White paper. Companies of the future : the issues of digital transformation[Livre blanc. Entreprise du futur : les enjeux de la transformation numérique]

Digital innovation is bringing a great deal of change to industry, the economy and society. Radical transformations are being seen in the way these fields are organized, in their products and uses. Institut Mines-Télécom has always had a very close and privileged relationship with the economic and industrial world. IMT plays a major role in research partnerships and innovation, and support for economic development. The Industry of the Future is a strategic priority for IMT in facing future challenges and accompanying companies in their transitions. As a founding member of the Alliance for the Industry of the Future, IMT's unique position at the crossroads between industry and the digital world allows it to comprehend ruptures involving both the changes to processes and industrial management modes, and the digital tools involved. Although it is well known that a great deal of the potential effectiveness of digital technology lies in this joint transformation of our working methods and tools, the impact of this technology on the transformation of companies remains an active field of research. With vision and action based on the Training-Research-Innovation continuum, IMT is involved on all three levels of this major transition. As well as confronting the great challenges of more effective, safe, economical and flexible technologies, the Institute is extensively involved in this transition, imagining new organization models for companies, new products and services, new economic models, without forgetting the changing place of humans in industrial and organizational processes, along with new jobs and skills. This white paper, written under the supervision of Madeleine Besson, presents the current concern over the challenges of digital transformation for the company of the future. What will be the changes to companies' processes and business models? How will the notion of value creation change? What impact will this transformation have on the role of humans in companies? These questions, along with other equally pertinent ones, are studied by experts at IMT, questioning the very notion of the company and the meaning of its traditional links (design, production, use, the customer, value...) To understand the impacts and formalize the challenges of research for the company of the future in a relevant way, we must have a solid grasp of digital transformation. Technical, economic, human and societal responsibility aspects must be analyzed in order to find the integrated, transversal approach, which is essential to relevant and effective reflection over this complex, multi-faceted matter. These reflections must also take an historical approach. In this respect, the "ecosystemic" analysis proposed by Thierry Isckia sheds light on the changes that digital technology has imposed, at the same time noting the importance of the strategic dimension. Regarding future changes, Godefroy Dang Nguyen suggests some transformational leads that the digital world offers, in particular the new forms of cooperation providing a source of significant change to the institutional framework. The question of entrepreneurship in 2050, asked by Daniel Kaplan, provides the opportunity to open the field of study to include the changes in the structuring element of a company in the face of ecological and environmental transition, as well as transgenerational transition. Climate change and the ageing population are challenging the traditional determiners of progress and well-being. Finally, this white paper questions the very idea of the company itself, and the meaning of all of the traditional links in value creation. It provides the curious reader with several entry points to understanding the challenges of digital transformation for the future company, and certain key areas for reflection on this matter, which keeps gaining in speed and intensity.