How to transform companies for the digital era, brick by pixel
Three digital experts from McKinsey, a management consultancy, profile Lego’s transformation as part of their new book, “Rewired”, which outlines the dos and don’ts for businesses rebuilding themselves for the age of digitisation. Beware: the language of digital transformation is treachery to common English. It sounds more like corporate yoga than a marathon of software development. Executives need to be aligned. Teams are pods. Be agile. Define your downward-facing domains.
First, it is a long hard road, littered with failures. Lego is a rare success story. Its journey started in 2003 with a near-death experience when, amid the rise of video-gaming, it panicked and went on a madcap innovation spree that almost bankrupted it. To fix one of the main problems, chaos in the supply chain, it introduced a single enterprise-software system globally.
Yet the journey is still a hard one. The difficulties include moving from a system where success is measured by sales store-by-store to one judged by how good the company is at selling online across the globe, how it is ranked on Google and Amazon, and how effective its software is. The McKinsey authors emphasise such challenges on the first page.
To make a success of it requires learning the second lesson: what McKinsey calls having a top-down strategy and a road map . For Lego, it helped that the family-owned business had long had a command-and-control approach to management. Its digital strategy involved a single plan, created by a 100-strong executive team and approved by the board, that encompassed the whole organisation.
Third comes the question of whether to build a new digital infrastructure or buy it. The answer is mostly to build. Rather like Lego’s eight-studded bricks—six of which can be combined 915m ways—there are many software applications on the market that can be combined to create proprietary systems. But the job of orchestrating them should not be outsourced. Take Lego: it started its latest digital transformation with engineers making up less than 30% of staff.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hocus Pocus LEGO set might solve a mystery from the first movieTake home the Sanderson Sisters.
Read more »
LEGO unveils Icons of Play football set with stadium and real playersWe can hear the vuvuzelas now!
Read more »
What do tennis players do at Wimbledon when rain stops play?69 matches were cancelled on Tuesday at Wimbledon because of rain and it disrupted Wednesday too. From animal trivia and Lego, to keeping your mind calm and muscles ready, CDEccleshare spoke to players about what they actually do during rain delays...
Read more »
Trans charity Mermaids loses challenge against LGB AllianceA judge has decided the Mermaids group was not legally entitled to challenge the other charity's status.
Read more »
Dua Lipa finally starts renovation at £7m mansion but builders face major issueDUA LIPA can finally get the builders in after a four-year battle over red tape. But her workmen might not feel very chipper when they see the task that lies ahead. The superstar singer is to trans…
Read more »
New flagship store confirmed for Victoria SquareIt is preparing to set up shop in the heart of the city centre this autumn
Read more »