Often confused as a blanket term for “digital disruption†or even “IT Optimization,†Digital Transformation (DX) is actually a much broader and comprehensive approach to transforming business to take advantage of innovative digital technology.
Often confused as a blanket term for “digital disruption†or even “IT Optimization,†Digital Transformation (DX) is actually a much broader and comprehensive approach to transforming the business to take advantage of innovative digital technology. It’s about transformation across the entire ecosystem of an organization. In DX, a business orients itself to the real-time demands of its customers, rather than focusing solely on internal improvements for efficiency.
DX doesn’t always mean a complete industry disruption either, as Uber or AirBnB have managed to do in their respective industries. Instead, it’s more about helping your company meet the challenges that arise unexpectedly with new innovations that emerge almost on what seems like a daily basis. It’s about making departments nimbler to meet the demands of the competitive landscape, able to identify and harness new sources of revenue while controlling cost.
To embrace the future means being prepared to meet the challenges of the future. Here are three major reasons why companies must be prepared to embrace DX:
New consumers are demanding an always on, personalized, and easily-accessible business experience
Success in the marketplace now depends upon your business being ready to serve customers in a highly-customized, always available fashion. Catering to the unique needs and steep demands of the modern consumer is not just a business advantage; it is quickly becoming a business requirement. We’ve now entered the era of e-commerce, streaming anytime and available anywhere, not just for business-to-consumer interactions, but for business-to-business as well. Success now depends on being able to meet customers’ needs wherever they are and whenever they want, rather than solely through a traditional retail sales approach.
Consequentially, an effective and comprehensive DX strategy is the best way to embrace these demands, building this focus on service into the very foundation of your business platforms.
Let the machines do the heavy lifting: Automation and AI will be your friends.
Success in DX means being able to do more with less. Only then will you be able to explore new business opportunities and achieve market growth. At its most basic level, DX is all about making a business run more smoothly and more effectively. For this reason, automation will most likely become a core attribute of your DX strategy. The IT team identifies hiccups in the operations process and fixes them, utilizing automation wherever possible. Leveraging AI or machine learning can reduce the overall human labor and Mean Time to Repair (MTTR) by orders of magnitude.
We’ve already seen the rise of AI growing more prevalent in daily practice. We’ve seen the Internet of Things transform from a buzzword into reality. The same applies to machine learning, Cloud, and Infrastructure as Code becoming the accepted normal. No doubt, there’ll be more innovations on the horizon that will similarly end up in the common lexicon, and therefore, customers will begin to question why your business hasn’t adopted these solutions. DX is a way to get ahead of the curve by building a focus on innovation into the culture of an organization.
IT departments can’t do it alone; they MUST partner with the business.
It’s not IT leadership alone that is driving the evolution of modern business, given the increased reliance on digital experiences to drive sales and reputation; the IT organization must be a willing partner with other business units to be successful. The IT department can no longer be a department of NO or simply a cost of operations. Thinking outside the box and providing thought leadership around new technology and services is what is required for success from today’s IT organizations. More than any other business unit, IT has a unique view of the ever-changing technology landscape, determining what innovations will likely make it to the general marketplace and when. Executive leadership must learn to be supportive of this new business partnership, giving IT a seat at the table as a critical business direction is being decided.
However, it goes both ways. IT must, therefore, gain a deep understanding of the business landscape, its motivations and frames of mind, to properly meet the challenging business demands. This requires an evolution of the IT department away from its current form as a utility service provider to becoming a center of innovation and business growth.
DX is a way to ingrain adaptability and agility into the core of business culture. Gone are the days of siloed departments and waterfall projects. Now, every business unit needs a holistic view of the rest of the organization and a strong voice to convey their perspective and technology needs.
Don’t be left alone at the digital train station.
DX will be coming whether your business is ready for it or not. It may arrive suddenly as an urgent request from executive leadership to keep up with competitors or under the guise of a “Cloud First†initiative. Either way, your company will be better off if you begin conversations with leadership now so that you are in an excellent place to pivot for the future. If seeing your destination from the weeds is a challenge, a strategic service provider (SSP) might be of assistance in jumpstarting this path toward innovation. Unlike other third-party service providers, an SSP is keenly focused on the long-term rather than meeting short-term product demands – this point of focus is paramount when it comes to building DX into your organization.