Article
Digital Transformation: Are chemical enterprises ready?
"Digital Transformation: Are chemical enterprises ready?" was jointly published by Deloitte Global Consumer & Industrial Products Industry group and China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation (CPCIF) in China. Based on the inaugural 2016 Global Digital Chemistry Survey, a collection of survey responses from 102 executives from more than 50 chemical enterprises, the report intends to show the potential opportunity related to digital transformation and recommend specific steps to navigate through its challenges and realize its benefits. As the global chemical industry progressively embraces digital and exponential technologies, many challenges and obstacles can impact the decisions of senior executives.
Catalyst for innovation
- In recent years, chemical enterprises have faced a progressively challenging environment. As a result, many are focused on reinventing their business and operating models through transformational trends emanating from adjacencies.
- As many global industries and sectors embrace digitization in multiple business areas, digital transformation is becoming a smart business objective beyond just improving the core of the business.
- The global chemical industry can benefit from such transformation, which can act as a catalyst to unlock enterprise-wide business innovation and value creation.
Approaching digital transformation
- Despite ad-hoc approaches, many chemical enterprises are unsure about the advantages that can result from digital and are cautious towards an enterprise-wide digital makeover.
- Senior leadership in chemical enterprises have a window of opportunity to proactively drive a culture combining digital and innovation, which will likely enable chemical organizations complete a true business transformation focused on revenue growth and performance improvements.
Five enablers to augment the digital agenda
- The following recommendations, derived from the results of the survey and industry observations, can help chemical enterprises augment and accelerating their digital agendas:
1. Develop a robust business transformation process starting with a clear digital enterprise strategy
2. Build a sustainable insight-driven advantage in the entire organization
3. Identify and mitigate cyber risks in complex and dynamic ecosystems
4. Establish agile operating models internally and externally
5. Embed total innovation to encourage corporate collaboration, learning, and a cultural behavioral shift.
