The challenge of digital transformation for the benefit of socio-economic and environmental impact in the UK railway sector
Abstract
The UK railway sector is at various stages of digital transformation throughout the various disciplines within the organisation. Socio-economic and environmental goals are clearly defined with technology there to support and implement efficient solutions. There are many challenges that come with digital transformation especially when considering the socioeconomic and environmental impacts, such as balancing budget cuts with reliability and performance and investing into digital innovations. This paper aims to raise awareness on the challenges the UK railway sector is currently facing and inform the current progress of digital transformation where socio-economic and environmental value is concerned. The industry is struggling to recruit the younger generation and diverse backgrounds due to lack of awareness in the public eye of the opportunities that are available and there is still lots of room for improvement on the recruiting, training, and upskilling side of the sector. This is becoming increasingly important as the ageing workforce are not as tech savvy as the younger generations and are less aware of digital technologies, specifically the risk of cyber attacks that come with it. Strategies can only do so much without implementation and awareness but function as a key enabler and provide guidance to the goals that are to be achieved. The industry needs to continue its current commitment to innovation and research and academia need to focus on the bigger picture rather than small niche engineering problems. Frameworks and decision-making tools are exceptionally good strategic processes, but they do not identify the strategic problem at hand along with the various interdependencies. It is good to solve a small problem one by one but solve one big problem and the small problems will follow.Citation
Seabright, L., Renukappa, S., Suresh, S., Erriadi, W. and Hiremath, R. (in press) The challenge of digital transformation for the benefit of socio-economic and environmental impact in the UK railway sector, presented at Achieving transformation for greater good: Societal, organisational and personal barriers and enablers, 38th British Academy of Management Conference, 2nd – 6th September 2024, Nottingham Trent University, U.K..Publisher
British Academy of ManagementAdditional Links
https://www.bam.ac.uk/events-landing/bam2024-conference.htmlType
Conference contributionLanguage
enDescription
This is an accepted manuscript of a paper due to be presented at Achieving transformation for greater good: Societal, organisational and personal barriers and enablers, 38th British Academy of Management Conference, 2nd– 6th September 2024, Nottingham Trent University, U.K The accepted version of the publication may differ from the final published version.Collections
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