CIO OPINION
Clearing the tracks for Digital Transformation
In a society so reliant on technology and connectivity , slowing or eliminating the requirement for continuous Digital Transformation would feel like trying to stop a moving train . It is not surprising that failing to digitally transform has been identified as one of the main reasons why more than half of Fortune 500 companies have failed since 2000 . The phrase ‘ innovate or die ’ rings true here , especially in a time with such unprecedented levels of forced change .
It may seem counterproductive to invest in transformation initiatives when purse-strings are already tight , but digital spend can create a light at the end of the tunnel . Successful Digital Transformation will help a business remain competitive by streamlining complex or manual processes , reducing costs and process cycletimes , improving productivity and ultimately , allowing the business to become more efficient . While the benefits are incomparable , there are of course challenges associated with a transformation of this nature , especially with limited experienced resources , but these issues represent speed bumps rather than a roadblock .
One of the most important elements of any large-scale Digital Transformation is to establish and maintain effective and appropriate internal communications . Large-scale infrastructure changes will not happen instantly and are unlikely to come to fruition without facing unexpected hurdles . It is therefore important that the executive team communicates company-wide and focuses specific attention on the functional teams that are embarking upon the digital process re-engineering effort , and their IT partners that are likely to face the bulk of the project activities .
Digital Transformation begins with the identification of processes and systems that are in need of realignment to new business demands , pressure or pace-ofexecution , and continues through the evaluation of a company ’ s on-premises and cloud infrastructure .
As Digital Transformation will most probably lead to the deployment of a combination of physical and virtual technologies , IT and security teams must ensure that they have unparalleled visibility into each step of the initiative to ensure performance and reliability is not compromised and that security vulnerabilities are monitored for exploitation .
Managing expectations through continuous and broad communications is crucial especially when customer or client work-product could be impacted .
For many companies , simply optimizing existing resources can free up the resources required to invest in a Digital Transformation initiative .
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