FCCS News & Insights

Digital Transformation Strategies: Thriving in the Current Landscape By Future Point of View (FPOV)

There’s no doubt that technology can offer organizations a wealth of benefits, but the question of which technologies to deploy, and when, remains an ongoing strategic discussion. Organizations struggle with both sides of the digital transformation: not only the technology decisions, but their impact on employees and culture.

“As we head into the next ten years, technology isn’t just an efficiency play or a new tool in the toolbox,” says Future Point of View’s Hart Brown. “Technology is actually going to be an accelerator, and those who get the acceleration right are more likely to be successful.”

One of the most fundamental challenges is understanding which platforms and tools are right for the organization, based on how it functions now but more importantly, how it will function most effectively over the next five to ten years. This means identifying the right technologies and implementing them at the right times.

“There’s a natural hesitancy to move into new technology knowing that ROI is delayed, and it can take years to implement a system and gain the full efficiencies and other benefits,” says Hart. “Organizations that overcome this hesitancy maintain their competitive advantage and pull further ahead over time.”

Farm Credit sits at an inflection point regarding technology, according to Hart. FPOV’s forecasts show significant opportunities to use innovation and bring in new technologies to increase the bottom line. Some organizations are viewing technology as a differentiator moving forward and are actively putting effort and resources into innovation. Of course, as technology gets more complicated it also grows more expensive, which puts it out of reach of smaller organizations operating independently; collaboration with other organizations can help reach the scale needed to warrant the investment.

One compelling technology conversation is around Artificial Intelligence, which offers almost unimaginable power. In loan processing, for example, AI could replace some of the manual effort by employing an algorithmic decision-making model – within certain risk structures, the AI can make the decisions, leaving loan officers to build relationships.

FCCS recently undertook an AI Workshop with FPOV to both get a better understanding of AI in general and the tools available, and to build alignment at a high level on what AI is and how it can benefit FCCS. Involving executive leaders and other strategic team members representing different departments and functions, the half-day session covered five key conversations (of eight that FPOV has crafted).

Participants were asked to brainstorm processes within their functional areas that AI
could assist, and to devise three- to five AI concepts that could be tested over the
next year.

FPOV recommends a similar approach to developing an overall digital transformation
strategy, beginning with a leadership workshop to ensure a shared vision of the
desired future state. Once there’s agreement on the long-term goal, the team can
build a strategy that incorporates milestones, responsibilities and budgets. With the
digital strategy established and the plan outlined, each employee should be assessed
to identify any education or training gaps that should be narrowed to support the
future digital environment. In some cases, roles and job descriptions will need to
be updated.

“Forward-looking organizations are recognizing that technology over the next 20
years will become increasingly important to profitability, both figuring out how
technology will increase efficiency and also enhance the employees’ experience,”
says Hart.

FPOV is part of the FCCS Consulting Network. For more information about AI and
digital transformation workshops, contact FPOV’s Scott Brady at 281-886-9762 or
via email.