For its Reimagining Operations report, PwC conducted a survey of 1,262 operations leaders, of which 24% where COOs or Heads of Operations.
Here are some of the key findings.
1. Customers will be the cause of disruption
61% of operations leaders surveyed believed that customers are going to become a disruptive factor in their industry in the next five years, with 23% saying changing direction was the most challenging thing facing their firm.
2. Knowing what customers want is already hard
63% said that understanding what customers value is already a challenge for their company operations. That may help explain why only 25% feel very confident that their operations are designed to give customers value and a distinctive experience, either now or in 3 years time.
3. Collaboration is critical
61% say that collaborating across functions, as well as faster decision making, has the best potential to help their firms reach their strategic goals.
4. Operations is aiming to find new ways of creating value
58% of respondents said finding new ways of creating value was the primary emphasis in operations, while 37% said the entire focus operations was creating new value. 42% have a continuous focus on improving existing systems.
5. Companies have a broad view of operations
Overall, companies take a very broad view at operations. 75% think service and support are company operations, 69% think product or service technology development is included, while 62% consider marketing part of operations.
Other factors involved are as varied as supply chain (72% where applicable), customer insights (66%) and manufacturing (75% where applicable.)
