Todd Pruzan, HBR
Welcome to HBR Video Quick Take. I’m Todd Pruzan, senior editor for research and special projects at the Harvard Business Review. Bosch India, a German multinational engineering and technology company, recently partnered with consulting company Accenture to conduct a massive program called the Digital Fluency Program, covering 4,000 employees across functions.
Today, I spoke with Karin Gilges, the chief financial officer of Bosch India, to discuss Bosch’s vision for digital transformation, the key drivers of success, and the outcomes of the digital program. fluency. Karin, thanks for joining us today.
Karin Gilges, Bosch
Thank you very much. My happiness.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Karin, what is Bosch’s vision for digital transformation, and where does the digital fluency program fit into that?
Karin Gilges, Bosch
Well, as you know, Bosch has been a pioneer in the industry for a long time. And digitization and connecting factories has been one of our key tasks in the last 10 years. What we want to achieve with our products is to inspire enthusiasm, sell them to improve the quality of life, and also conserve natural resources.
And if you understand this journey, then, in the end, it can only be achieved if you have a certain mindset. Digital fluency is a journey to really bring this mindset to our fellow cohort, so to speak. Therefore, we decided to start this program with Accenture.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
So how does Bosch manage a digital fluency program on such a large scale? And what is Accenture’s role in your partnership?
Karin Gilges, Bosch
Well, first of all, you should know that we have three strong pillars. These are products and solutions, processes, and people. So, to really build this digital fluency within the organization—that you create an appreciation and then an application of digital—it’s a journey of moving from knowing, to doing, to being digital.
That means that in order to be successful in the end, I can proudly say that 100% of our people have come forward to embrace the digital learning journey, this is a co-creation of a framework between Bosch and Accenture to guide this mechanisms and in a successful manner. managing this digital fluency program across Bosch in India.
We didn’t just create a framework; we create a custom learning journey for each function. We use three channels—the online training, the SME lead session, and an action-learning project. In online training, we curate 90+ online courses with Accenture at the Accenture Academy.
In terms of subject matter and our experts, we have produced 30+ SME-led sessions and live demos. And in the action learning project, which is a very important part, we generated 150 digital and analytics ideas, which were translated into 20 action learning projects. So, you’ve seen our work with Accenture, our use of the Accenture Academy to go deeper, much more than creating a framework.
Together we have achieved a strong management and program management program and a strong focus on organizational change management, because not only are you the one who creates the spark, people also need to understand that it is of high strategic importance that we go digital in the future.
And, as part of this, we created and offered this program—and, yes, to create the culture and the mindset change at the end. Accenture works with us as a strategic partner, as an enabler, and program designer. This is, in the end, what we set up together and we are proud of it.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
What are the critical success factors of this program?
Karin Gilges, Bosch
The key to success, and the most important part, is people and really being able to create a program that is embraced and seen as an important part of our leadership team and also our partner programs. To reiterate these key success factors are; customized and curated content and successful change management.
Communication is also very important in leadership- to successfully carry out the strategic aspect, you need to communicate. In addition, measurable results are, of course, also very important.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
And Karin, what are the outcomes of the digital fluency program?
Karin Gilges, Bosch
The Digital Fluency Program has, in the end, really improved our digital maturity across Bosch in India, as well as the skill development matrix of our workforce. In addition to the skills and maturity gained, is the creation of thinking within the organization. This mindset empowers our people to discuss the topic of being, and becoming, digital.
It is important to talk about it openly and without fear. To quantify these efforts, we have increased, 3x, the skill level for over 4,000 employees. We have increased, fourfold, the skill level of our 130 digital pioneers. And of the 20 digital action-learning projects, there were also many successes, resulting in a great impact on the business.
To recap, more than 1,100 manufacturing employees were trained in the basics of digital [fluency]. And they can use these applications and this knowledge now in their daily business activities. Learning from the program is not only a new set of skills, but also maturity, and thinking, this is exactly how people feel and use these assets in their daily and operational business.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Karin, how can Bosch use digital fluency to sustain and accelerate its digital transformation? In which areas do you believe digital and analytics can deliver the most value?
Karin Gilges, Bosch
I thought so [the] The Digital Fluency Program is at our core. We have facilitated this with our digital transformation, which we have started and are continuing. We have a focus on data and analytics because we are a strong technology company.
And, of course, automation and cloud are very important to us. This is the base—or rather, we create, the capability for new businesses such as mobility cloud platforms, energy XaaS, and more. We can use these skills and technologies in data analytics, in IoT, in big data, etc.
And just to give you more clarity and make it more tangible: we have made a lot of progress in our automation segment, where we have 80 digital pioneers. And they are already training as Green Belts.
And this automation project, of course, will help us in our daily business in manufacturing factories. These digital pioneers are now the multipliers for our organization to move forward with automation, which we need in our digitalization journey.
Todd Pruzan, HBR
Well, Karin, thank you. This is a great discussion. Thank you so much for joining us today.
Karin Gilges, Bosch
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
To learn more, please click here.
