Abstract
We are at the beginning of a new industrial revolution, the fourth industrial revolution, which means the total connectivity with support of mobility and a revolution in resources. This allows real-time decision making, in the lines where the action is performed, to gain efficiency, speed and adjustment to local conditions and a centralized control with structures in which the power of approximation is centralized, forming ecosystems with a dynamic orientated to project actions in real time with a shared and accepted criteria. The new IT and telecommunication technologies have made possible the MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM in REAL TIME, supporting the network of connections that identifies who are the participants and they do, decide and access the information only in an authorized manner thanks to Cybersecurity models. This concept has more obstacles than technological ones; those are the mindset of the participants and especially deciders, due to their lack of knowledge or experience to understand an interconnected globally with disruption. The speed will change the nature of the business when the velocity of change be enough, the nature of the business will be completely changed. These changes will happen due to a single factor: The digital information flow and its availability in real time. Digital transformation means disruption, not only to optimize process, but also to focus on new solutions, products and resources, giving a globally net with worldwide connectivity. But not all are good news, the digital transformation also means risks and dangers, (remembering Escila and Caribdis, being between two dangers, avoiding one could be in the grasp of the other). One wrong vision could change strengths into weaknesses and in our connected era the reversion works with such devastating velocity that a Company could be led from a quiet equilibrium to the chaos instantly. The attractive idea than connection means liberation is not only a mistake because it could mean also get trapped to a strong dynamic net with many difficulties to get liberated from. At the same time who is not connected has not value at all. In order to avoid digital risks it is necessary to take very complex measures due to the complexity of the systems, such as: Designing a Strategic Information System with control and firewalls under responsibility of a Chief Technical Officer (CTO), protecting Data Bases, blocking data security encrypted, fragmentation and other mechanisms to assure impossible to be robbed or manipulated, with “Web Doorkeepers” watching the net and the interconnectivity of all the ecosystems where the Company is and to implant Internet of Things (IoT) avoiding security leaks, with controls in process, input and output to avoid manipulations with the trust of all the people involved. But trust is what every company needs to be in a competitive environment, knowing that nobody can reject progress. Developing one trustworthy environment inside and outside the Company giving confidence to owners, employees, customers, suppliers, and financial and official institutions. At the same time act firmly (dare to know) and never interrupt the progress.
Submitted: 8-12-2016; Accepted: 29-12-2016.
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Notes
- 1.
Welch (2002), former CEO of General Electrics (GE) considered “the organization’s ability to learn and translate quickly what it was learned into action, as the ultimate competitive advantage” and Immelt (2004), the current President of GE, proposed: “break with the historical organization of processes, create a culture of simplification fewer rules, fewer processes, fewer decision points, adapt lean tools with a Silicon Valley approach and install a digital thread that covers the whole structure of the organization, input, process and output and have everything in time, fast work, with commercial intensity throughout the company, disconnect with the annual, and carry out closer follow-ups, with continuous reviews and covering a 360-degree horizon”.
- 2.
Examples such as Amazon, Zara, or Uber have changed the retail distribution, the “instant mode” model, transportation services, with more control over the total process, from design, procurement, manufacturing, distribution and marketing, or vertically integrating decisions and putting all the emphasis on the speed of access to the market and providing the customer with instant communication of the service. Pioneering companies (like GE, ZARA, CISCO, IBM and others) have been the introducers, improving their position in their markets, their industrial sector and the national economy. Competitive pressures have made other followers look for the same advantage.
- 3.
Many companies are already developing the necessary skills for this with engineering departments and operational researches, new simulation techniques, development of feedback systems and control and analysis of decision processes. For them, the management research is the process of a long-term planning for the improvement of the company. But these companies are the exception and their implementation has not yet been completely appreciated. At the same time, many companies fail because of mismanagement rather than because of a bad product or service or poor engineering. Very few companies use digital technology to create new processes that radically improve their operation, changing or eliminating them, and extracting the full performance of their workforce and their capacity for knowledge and speeding up new ways of competing, in a disruptive way, in an already consolidated globalized market.
- 4.
The advances in mobility have been so spectacular that if Graham Bell came back to life he would be astounded by the telephone network and the mobile devices that we use today. But we are only at the beginning of a great change resulting from the existing technology and we can also think as Benjamin Franklin, which regretted to have been “born too soon” to enjoy the fruits of the scientific revolution. Google notifies that it is designing self-powered remote controlled vehicles that will be flown by and will be available within five years.
- 5.
Telephone companies, airlines and new logistic distribution companies are perhaps the ones that have made the biggest changes by breaking molds with previous situations knowing how to take advantage of a world of massive information, big-data, in a dynamic system.
- 6.
In fact, according to a recent study by Capgemini (2016), 33% of executives believe that digital transformation is a matter of survival, although only one in five Spanish companies has a suitable digital competence index, according to the Institute of Digital Economy (2016).
- 7.
Proactivity means taking the initiative, being aware of the responsibility, and behaving according to our decisions, not our conditions.
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Gago-Areces, M. (2017). Business Strategy in the Digital Age. Digital Transformation, Disruption and Cybersecurity. In: Ramírez, J., García-Segura, L. (eds) Cyberspace. Advanced Sciences and Technologies for Security Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-54975-0_5
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