Driving Industrial Digital Transformation

The fourth industrial revolution has increased focus on industrial digital transformation (IDT) for its industrial value creation potential. However, practical implementation continues to require improved support from tools and frameworks. This research develops an empirically based conceptual framework for IDT. The study utilizes semi-structured interviews with technology experts, building on and extending the dynamic capabilities theory as its theoretical foundation to identify how IDT uses technologies to create organizational value via smartness capability. The results identify four groups of technological features that support enterprise smartness (1. intelligence, 2. simulation, visualization, and remote interaction, 3. data and information management, and 4. stimuli responsiveness) and the organizational features that characterize IDT, including digitization, integration, persistent customer engagement, production ecosystems, data capability, information transparency, and smartness. The framework identifies that transformation results in organizational value creation. The study’s implication for professionals is to re-focus IDT strategy on developing value-creating capability in the enterprise.