Do you need to understand the impacts of digital transformation on strategy and business operations?
We believe the derived value of digital transformation — efficiency, reduced costs, idea generation — will be felt across the value chain in every industry. Greater connectivity across industries and disparate areas (e.g. personalized health connected to medicine, food, and environmental variables) will be the new norm. In the wake of digital transformation, organizations must be able to sort through enormous data sets and analytical strategies. Organizations must determine what data to mine, how to analyze it, and what value can be derived.
What’s this mean for your organization?
Our work with clients across industries indicates that the timing and impact of digital transformation may depend on the type and function of the business. Digital transformation typically relies on large quantities of data. While production, sales, and market research may have access to large quantities of data, some functions may not.
How is R&D data generated across industries?
In food companies, R&D tends to be a boutique operation. A few people are creating formulas, conducting consumer testing, then scaling up to full production. This is particularly true where the product is an assembly of multiple parts (think: frozen meals). There are data collected at each step of the process. However, there’s likely not enough to feed a data-hungry analytics program to go beyond means and modes.
In contrast, R&D operations in data-heavy industries like pharma rely on different processes. The processes often use and create very large quantities of data. Small molecule design, synthesis, and high throughput screening. These can easily involve hundreds of reactions and variables in order to generate and optimize a lead compound. Digital transformation is playing a big role in pharma. It assists scientists in virtual drug design and testing. It also links successful drug development and sales back to early R&D decisions (lifecycle management).
Somewhere in between food and pharma is R&D for ingredient suppliers. This includes flavors, fragrances, and functional ingredients, and single-phase foods like beverages. Flavor R&D requires identifying, analyzing and considering how several thousands of molecules and their combinations impact the taste and olfactory system. These organizations generally create enough data to enable reliable modeling and robust digital transformation activities within R&D.
Where are you in your digital transformation?
Digital transformation is as much about your organizational readiness as it is about the technology. Perhaps you’re unsure about where to start. Or maybe you’ve begun your transformation and are struggling with potential risks. Regardless of where you are in the journey, we work with you to define your strategy and goals. We’ll also determine your readiness to achieve the goals. We help you plan your roadmap and define pilot projects so you can see benefits long-term.
Haven’t yet begun your digital transformation? Or want to understand more about what it means for your organization? We’re here to help.
