Bruce Richardson has been in the business of reengineering process systems for decades now. From his wide vantage, the tech has progressed drastically – but many of the decision makers haven’t.
He recently joined Propel CMO Dario Ambrosini as a guest on our podcast The Platform Rules: Digital Transformation for Product Companies to discuss what enterprise companies need to do now to be set up for success in the future.
Click here to listen to the full episode, or hit play below.
“I remember back in those days [in the mid 90s]... the whole world looked like it was exploding. We didn't call it digitization then; it was ‘business process reengineering.’ If you take that analogy to where we are today, if you look at the tech, I think we can pretty much see it's a cloud world.”
“The technology is a lot different than it was 30 years ago, but the goal is still the same. How do we leverage technology to get close to the customers?”
As the current Chief Enterprise Strategist for Salesforce and an embedded industry analyst for more than 40 years, Bruce Richardson has a broad scope on the history of digital transformation in some of the world’s largest enterprise companies.
“We take for granted that critical components include AI and machine learning. We're looking at workflow and robotic process automation and tools like that. So the technology is a lot different than it was 30 years ago, but the goal is still the same. How do we leverage technology to get close to the customers?
In speaking with us, Richardson reveals what he’s noticing in system-wide industry cloud adoption – and from what it sounds like, it’s only getting started.
“Once you move from the constraints of an ERP system and start thinking about what would your environment look like if you put the customer or the product first, what would you work around that? I think people are starting to do that.”
Right now, with so many companies finding success after moving to industry cloud solutions, Richardson suggests if you’re frustrated with the pace of adoption at your company, this isn’t a time for settling.
“I think there's some reception. In certain areas like manufacturing or supply chain, there's always the sense that they don't have the budget to do all the things they know they have to do. My only advice would be: keep pushing.“
