Optus Business has released the results of “a survey of 285 leading enterprises across Australia” saying it shows many organisations do not have the appropriately skilled workforce, corporate culture or processes in place to compete effectively in the era of Industry 4.0
“The situation means we must evolve how we develop and utilise human capital,” Optus says. “Doing so requires the identification of new skills, new organisational structures and new business models.”
Optus Business has published its findings in Bridging Australia’s Knowledge Economy Gap in Industry 4.0, a follow on to its report Enterprise 4.0:Blueprint for Success in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, released in October 2018.
Optus says its latest report “delves further into the issue of what enterprises must do to thrive in a world characterised by rapid, wide-ranging and disruptive change,” and “highlights how enterprises can recruit and educate their workforce with the skills needed to thrive in Industry 4.0.”
Optus says Australian enterprises need to embrace experimentation in product development and decision making to create the innovative digital culture needed in Industry 4.0, and doing so will also help them attract and retain workers with digital skills in a cost-effective way.
Recipe for Industry 4.0 success
“The most successful organisations in Industry 4.0 leverage small, multi-disciplinary, networked, and self-organising teams. Currently, 30 percent of Australian enterprises are designed this way, with many more beginning to lay the foundations for this type of structure.”
Further, Optus Business says it “believes the next generation of successful Australian enterprises will be built on capital-light, data-intelligent and multi-sided platform business models that can be rapidly scaled to enable exponential growth.”
Opus says it found significant gaps in how CEOs and board members rate their enterprise’s ability to scale exponentially compared with other C-level roles.
“The biggest differences exist in the cultural and operational characteristics associated with businesses that have experienced exponential growth.
CEOs deceived on digital enablement
“The speed at which enterprises must communicate and collaborate in Industry 4.0 means enterprise leaders cannot afford to have differing views on what can and can’t be achieved. This belief among CEOs that their organisation is more digitally-enabled than it actually is could hinder their ability to transform.”
It says this misalignment could mean traditional processes are maintained, opportunities to innovate are missed and access to industry talent is limited.
“Deloitte’s The Industry 4.0 Paradox demonstrates the impact this discord creates. Supply chain processes are often rated as having the most to gain by Industry 4.0 influences through technologies such as advanced robotics, automation, autonomous vehicles.
The report concludes: “Having the right workforce skills and corporate culture will enable the broader business to operate in the way the CEO and board members expect. It will enable employees to take more ownership of their decisions and responsibilities, help them inform leadership teams of current business performance, develop the skills needed to perform in the digital workplace, and identify future opportunities for business improvement.”
