“It doesn’t matter what you make. The technology has changed.”

That’s what Brian Krinock, Toyota’s SVP, Vehicle Manufacturing & Production Engineering, said last spring at NAMES21. He was speaking virtually to an audience of manufacturing executives, but the sentiment carries across almost every profession you can imagine. Keeping up with that change —leveraging technology to do more faster and better for less time, money, and manpower— is one of the dominant forces in business today. While technological progress takes many forms, probably the largest category is Digital Transformation.

In reviewing our records in preparation for today’s blog post we compiled a list of some of our favourite white papers, interviews, keynotes, case studies, workshops, factory tours, and panel discussions on the topic. To say Digital Transformation has been a major topic of interest across all our industry summits for many years would be an understatement:

We have already written two of our first blog posts in this series on the topic.

So what else is there to say about Digital Transformation? Let’s start off with a few declarative statements:

Digital Transformation is not going anywhere.

Many companies do struggle to achieve their goals, but failure is not an option.

There is no one right way to do a Digital Transformation, but there are an awful lot of wrong ways to do it.

Digital Transformation is more than hardware and software. It is about people, and a successful transformation requires your workforce to buy in.

With that said, let’s revisit some of the questions we asked in our very first blog post in this series:

  • Where are you in your Digital Transformation journey? How does your company rank when it compares itself to other organizations?
  • Who is responsible for overseeing your company’s Digital Transformation? What do they need to succeed?
  • What exactly do you want your Digital Transformation to achieve for you and your organization?
  • How clear a picture do you have of where your Digital Transformation is going and when it is expected to get there?
  • When you face challenges —or sometimes discover unexpected opportunities— who do you go to for help?

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Geoff Micks
Head of Content & Research
Executive Platforms

Geoff joined the industry events business as a conference producer in 2010 after four years working in print media. He has researched, planned, organized, run, and contributed to more than a hundred events across North America and Europe for senior leaders, with special emphasis on the energy, mining, manufacturing, maintenance, supply chain, human resources, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, finance, and sustainability sectors. As part of his role as Head of Content & Research, Geoff hosts Executive Platforms’ bluEPrint Podcast series as well as a weekly blog focusing on issues relevant to Executive Platforms’ network of business leaders.

Geoff is the author of five works of historical fiction: Inca, Zulu, Beginning, Middle, and End. The New York Times and National Public Radio have interviewed him about his writing, and he wrote and narrated an animated short for Vice Media that appeared on HBO. He has a BA Honours with High Distinction from the University of Toronto specializing Journalism with a Double Minor in History and Classical Studies, as well as Diploma in Journalism from Centennial College.