For mining companies, small improvements in yield, productivity, and utilization can have an extraordinary impact—amplified in a country like Indonesia, where mining contributes close to 5 percent of GDP and 15 percent of exports. The benefits of digitizing are abundant: Innovators with intelligent mining operations can raise margins by up to 20 percent. Technology advances can create more standardized processes—with consistently higher production levels—and improve worker safety. But though successful case studies make the digital journey seem easy, companies attempting transformation face several common challenges. For sustainable benefits, changes need to go well beyond the technology: new skills and change management are equally crucial.
This article will outline several common elements that successful transformations have which includes: having a value-backed road map and commitment from the top, creating the right foundations of scalable data, building new skills and talent and strong collaboration between the business and technology teams.
This article is adapted from an article that appeared in the Jakarta Post on January 27, 2020 and is reprinted here by permission.