IT transformation isn’t something you can ever tick off on a to‐do list, it’s an ongoing, iterative process that continues on a journey alongside the natural lifecycle of your business. It would probably be more helpful to refer to it as a digital evolution because at no point is it over or complete.
A simple analogy for IT transformation is to think of an organisation as if it were a Formula 1 race team. Not only are they developing a car (IT) to compete and succeed in each race (each new project) but, they’re also developing the car for the future, for the next season, when the rules have changed. At the same time, they are developing themselves whilst creating new processes for testing and building parts for each car. They develop new, more efficient workflows and are continually improving themselves in a bid to stay at the front of the pack and outpace their rivals. Maintaining pole position only happens with continuous improvements.
CIO magazine’s 2020 State of the CIO research highlights that 95% of CIOs say that their role is expanding to include new responsibilities – the main areas are cybersecurity (64%), data privacy/compliance (49%) and customer experience (46%). Line of business recognises that senior IT leaders are no longer only essential for optimising IT infrastructure, but also for driving revenue and innovation – 56% of LOB agree that CIOs are more involved in leading digital transformation initiatives compared to their business counterparts and this is up from 47% in 2019.
Three steps to Make Your IT Transformation Faster and Easier
The greatest barriers to Business IT Transformation are not technical ‐ they are people and process-related. That means businesses need to approach these challenges differently to overcome problems. They should consider the following three IT transformation steps to make it easier.
- Transforming the way they transform.
- Making consumption of complex technology platforms simple.
- Overcoming their legacy mentalities.
Transform the Way You Transform
Because IT Transformation is a never‐ending process and is about long‐term agility and not about short‐term gains, enterprises need to look beyond the immediate outcomes, before they can understand the benefits of digital transformation and get better at the transformation process itself. IT teams must move to an end-to-end, service delivery workforce, focus solely on developing and deploying new IT services for the business, driving productivity, change and growth and reduce siloed working. IT leaders need to champion new methods and ideologies if they are to accelerate the pace of change in their organisation.
Firstly, they need to break away from the mentality of ‘it’s always been done this way’ in favour of new technologies that make IT easier to consume. This in‐turn helps break down the inflexible company policies and domain siloes that slow down an enterprise’s ability to revolutionise the way it operates and deliver results.
Getting rid of these barriers is necessary to avoid collecting not just technical debt, but the kind of ‘agility debt’ that makes it exponentially harder to change moving forward.
Once they’ve begun the process of ‘transforming the way they transform’ by championing new methods and ideologies, they must simplify their approach to cloud and the technologies adopted, as well as overcoming legacy mentalities with stakeholders.
Make consumption of complex technology platforms simple
This is true for every touchpoint in a business. From end‐users to stakeholders and internal IT teams. It’s important to make complex technologies easy to consume. For end‐users, simplifying the consumption of complex technology platforms means an improved experience, without increasing the learning curve required to get the most out of IT.
A successful IT transformation strategy requires separating the technology from the end‐user. They should be unaware of the underlying changes being made, noticing only an increase in features and productivity.
For stakeholders, it means being able to showcase the value of the proposed solution to IT and to the business. This includes the financial impact, such as cost savings and ROI, as well as non‐financial impacts, such as boosts in productivity and improved perception of IT.
If you provide context, costs and benefits for key stakeholders, they can understand the need and value of digital transformation in business.
And for IT, this means few barriers to entry and a quicker rate of acceptance for the new way of doing things.
Overcome Legacy Mentalities
It’s far too easy to slip into a false sense of security when employees have been with a company for a long time. Knowledge has been learned and applied in that company alone – and it’s worked and served them well, but it’s important to look to the future and consider new ways of doing things better or differently. This mindset change is critical during the transition. To think ahead, adapt and be willing to learn.
During an IT transformation project, enterprises need an agent of change and for management to be bought in ‐ often working with a partner organisation brings about that new, independent expert point of view to bring about those changes.
IT transformation is the enabler in every part of the organisation and increasingly, depending upon the size of an organisation, the IT department isn’t solely responsible for delivering the changes – departments are also drivers for change. Line of business managers and departmental heads will have their part to play. Moving the process along with the least amount of resistance requires a coordinated effort from all parties. To break down the barriers between teams, between IT and management, between stakeholders and ‘outdated’ ideologies.
If you are looking for a specialist IT transformation company to help make your IT transformation faster and easier, get in touch today.
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