The Transformation Equation - Niki Allen
Technology is constantly evolving and changing the way we live and do business. With that evolution, companies must keep up. If companies can leverage their specialties with advancing technology, they can optimize business. This was the thought process that sparked my transformation equation.
Read my explanation of my transformation equation that I presented at the Boeing at SpringOne Platform below.
“As you can imagine, a company like Boeing we was not born digital. There’s a host of complexity and legacy systems, architecture and point-to-point integrations; there’s a lot that comes with trying to transform a company like ours so I had to start somewhere.
“I anchored us in our strategy because it was simple and was something that everyone understood. I refer to it as our 3E equation:
Engagement + Excellence = Enablement
Engagement
“How do we engage? How do we show up? How do I empower our teams to think, act and perform differently? How can we collaborate differently? How do we go from being the order taker in the room and the executor of the work to actually leading and influencing the digital conversation? Most importantly, how do we leverage our external partnerships to bring best best-of-breed solutions from the outside in? Whenever you try to lead through a transformation, those complacency antibodies will start to kick in, so bringing the outside in will give you another avenue of support and advocacy as you lead down that path.
Excellence
“We don’t get to just show up every day and claim the right to passage because we’re IT. We have to earn the right to be here and we do that through demonstrating functional excellence. We have to ensure we’re not comfortable delivering anything but flawless, first time quality technology products and services. We cannot be okay taking two years to deliver something that should take two months.
Enablement
“So if we engage effectively and we demonstrate functional excellence, then ultimately we’ll enable the business to succeed. But, it’s not just incremental like only sort of doing things a little bit better than how we did them before. We actually have to be able to leverage technology, leverage our functional excellence, and innovate and scale. In order to get people to scale, they have to understand how to connect the dots. People have to see themselves and what they do, whether it’s developing software, protecting and securing the network, or provisioning infrastructure, they have to see how the work that they do every day connects back to enabling the business to either be productive or generate revenue. Most importantly, we have to have our own factory, like a digital factory, that we can use as an accelerant to help lead us through this transformation.”
About Niki: Niki Allen is the Chief Information Technology & Operations Officer at Boeing. Niki emphasizes that technology is the basis of all successful organizations. She uses her background in data and analytics to strategize how to help businesses operate more effectively through the innovation of new technologies. As a transformational thought leader, she actively works to use technology to create a more diverse and inclusive future with greater opportunities for all.
