there may be a brave new world better for most, but that will likely be years or even decades away.”
Data the new competitive advantage
Interesting take on digitalisation. Clearly, some companies and industries are already gearing up on their digital journeys while other are lagging behind. As an expert source points out: “Companies are starting to understand that new products can be developed and existing products may be improved or enhanced using data collected through more channels than ever before. They are starting to understand that data is becoming the new competitive advantage. However, what they often do not understand is how difficult and resource intensive this development can be.”
The good news is that there’s an organisation in Norway that is ready to help companies on their digital journey. DNV GL recently announced that it has established a dedicated Digital Solutions organisation https://www.dnvgl.com/news/dnv-gl-creates-new-1-000-strong-organization-to-accelerate-digital-drive-102053 following close on the heels of the launch of its industry wide platform called Veracity, which facilitates connections between different industry players, domain experts and data scientists.
Getting there is not easy
The experts at DNV GL firmly believe digitalisation offers opportunities for further efficiency improvements across industries – beyond the traditional measures used so far. “The promises of data-driven decision making, machine learning and automation is very attractive,” said Remi Eriksen, president & ceo of DNV GL in a recent interview with Upstream. “But getting there is not easy. The key to unlocking further value is to start sharing data and to create new insights from previously unconnected data sets.”
And, as another expert source points out, it takes courage to transform companies into digitally-driven organisations as this is not an area where traditional management does well, since traditional mangagement is all about predictability and the minimisation of risk. The question is, what is the risk of not taking the risk?
This is a relevant question and not easy to answer when many have biases and possibly agendas. However as NHO’s chief economist Øystein Dørum reminded us at the Sandefjord Business Association gathering this week, “history tells us technology is a game-changer and emerging digital technologies, platforms and solutions are coming faster and easier than ever before – and we need to leverage them to capture the opportunities for a sustainable future of business and society.”
It should be no surprise that the majors are not willing to risk missing out on the opportunities and are focusing more and more on digitalisation. And, inevitably, many will stumble trying to keep up or catch up as the pace of change quickens – as it inexorably will.
By Stuart Brewer, Partner and Communication Consultant at Beacon Communications
Above article has been initially published on Linkedin and is reproduced here with author’s kind permission.
The views presented hereabove are only those of the author and not necessarily those of SAFETY4SEA and are for information sharing and discussion purposes only.
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About Stuart Brewer
Mr. Brewer is an independent Public Relations and Communications consultant, across a range of industries including maritime, offshore, clean energy and business-to-business sectors. He has worked in PR and communications for over two decades. Prior to establishing Beacon Communications, he held various positions at DNV GL classification society, technical assurance and independent advisory services provider to the maritime, oil & gas and energy industries. He spent 18 years working at DNV GL’s headquarters in Oslo Norway, with spells as communication manager in Greater China, the Middle East and South East Asia.
Dear Mr. Brewer,
I remember the Radio Supervisor on my first ship, in 1975, stating that within a decade or so computers would control everything and life would be so much simpler! As a seventeen-year old I had my doubts. I still have now! 🙂