https://youtu.be/fJqw-RQzWv4
Justin Goldston, a senior managing director at Nestell and Associates, a strategy consulting firm, and a five times TEDx speaker on emerging technologies. He is a Professor at Penn State University on Project Management and Supply Chain Management. We discuss how you can harness emerging technologies to grow entrepreneurial companies of any size.
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People, Process, Technology with Justin Goldston
Our guest is Justin Goldston, who is a Senior Managing director of Nestle and Associates, a strategy and management firm focused on digital transformations. He is also a professor at Penn State University on project supply chain management. He is also a graduate professor at Georgetown University. And Justin is a five-time TEDx speaker on emerging technologies, including blockchain and AI. So, welcome, Justin, to the show.
Thanks, Steve. Thanks for having me.
It's great to have you here. And you've got lots of information I want to ask you about. The first one is, you know, this podcast is for small and medium-sized company entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial companies. And technology is kind of a difficult area for these small businesses, how to embrace it. So, in your view, how important is technology for small and medium enterprises? Is it really important?
Technology, in my opinion, is the one of the most important things for an organization, especially a startup, because it provides you with the visibility of your supply chain. It informs you of those decisions within to make those operational, those short term, as well as those strategic long-term decisions. And it creates that collaboration internally across your departments, as well as with your business partners, your customers, as well as your vendors. So, I would say that technology, yes, is indeed of the utmost importance. One of the most, in my opinion, one of the most important things within a small and medium enterprise.
The importance of technology in an organization, especially for startups, cannot be overstated. It's not just a tool; it's the bridge connecting the dots of decisions, fostering collaboration, and shaping the trajectory of success.Share on X
So how does it help? Maybe this is a dumb question, so excuse me for that. But how does technology help you make better decisions in the practical sense for a private company?
So you're inputting all of this data. You're inputting data from purchase orders. You're inputting data from sales orders. So your system, your ERP application, or your QuickBooks, or Excel, depending on what part of the digital transformation maturity you're in, is going to inform you that it's collecting data. It's collecting data. OK, and if you're performing that analysis, then you're going to be informed of of decisions. So we have within machine learning, within artificial intelligence. And I'm getting a little ahead here, but I'll put it in context.
It provides you with predictive analytics. So I so I can use tools. I can use the data that I'm inputting in through sales orders, through purchase orders to inform me of decisions that I can make, just like forecast, just like forecasting systems. I'm inputting that data to forecast what I need to purchase on a weekly basis. If I have weekly buckets or what I need to forecast on a monthly basis. So it's going so that data, that data is being collected. You're your employees are inputting that data on a daily basis. And you can analyze that data to inform you of the decisions, both from a short-term and long-term basis.
So that sounds great. But I mean, how do I input the data? That can feel overwhelming. I mean, CRM systems often don't get used because salespeople feel like they don't have the time to type everything up. ERP systems is the same thing. You have to input the data and then you have to manage the data. And then it's kind of an investment. And what if you don't get the return? Or how does it how long does it take to get the return? Or are there ways of inputting the data in a more user friendly way so that it's not overburdening for a small company?
Yes. So there are processes there. I mean, the processes are out there. It's referred to as business process automation. You'll also hear of robotic process automation, but business process automation is in simple terms where I can map invoices, for example, right? And I can scan invoices. And because business process automation is mapped, it can pull data out from those fields that I've mapped and automatically input it into my system. So it's, it's, it's automation. So we can, we can automate these processes.
A lot of organizations are automating processes now, and it's not just for the big guys. You know, there's, there's business process automation tools out there for small, made specifically for small and medium organizations. So those, those business process automation tools are very helpful. They're very helpful for invoices, for AR invoices, for AP invoices, for purchase orders. So for all of those repetitive tasks, there's tools out there to automate those tasks.
In the era of automation, business process automation is the artist, turning the canvas of tasks into a masterpiece of efficiency, one automated stroke at a time.Share on X
And are these tools easily accessible? I mean, is it a big investment, a big integration, or are they in the cloud applications that will do this for us or this hardware involved? What does it look like? Give me an example.
So a lot of these tools out there now are cloud enabled. They are kind of those SaaS solutions, if you will, where you would log in and you would work with the integrator to map those fields, you know, to whatever system you're using. It's low investment as it would be with an ERP application, much lower than an ERP application. The training is more compressed as opposed to an ERP application. And that's why you're seeing these offerings emerging.
With the pandemic, you have seen a big shift to robotic process automation and business process automation because plants were shut down, you know, and we had no choice. Some small and medium enterprises had no choice but to move to these solutions. You know, so we're seeing a big emergence and the adoption of these solutions. We're seeing because of the pandemic, we're seeing a big emergence of vendors that offer these solutions. So with more vendors, the lower the cost. So you can say that that's one positive output to the pandemic because there's a number of digital transformation offerings coming out into the industry.
So, for example, what does the hardware look like? Can I use my phone to scan these purchase orders into the system or do I need to have a scanner? What does it look like?
So depending on the solution, there's been a number of vendors out there where you can use your smart phone to scan it. Also, a perfect example. So back when I could travel, there were business process automation tools out there where I can sit at dinner, I can scan my receipt, right? And then that BPA tool, because it's already mapped. I can hit a button, that BPA tool is already mapped, it'll automatically transfer it into my expense report within my ERP application. As a user, I have to do nothing. I take a picture, I hit a button, it's done.
Okay, great. So it's like in the old days, maybe 15 years ago, you had these business card scanners where you could scan a business card and then all the data would go into the right place in the CRM, whatever. Yes. Kind of evolved from there. The same concept is just evolved and being more sophisticated, more reliable, I guess. So, Justin, you mentioned the term, which I really like to dig into, you say digital transformation maturity. I mean, it's a mouthful, but what does that mean? And how can a small to medium sized business increase their digital transformation maturity?
I think that the most important thing to begin with is that when we say digital transformation, it does not, it does not solely mean technology. Digital transformation is the, is the, OK, where am I in terms of people, process and technology? Those three in technology projects, the most important thing that people don't understand is that those failed projects are not because of the technology, it's because of the people or the processes.
And so whenever I assess my digital transformation maturity, I'm going to say, OK, where are my people at in terms of this technology solution in which I'm proposing? Are they familiar with Excel or are they been just processing on paper their entire careers here? Right. You know, from a process perspective, do I have defined documented processes that I can easily transfer to this new technology solution? From a technology perspective, am I moving to this business process automation tool from Excel? Well, let me back up, from paper? Or am I moving it from Excel? Or am I moving it from QuickBooks? Or am I just kind of integrating it into my ERP application? Right?
So if I'm moving it straight directly from paper to BPA, yes, it can be done, but the implementation and configuration may take longer. If I'm currently using an enterprise resource planning application, an ERP application, then the adoption may be easier. So from a consulting perspective, whenever I'm working with organizations, that's one of the first things I do, because that's how I can essentially scope out the project. Is it going to take me a lot of training where I have to start at ground zero to train these people to say, okay, we're moving to technology.
Here's what BPA stands for. Here's what business process automation stands for. Here's what it does. And most importantly, from a people standpoint, I'm going to say this is not going to take your jobs because that's one thing that terrifies employees within a small and medium manufacturing organization, process automation, robotic process automation, artificial intelligence, these ERP systems are going to take jobs.
