From Looking Digital to Being Digital: The Impact of Technology on the Future of Work Chapter 2: Emerging Work Practices in the Digital Enterprise Intelligent digital processes open up new options in work organization. Some of these options were not practical a few years ago. Some were inconceivable. All of them, however, challenge traditional management mindsets. In the course of our research, we’ve seen Take the work of product engineering in The most sophisticated companies four emerging work practices that radically the automobile industry. As recently as five used digital design software and online break with conventional approaches. years ago, engineers toiled away in a maze collaboration tools so that engineers could Individually and in combination, these of subcomponent design groups. These work together on virtual teams spanning practices stand to become the hallmarks of teams relied on complex committees and time zones. But the work of design a new era of work organization. management layers to translate the voice remained fundamentally an assembly line, of the customer into design parameters much as it had been for the past 50 years. and then to integrate the disparate parts With the advent of intelligent digital designs into a vehicle. processes, however, the work of product engineering is undergoing a revolution. 15 | Accenture | Copyright 2014 Accenture. All rights reserved. ©