From Looking Digital to Being Digital: The Impact of Technology on the Future of Work Virtual Lab, first used to co-create Audi’s paid off: Audi recently won awards for Pharmaceutical companies, for example, software-based infotainment system, is its infotainment systems, including being now use combinatorial chemistry, an online network that automatically named “connected car of the year,” and for bioinformatics, and other technologies to 30 evaluates R&D prototypes based on crowd- its R18 Ultra Chair. generate and test potential new drugs in 26 sourced responses from customers. a fraction of the time of more traditional The design of work methods. In other words, not only has the The crowdsourcing component of Audi’s product changed, but so too has the work. online Virtual Labs system asks customers The second aspect of experiment-driven For example, scientists can now experiment to design their ideal product based on the design involves the design of work. Though with a more diverse array of compounds amount they are willing to spend, creating embryonic, this could have a dramatic while reducing the complexity of individual 31 a simulated purchasing decision similar effect in the next five years. It’s not tests. Without ever entering the laboratory, to what happens at a car dealership. The news to report that novel product designs data analysts can now comb databases system uses rapid data analysis (machine frequently have downstream impacts on composed of the results of hundreds or learning) to continually refine the questions the organization of work; for example, the even thousands of experiments and arrive it asks customers based on existing virtual decision to replace rolled steel with plastic at candidate drugs. prototypes (developed by Audi’s R&D team), or carbon-fiber for the door panels of cars customers’ demographic profiles and their meant a great deal of change for how In the auto industry, manufacturers 27 real-time responses. panels were fabricated and how doors like Audi and BMW now routinely employ were assembled.32 computer simulations of vehicle crashes Audi engineers compare the results to the in order to develop and test new designs 28 prototypes they have already developed. However, the shift to which we refer before—and, in some instances, instead This approach helps engineers identify involves new ways of organizing work of—building expensive prototypes. They and distinguish between “must-have” that are enabled by digital technologies. save millions of dollars each year by not and “nice-to-have” features based on For example, team-based work is rapidly building and then destroying cars and customer demand, which improves the becoming second nature because the cost gain much-needed insight into the behavior 29 next round of simulated prototyping. and complexity of collaboration is being Iterative engagement with customers has reduced (or absorbed) by intelligent tools; so, we are seeing teams being deployed in work processes that previously would have been carried out by solo experts or by groups of people working in isolation from one another. 30 | Accenture | Copyright 2014 Accenture. All rights reserved. ©