Digital Outcome Optimization: Ensuring a Return on Investment of Digital Strategy

Abstract

Public sector organizations must avoid expensive, inefficient cost or schedule variances that exhaust the resources of a project, and in response many deploy digital initiatives without clear, direct evidence of a quantifiable return on investment. This investigation determined if digital initiatives have a measurable return on investment for projects in the public sector, and could rationalize investment. A systematic review questioned, In public sector organizations, does the evidence suggest that the application of operational excellence ensures a ROI from digital initiatives? Scientific Management was the theoretical lens. The findings and conclusions of 43 peer-reviewed scholarly articles provided the data on optimization, digitalization, their synergy and benefits. The key findings are: 1. The combination of digitalization and optimization has quantifiable positive effect; 2. The combination makes benefits predictable; 3. The combination is testable with incremental deployment; 4. The combination makes the return on investment measurable; 5. The combination is compatible with any office design. This research improves understanding of how to quantify and deliberately plan the impact of digital initiatives. Mangers should: 1. Select the intended human outcome (customer value or staff effectiveness), then 2. Make five key management choices, 3. Select an optimization toolset, and 4. Implement the appropriate Industry 4.0 technology.

Keywords: digital transformation, operational excellence, Industry 4.0