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While for some companies AI seemed like an overnight sensation, Caterpillar has been using the technology in some capacity for the last three decades, according to Chief Information Officer Jamie Engstrom.
Now, the company is only accelerating its use of advanced analytics, automation and orchestration to help with everything from synchronizing demand planning to better understanding supplier lead times and supply.
Analyzing telematics data from the thousands of Caterpillar machines in use around the world, for example, the company can provide service recommendations and alerts to customers and dealers in near real-time.
Caterpillar’s secret to success? A focus on linking technology to business outcomes, close collaboration between stakeholders, and an underlying infrastructure that can support the growth of new data-intensive workloads.
“It is a careful balance of being intellectually curious, and not just implementing technology for technology’s sake,” Jamie said on a recent episode of the “Technovation with Peter High” podcast. “We align our strategic IT investment and priorities to helping our customers and our business partners in value creation and value protection.”
Managing technology’s intersection points
Several years ago, Caterpillar embarked on a journey to build a data strategy that would allow for more secure, compliant use of the digital assets the company was already gathering in huge quantities. This took collaboration with key partners in the C-Suite, along with business leaders to effectively balance risk and innovation -- and was just a small taste of the cross-functional work to come.
Among the closest partners Jamie works with now are her fellow technology leaders – the Chief Digital Officer and the Chief Technology Officer. And Caterpillar’s division of responsibilities is a potential model for other organizations struggling to find cohesion among their C-Suite technologists. At Caterpillar:
- The Chief Digital Officer is focused on “what we’re doing to continue to improve the digital experiences that we need to serve our customers, to provide a seamless and intuitive experience as we think about the products that we have connected and their experience with us,” said Jamie.
- Meanwhile, the Chief Technology Officer is “focused on our onboard technology and what we’re doing to make sure we’re continuing to invest in the enhancements that we’ve got with our onboard technology to make sure that we're continuing to advance that capability on the equipment we have in operation,” she added.
- And it all comes together in Jamie’s division: “It’s that unique intersection of the onboard technology, the digital experiences that we provide to our customers, and our internal systems around the world that come together to make sure we’re providing that end-to-end experience.”
