FINAL WORD
needed today . This legacy also makes it much more difficult to consolidate , migrate , scale or provide access to data , causing IT teams to have to go through disruptive enterprise storage refreshes – which in turn cause unavoidable downtime and inconvenience which businesses can ’ t afford .
These challenges are amplified under the additional pressure and uncertainty caused by the pandemic , meaning IT departments cut corners on aspects such as governance , which in turn increases tech debt later on in the innovation cycle .
How to bypass the tech debt spiral ?
Now that the initial shock of the pandemic has arguably passed , businesses need to move from short-term triage and build a strategy that prioritises Digital Transformation and manages this tech debt more sustainably . There are five main ways in which organisations can do this :
• Align on IT and business strategy : By clarifying the overall business strategy and defining the capabilities needed at an enterprise level , businesses can build these into the overall roadmap and allocate the necessary resource and budget .
• Prioritise automation and elevate human innovation : By automating as much as possible , time and resources can be freed up so that organisations can focus on creating a culture of innovation and enabling long-term thinking to drive revenue growth .
• Choose flexible consumption models : Enterprises need to manage costs over time without a long-term contract , particularly in a period when it may be difficult to predict on-going requirements . Therefore , by choosing flexible consumption models whereby you only pay for what you use , businesses can safeguard budgets when workloads are bound to fluctuate .
• Secure the right talent and allocate it accordingly : By ensuring you have access to the right internal and external skills , businesses can remove the risk of project delays , not being able to fulfil product demand to customers and that they don ’ t have spare resources in the wrong places . For example , if an organisation only has teams focused on the delivery of short-
In a recent McKinsey survey , CIOs reported that 10 to 20 % of the technology budget dedicated to new products is diverted to resolving issues related to tech debt .
term projects then they won ’ t be able to reduce the mounting tech debt .
• Nurture and maintain employees as the world changes : It ’ s been a tough year and wholesale remote working has taken its toll on the mental and physical wellness of employees . Make sure they are being supported and educated as the world of work evolves . Further still , the dispersed workforce has led to a surge in ransomware attacks due to the wider attack surfaces in home networking and shared equipment .
While the pandemic has taught organisations that fast change is indeed possible , it is now even more critical to balance the focus of that change on business agility in 2021 . A strategy of total reliance on the latest software to mitigate tech debt should also be avoided , as shown by the recent Solarwinds ‘ Sunburst ’ supply chain attack . There has to be an awareness that technology alone can ’ t solve these issues , a company ’ s culture and processes have to evolve with or ahead of the times . Businesses now face the challenge of getting the right balance in place between moving fast but doing it in a way that does not leave you with tech debt to solve at a later date . •
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