Escaping from "pilot purgatory": role of CIO is essential to scale up to a full tech-enabled transformation

Build required capabilities

CIOs are also essential in understanding necessary resources and capabilities. The competition for digital talent is tough, and few companies can articulate the desired mix of skills needed and whether to acquire them through training or recruitment. Finally, talent has many options and metals and mining companies traditionally aren’t their first choice.

This is nothing new for most CIOs – many have been in this “war for talent” already, and hence can take the lead in this area company wide. Together with business and HR, CIOs can train the whole organization to be more tech savvy. Several Chinese steel plants, for example, have trained hundreds of analytics translators from a range of operational and functional backgrounds, who are now “embedded” throughout the organization to use data science to solve production issues.

Drive agile processes alongside existing systems

Developing and implementing digital solutions often requires an agile way of working, usually alongside other business parts that continue work in the traditional style. That’s not an easy feat to manage, and again, CIOs have often been living in this world for a while already using the so-called “two speed IT delivery engine”: on one hand the stable backbone of enterprise systems (eg ERP) that you don’t want to mess with on a weekly basis; and on the other hand the rapid development of apps, models, bots that have release cycles measured in weeks, not months. For example, one Asian mining launched a two-speed delivery approach: first, creating mobile applications to better use underutilized legacy systems, and, second, overhauling its technology architecture to capture valuable data in an integrated data warehouse. This experience puts CIOs in a good position to help the wider organization in adoption of agile and find the balance between non-negotiable standards and processes (to ensure a minimum of scalability and replicability) and the freedom to create and rapidly develop new products.

Set data governance standards

Data is the lifeblood of the new economy, and CIOs have a clear role to ensure data their companies collect is reliable, accessible, continually enriched, and, just as important, relevant. For example, real-time data might be unnecessary for managing locations remotely if intermittent data batches or locally managed applications can be deployed more easily. On the other hand, in processing plants, inadequate process controls for calibration or replacement of faulty devices is often a problem.

CIOs must also ensure diverse input sources can be linked, which would help the entire organization benefit from the insights generated using advanced analytics. In one example, a leading coal mining company improved component lifetimes by linking data from various legacy maintenance systems, including on-board sensors, oil analysis, maintenance history, spare parts replacement history, and live operating conditions.

Embrace technology ecosystem

Tech-enabled transformations cannot be done alone. An at times confusing “ecosystem” of providers, collaborators, partners needs to be identified and integrated. Sounds familiar to most CIOs, who typically deliver their “products” using a mix of in-house, contracted, and outsourced forces. However, most executives outside technology don’t have the same experience. For example, executives grappling with questions like should a supply chain be outsourced to, say, Amazon? Should we invite an OEM to do our maintenance for us and go from buying equipment to “xxx as a service” contracts?

CIO have two roles to play here. First, get/keep their own house in order: balance using external technologies while managing security and keeping control on the deployment pipeline; actively define clear rules when choosing between outsourcing and in-house solutions; set security standards for vendors; clearly articulate integration requirements; and define what data can be exchanged and with whom. Second, help the organization as a whole find the right mode how to collaborate with a range of third-party providers, including start-ups, system integrators, and established vendors.

Drive execution and track impact

It’s not about technology, it’s about impact through the use of technology. Successful CIOs claim a critical role during implementation, assuring that the technologies being implemented match real business needs and are not just “shiny toys”. Perhaps surprisingly, our experience suggests that “shiny toys” more often originate in the business who want to be seen to “do something with digital” rather than from the technology function. A good CIO can steer his/her business peers to more value creating use of technology.

Industry 4.0 can be a great boon to metals and mining companies, and the technology is readily available to transform operations. For every company, however, the path is unique, and CIOs can (should?) claim a leadership role in leading the charge guiding the transformative agenda.