Nicolas Fourie, vice president ICT at Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, says the past two years have involved a massive volume of large and complex digital transformation at the organisation.

Fourie says they have taken a lean approach to this digital change “not because we could not get the budget, but because we went into the financial year with the intention of being efficient.  This, we feel, is a critical differentiator and a true value add as it directly contributes to our sustainable growth strategy.”

F&P Healthcare has around 140 strategic digital projects on its current business plan. Of those, around 10 are large, complex digital transformations, including a global ERP replacement. 

Some key innovations delivered by the team over the past two years include a customer education hub and a digital twin model of the company’s new facility.

The customer education hub is designed to deliver actionable training and insights.  The hub provides guides and learning where and when people need it; in-person and virtual event management as well as accredited learning. The team achieved this by blending a combination of leading-edge technologies, from bespoke software, to Cloud, to create a state-of-the-art experience, says Fourie. Implementation was achieved within 12 months and has received positive customer feedback. 

During the construction of Fisher & Paykel’s fourth building, they leveraged technology and partnerships to build a Digital Twin model of the new facility. This allowed the business to have better control and insights over data and components within the building. “Ultimately, this opened the door to huge efficiencies in the ongoing operation and maintenance of that facility,” says Fourie.

Future scaping with the wider business

Fourie says the success of the digital projects has elevated the digital function into the heart of the organisation’s strategic thinking. He and the ICT leadership team meet in-person with the executive team and CEO on a quarterly basis “to calibrate, strategize and plan initiatives to support the success of the business. This continuous calibration ensures we are in sync with business strategy and can rapidly adjust to business needs. This has been extremely successful with regular positive feedback from the executive that we are in sync and adding value. I am completely hands-off in this session and allow my leaders to directly engage and strategize with members of the executive team.”

Fourie says they are now building a three-year funnel of digital innovation initiatives with the Executive team and their leaders. An interactive visual management board is used to openly invite and talk to people in the business about what is coming and the decision making behind that.  “This has taken us to the level of maturity in our future scaping where we have committed to have 80% of our business plan for the following year ratified on an ongoing basis. This is a huge reduction in planning during our business planning cycle, as we are constantly calibrated with the business.”