An Interview with Annika von Redwitz, conducted by Melissa Lamson (ML): 

A Diversity colleague of mine, Mellisa Lamson (ML), and I are very interested in understanding what digitalization will do to the way the workforce builds relationships and interacts with each other–particularly in a diverse, globalized, and multicultural world. We spoke about whether or not digitization will make human connectivity obsolete.

For us, the answer is no. It may be even more important.

Below are the highlights of our conversation.

ML: Annika, what is digitalization exactly?

AR: Today, many businesses are looking at transforming their organizations to stay competitive in a fast-changing market. They may be moving from a product-oriented to a service-oriented business model, or adding new online services to their existing products.

ML: So, it sounds like digitalization is a significant evolution from humans using technology as a tool to, now, programming machines to run the business autonomously. Is that what makes the concept unique today in your mind?

AR: In the nineties, the concept of reengineering came up and described how companies re-invented their business processes with help of the Information Technology available at that time. A lot of manual work was automated, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems became the standard.

Today, we call this “digital transformation”–for example, the Internet of Things, connecting machines with each other, or Artificial Intelligence doing things human would have otherwise done. But it is a more radical shift than in the last century.

ML: Annika, if our job is to help leaders and teams work with people more efficiently and effectively, will that even be needed in the future?

AR: It won’t become obsolete. In fact, digitalization will offer new ways for human beings to interact with each other.
Ideally, thanks to modern technology, employees will have more time to focus on strategic and complex tasks. And, remember, robots are programmed by humans, so it is important that diverse teams (of humans) work well together to develop those algorithms.

ML: So, it sounds like we may be needed more than ever! If humans don’t need to focus on machines and simple tasks they need to do using technology, all they’ll need to focus on is human interaction.

AR: That’s right.

ML: If an organization is looking at digital transformation what are the first steps?

AR: It depends on the size and age of the company. According to the book, “Radical Business Model Transformation,” traditional companies need to analyze their status quo and enable established products and services to co-exist with new offerings.
Leaders need to establish “a corporate culture based on mutual trust, support and curiosity. „They need to be able to explain the vision and purpose of digitalization, and keep communicating those goals in a positive way.
In other words, never underestimate the power of good ol’ fashioned communication.

Original article published in Inc.