Tony was Vice President of Procter & Gamble’s Next Generation
Business Services (GBS) team from 2015 to ’18 besides operational
responsiblities to run Procter & Gamble P&G’s multi-billion dollar GBS
unit world-wide. He is a
globally recognized thought-leader in Global Business Services (GBS) and
Information Technology, with international business expertise in the US,
Europe, and Asia.He was named on Computerworld’s Premier
100 IT Professionals list in 2013. His experiences include GBS design and
operations, CIO positions, acquisitions and divestitures, outsourcing,
disruptive innovation, and creation of new business models. He is currently
President of Transformant, a consulting organization that advises over 20
Fortune 100 companies world-wide in digital transformation and global business
services. He is also a founder of two blockchain and AI companies, and an
adviser to venture capital companies.
Needless to say, Tony’s book is a guide to all business leaders.
Question: You talk about the Fourth Industrial
Revolution in your book. What is it and why should the average person or
company care about it?
Tony Saldanha: We are in the Fourth Industrial Revolution as defined by the World
Economic Forum. And, as with prior industrial revolutions, this will bring
major change to companies, societies and individuals. So, yes, we do need to
care about it. For context, the first industrial revolution was about steam
engines, the second about electricity and the third was about the internet. The
Fourth is about applying digital technologies to the physical, biological and
social worlds. It’s highly disruptive. 40% of the Fortune 500 companies will
not exist in 10 years. 45% of all jobs in the manufacturing sector alone will
be done by robots by 2035. This affects all of us.
Q: What can individuals do in terms of building
their own skills, to stay relevant in this new digital era.
TS: I
usually offer three pieces of advice. Firstly, embrace technology. As prior
industrial revolutions have demonstrated, people who embrace change tend to win
disproportionately. Second, learn new technical skills. Not everybody needs to
become an Artificial Intelligence (AI) programmer, but knowing a little of
technology as applied to your field is critical (e.g. if you happen to be a
teacher, learn about how you could teach better using technology will help).
Third, stay open to change --- whether new types of roles or new experiences.
Q: Can you share some examples of digital
transformation that you personally led?
TS: At
Procter & Gamble’s HQ in Cincinnati, where I led a global consortium of the
top 5 Global IT Services firms and hundreds of startups to create the future of
business operations for the world, we created products such as AI driven
purchasing, planning the entire supply chain for a global company in real-time
instead of using the current ERP software, getting rid of Expense Reporting as
a process in most companies, using blockchain to eliminate the need for
invoicing itself and so on. The key is that each of these were not just
incremental improvements of the current system, but were dramatic disruptions.
It was kind of like going from typewriters to smartphones, but for internal
company operations.
Q: To what extent is digital transformation a good
thing for India? And for Goa?
TS: It’s
a fantastic thing for India and for Goa. During times of industrial
revolutions, there will be exponential winners and unfortunately, exponential
losers. India as a country, and Goa as a state is blessed with quality people
who are not afraid of change and who are hungry to learn. We have a great
opportunity to become exponential winners. Our companies could become the next
Alibaba or the next Uber. It’s time to seize this opportunity.
Q: In your book you mention "Project
Symphony". How was it different from other transformational initiatives at
P&G?
TS: This
was in 2003. The leadership of the global P&G company asked a very good
question, which was, is it possible for every key leader in the company to have
the ability to steer the business in real time, instead of trying to run it
with outdated reports generated in batch. In today’s age of online tracking of
Amazon deliveries this isn’t a big deal, but 16 years ago, this was path-breaking.
We implemented real-time cockpits of business measures for every key decision
maker around the world. And it transformed the way decisions were made in
several businesses around the world.
Q: In this internet age, isn't it ironic that banking
transactions or even Government offices come to a standstill because “server is
down”. Is this acceptable or is this an unavoidable nuisance of so-called
progress? What is the way out?
TS: This
should be unacceptable. Customers should demand better results and hold all
organizations, including public servants, accountable for better service. In
this age, where we can control a Mars rover in real time and the normal
smartphone in your hand has more computing power than US President Clinton had
at his disposal when he was in office, we need to expect better. No excuses.
Q:Do you really believe digitalisation is the way
forward because, in a way, the quality of human life has taken a backseat
considering that though things are done
at the finger tips, it has adversely affected human life by way of job loss,
sedentary lifestyle etc which has given rise to a plethora of ailments.
TS: It’s
a great question. It’s an area where we need to be crystal clear --- sedentary
lifestyles and job losses are indeed very real consequences of the progress of
digital technology. For context, every industrial revolution has these elements
of turmoil. The first industrial revolution caused major upheaval of
village-based economies. Having said that, how many of us would choose to give
up our current lifestyles and move to a remote village with no machines and
electricity? This is where we need to learn from history. The march of
technology is inevitable, but the transformational change does not need to be
painful. We can anticipate it and plan for it. In many ways that’s the ultimate
goal of my book.
Q: Since "Digital Transformation" as a
Management tool had already gained credibility
and acceptability, why is it moving so slowly? And why do 70% of digital
transformations still fail?
TS:
It’s simple, really.
There are two reasons for both issues. One, leaders are simply confused by all
the technical hype on terminology. Everything from a new email system to a new
robot is classified as “digital transformation” because frankly, software
vendors use hype to sell products. Imagine the time during the second
industrial revolution if there was mass marketing and people hyped up
electricity to fix everything from transportation to a common cold. That would
be confusing! (By the way, that did happen in its own fashion at the time.)
The second issue is the implementation approach. The
whole topic of digital transformation is new enough that people use outdated IT
project management techniques to run it.
Q: There is the general tendency to remain in inertia or uniform motion. Transformation in
such cases will have to come through internal motivation of the bulk of
stake-holders. Are failures in digital transformation attributable to this
factor?
TS: This
is another great point. You’re absolutely right. A vast majority of digital
transformations fail, as I write in the book, not because of “digital” but due
to “transformation” issues. Digital Transformation is not automation of work
using IT. Transformation implies organizational change -- of legacy systems,of
legacy processes and of legacy people. I outline in the book how to address
this.
Q: Have you had a chance to interact with
transformation leaders in India/Goa? How do you assess the progress in this
process?
TS: While
my work has been mostly in the US and Europe, I’ve had a chance to talk with a
couple of visionary leaders in Goa about digital transformation, artificial
intelligence and the future of work. I have to say that their vision and plans
have been no different than the best visionary leaders in any part of the
world. While it’s true that Goa comes from a earlier level of basic
infrastructure, the ability to leapfrog is what matters. Just as we went from
having hardly any telephones to having great mobile phones, nothing stops us
from replicating that on digital transformation. All you need is the vision and
persistence.