Orchestrating Transformation - Preview

INTRODUCTION The Context for Transformation

A NEW ASSIGNMENT On November 15, 2017, Ann-Christin Andersen received an unex- pected job offer: she was asked to become her company’s first chief digital officer (CDO). TechnipFMC was a $15 billion oil and gas field services organization, with 37,000 employees in 48 countries, whose lines of business included building refineries and installing pumps and pipes on the sea floor. The link to digital was not obvious to her. Further, she wasn’t even sure what the role entailed or why she had been tapped to take it on. Ann-Christin had never worked in IT or the high-tech sector. Though she was an engineer by training, most of her experience had been on the commercial side of the organization, most recently as managing director of TechnipFMC’s Norwegian business, one of the company’s largest. While she was familiar with the CDO title—it was hard to miss the hype surrounding digital technologies and their disruptive effects—she had little idea what a CDO actually did. And she wasn’t sure if Technip- FMC’s top management team, who had made her the offer, knew either. After a bit of digging, Ann-Christin learned that the company had re- cently lost a few large bids, due in part to its lack of digital capabilities and a clear digital strategy. This customer feedback had come as a surprise to senior management. TechnipFMC was a recognized leader in the market and a trusted partner for many of the world’s largest oil and gas players. Digital tools, analytics, and applications had never figured prominently in an industry dominated by mechanical technol- ogies and systems. So for TechnipFMC to be losing deals on the basis of inadequate digital capabilities sent shockwaves through the com- pany’s leadership.

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