APRIL 20238 IN MY OPINIONHOW CHARLES RIVER LABS IS RE-IMAGING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION WITH DESIGN THINKINGBY MARK MINTZ, CORPORATE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, CHARLES RIVER LABORATORIEST he idea of a digital transformation isn't new. While companies across industries are in varying phases of implementing these digital strategies, they have all recognized the value this transformation plays in the business' future ­ it's a necessary component to meeting business needs and goals. But transitioning an organization to a digital-first framework isn't an easy task. Technology is constantly changing and can be intimidating for many, leaving organizations unsure of how to move forward.Over the past decade, there have been many approaches and key learnings shared that can help companies get to the heart of an effective, holistic digital transformation. To reimagine and ena-ble digital transformation however, companies must lead with an approach that ensures the people, the process and the technology all work together­design thinking.Design thinking is not a process, but a methodology that when applied to businesses challenges and focus areas helps to ensure the needs of people, process, and technology work together in solving the problem. Instead of presenting a solution upfront, this approach examines both present and future details of a prob-lem, explores alternate solutions through wide and divergent ideation, and examines the needs of the people using and imple-menting the solution in partnership with the needs of technology and business.In the pharma and lifesciences industry the digital revolution is not only helping streamline processes and operations, but the effects of this digitization directly impacts patients. For exam-ple, at Charles River Labs our goal is to take a year off the drug development timeline. To make this happen we must adapt to understand the true challenges that can slow drug research and development and re-imagine the way we work and collaborate to create digitally native solutions that improve efficiency, speed up processes and enable automated, data driven outcomes.Below are three ways to champion design thinking in your com-pany:·START SMALL, SHOW VALUE. Design thinking can be used to solve any size problem. As the reach of design thinking is expanded, companies often partner with a business or segment and start on a small piece of their overall business strategy. By honing in on the problem, ideat-ing with a team, stakeholders, customers, and users, mapping out potential solutions across people, process and technology to test and learn, companies can then deliver a minimum valuable product (MVP) that dramatically improves business outcomes. Mark Mintz
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