Digital Transformation in Mining

Does the digital strategy align with business strategy across functions and business units? To what extent does the organization reassess and reprioritize digital projects to achieve continuous value?

• Maintain a distinct and clear digital strategy and roadmap aligned to business objectives—adjusting as needed based on industry trends, market factors, modern and emerging technologies, and internal changes.
• Ensure the digital strategy and roadmap are clearly articulated and shared across the organization using a customized communication approach that is articulated in business outcomes.
• Embed digital practices into the standard operational processes of the organization, promoting agility rather than treating digital as a separate component.
• Commit to enhancing profitability through digital, thereby facilitating the accurate ranking of digital initiatives for optimal value addition—and boosting resilience, agility, and efficiency to stay competitive.
• Create a central team composed of key business and digital leaders who concentrate solely on digital initiatives. Pioneering companies in digital transformation often have an official chief digital officer or equivalent digital leadership role.
• Leverage digitally fluent talent to drive analytics initiatives. Harness their skills for citizen development, fostering innovation, and achieving industry leadership.
• Convey the value of digital within their organization, paired with a value governance structure with uniform metrics for digital initiatives. This structure enables transparency and the discovery of top-value prospects. Organizations also maintain an understanding of the progress made, enabling them to halt or alter course as required.
• Revisit the information technology–operational technology (IT–OT) operating model of the organization, and make certain that there are governance, roles and responsibilities, and interaction models clearly defined to ensure successful technology planning, deployment, support, and sustainment of digital initiatives.

To what extent has the organization fostered a digital mindset—empowering innovation and experimentation for transformation in the mining industry? How does it incorporate and embed digital talent and skill sets?

• Concentrate on tailored change management strategies for digitally enabled capabilities, with a strong representation of individuals who have key mining experience.
• Promote a heightened emphasis on digital literacy and training for field staff to foster digital adoption—along with equipping field leaders with the knowledge of digital initiatives to secure their buy-in.
• Develop methods to motivate and train their workforce in response to an industrywide talent sourcing and retention crisis.
• Promote and retain strong leaders who understand and appreciate the value derived from digital and can articulate this message throughout the organization.
• Deploy strategic adoption methods to inspire middle managers and staff who may be reluctant to nurture innovation, with additional support provided by senior leadership.
• Develop digital skills and awareness of field workers to fully capitalize on their unique operational expertise in identifying digitally enabled opportunities and successfully embedding the change.
• Foster idea generation from every corner of the business, ensuring a well-defined and openly communicated mechanism for employees to bring their ideas to the forefront.

How does the organization integrate digital tools into planning and operations of key processes—leading to operational function optimization, improved safety, and efficiencies across the business?

• Employ creative thinking to explore how digital advancements can boost their operational output and improve every segment of their value chain through an integrated, end-to-end digital perspective.
• Incorporate advanced technologies and data analytics in a cross-functional manner, viewing it through a lens of continuous improvement to facilitate digital enablement.
• Leverage digital tools to pinpoint areas of opportunity across their value chain, aiming to enhance production and profitability.
• Acknowledge the significance of various digital tools, including artificial intelligence (AI) for predictive maintenance, safety software, data analytics for insights, the Internet of Things (IoT) for operational control, and digital platforms for real-time coordination. These tools collectively enhance operational efficiency and safety.
• Integrate their value chain into their strategies to identify areas with the highest value-generation potential. This involves comprehending each link of the chain, identifying inefficiencies, optimizing processes, and making strategic decisions—all leading to operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and increased profitability.
• Aim to align portfolio assets with standardized digital protocols to facilitate a smoother digital transformation journey.

How connected and advanced is the digital infrastructure, and to what extent are data and analytical tools used to make better business decisions?

• Prepare field infrastructure—encompassing network connectivity, internet availability and performance, and mobile services, to facilitate digital advancement.
• Acknowledge the significance of having a quality-rich dataset and fostering an environment conducive to creating a significant impact. They strategically leverage data for decision-making processes that drive value and explore various GenAI tools and use cases for strategic and effective decision-making in their business operations.
• Employ AI/GenAI in nontraditional ways, factoring in the social and community impact. They align their corporate social responsibility initiatives with their digital strategy. They also identify use-case pilots, build proofs of concept, and quickly scale when success is achieved.
• Determine the specific digital tools that will be most effective in optimizing capabilities across the value chain to boost productivity.
• Counteract data governance and cybersecurity risks by investing in platforms that enhance security and thwart potential threats.