Digital Leadership: Priorities for Army Digitization

摘要

The Army has invested considerable time and money digitizing weapons systems. The Army has also made some innovative progress in the development of service-wide digitally based references sources like Army Knowledge Online, and training programs like Army University Access Online. Despite these initiatives, the Army's tendency to favor the digitization of hardware is evident in the Army's Digitization Master Plan. This tendency discounts some of the most impressive potential advances that can be gained from mobilizing an organization's information resources and putting these resources in the hands of operational personnel. This paper argues that the Army should make two fundamental changes in its orientation to digitization. First, it should place higher priority on providing Army personnel the digital tools that help them do their jobs better. Second, it should organize its information resources into knowledge centers that facilitate the execution of the Army's mission. Changing the Army's digitization priorities will not be easy because of the complexity of digital systems and the significant sunk costs that the Army faces in terms of its digital infrastructure. Nevertheless, refocusing the service's digital priorities will have substantial payoff in terms of mission performance and overall operational and training effectiveness.