Resource scarcity. Energy transition. Deglobalization. Capital uncertainty. Despite all these challenges and more, too many companies still focus on traditional — and frankly, outdated — priorities like reducing costs instead of reassessing operations and reinventing business models. In our experience, winning COOs often help shape enterprise-wide business capabilities. They’re also orchestrators who work with strategy, product innovation, technology, and commercial and back-office teams. This means:
- Reimagining the end-to-end ecosystem
- Considering both employee and customer experience
- Making data a core enabler to value
- Expanding their scope of risk and opportunity
- Integrating digital skills building into their company’s culture
- Making technology a means to enable measurable business outcomes
In our 2024 Digital Trends in Operations Survey, more than two-thirds of the respondents — 69% — told us their investments in operations technology haven’t fully delivered the expected results. They noted such challenges as integration complexity, technology performance, people capabilities and data issues. These can curb efforts to create more value in the supply chain and operations, which is increasingly necessary considering that 45% of the executives in PwC’s 27th Annual Global CEO Survey said their company won't be viable in 10 years if it stays on its current path.
Why are real results often elusive? Reasons include a lack of a clear and consistent business case for new technology, a narrow focus on individual teams and tech instead of end-to-end architecture, and not evolving a digital workforce — especially with automation and analytics. To close this gap, COOs and operations leaders should be outcomes obsessed rather than tech obsessed and align their company’s digital investments with strategic objectives.