Liquids manifest extraordinary properties like modify its shape to instantly adapt to its surrounds while keeping its nature. The world is quickly changing, also our habits and needs, and we must be liquid enough to adapt to our context. Resource optimization and sustainability are key in our adaptation and are becoming critical for our success as specie. Liquidity enables adaptation and resource optimization, putting us in the path of sustainability.
Liquidity in a Digital Transformation context enables people, technology and processes to adapt to their own context, even in real-time. Adaptation in terms of companies’ activities means improve competitiveness, achieve a better time to market or be highly resilient. But there is a hidden key element in this equation: Data. To be able to adapt we need to take smarter decisions, and this is only possible if we have the right data and trust them. However, data is just the core but there is a shell around it that must be used to extract business value: Artificial Intelligence. By using the right AI techniques, Data exhibits its maximum potential bringing tons of added value.
Almost every aspect of the current digital economy is based on three elements: people, processes and technology. Technology disruption has been continuously gaining momentum during the last decade, yielding the key elements to create a truly liquid substrate that will allow us to face the new challenges. Appropriately managed, technology will be the essential partner to support people and processes in their evolution during the coming years.
Let’s take delivering personalized or critical goods and services as an example of how liquidity can generate business value. Using IoT, both manufacturing and supply chain are monitored and optimized by gathering and analysing process data. Blockchain techniques provide logistic and contractual guarantees, yielding traceability and improving our trust. Computer Vision solutions improve production line quality processes, optimizing manufacturing resources and time. Using Business Process Automation and Process Mining, companies optimize and orchestrate intermediate processes, minimizing the production cost. Natural Language Processing and Speech techniques will allow bots to dialog with customers to understand their needs or claims and route directly the request to the right service. New HR Analytics will support companies in finding the best talent, designing staff reskilling plans and building highly efficient distributed teams, finding talent wherever it is. Data, Software Engineering and IT stay behind the scenes and constitute the basis of this liquid world.
Globalization was one of the main topics of the last decade, but we are facing challenges that force us to change our mindset and think differently. We have the opportunity of changing the way we construct the basis for future generations. Globalization cannot continue being the only mantra in the horizon, now Liquidity must enter with the highest priority.
