How to build an it transformation roadmap

How to build an it transformation roadmap

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  1 How to build anIT transformation roadmap
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  2 Almost 90 percentof businesses are currently planning or undergoing digital transformation within their organisations, with 34 percent already experiencing positive impacts. Unfortunately, legacy applications, outdated technology and restrictive infrastructure are all preventing businesses from staying on top of competition and expanding their horizons. Companies that fail to adapt to changing business landscapes will not survive. To keep your business afloat, it’s vital you sail with the course of change. IT transformation is the key to accelerating your company processes to help leverage the opportunities of new, innovative cloud technologies in a strategic and business-driven way. So, what are some of the key benefits of IT transformation? 1. Increased revenue: 46 percent of businesses have experienced increased revenue as a result of their digital transformation efforts 2. Better customer relationships: 44 percent of these companies cite better customer relationships 3. Competitive edge: 36 percent state that IT transformation has helped to strengthen the competitiveness of their products and services 4. Increased efficiency: 35 percent have experienced increased efficiency or lower costs However, in order to reap the benefits of an IT transformation, you must first build a comprehensive roadmap. In this white paper, we’ll show you how to: 1. Identify the flaws in your existing IT strategy and infrastructure 2. Set appropriate digital transformation goals 3. Discover the right technology for your business 4. Implement your IT roadmap
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  3 Contents 1. Assess yourcurrent IT strategy 2. What are your goals going forward? 3. Find the right technology and build a compelling case for adoption 4. Process automation 5. Deployment strategy 6. Enlist help and bring your ideas to life 7. About Doherty 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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  4 Assess your currentIT strategy An estimated 80 percent of businesses will need to transform their current IT efforts to keep up with new business expectations and technological developments. These include investments such as cloud computing, IoT and Big Data projects. While you might be raring to get started on your digital transformation journey, without properly addressing your company’s limitations, you’ll struggle to create a well-defined roadmap. Begin your assessment by asking current employees about their experiences with your IT environment. The following questions will help you gain a better understanding of their needs: • Do employees struggle to access their workplace remotely or experience regular connectivity issues? • Are slow system speeds and a lack of scalability preventing innovation, growth and company-wide efficiency? • Do employees feel that their current IT resources and devices feel outdated and inferior to competitor’s? • Are they unable to work productively because of a lack of intuitive programs?
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  5 Discover where theirfrustrations lie and note them down. With these in mind, it’s important you invest in a thorough digital assessment and benchmark where you stand amongst your competitors. By doing this, your business can align IT with business demands, making it easier to monitor ROI. Ensure you measure and evaluate key performance factors, such as: • Availability and productivity • The flexibility of your working practices and policies • The scalability of your data-driven efforts and storage • Speed and efficiency • Cost What are your goals going forward? Now that you have an idea of where your IT environment is lacking, you need to work on aligning recommended improvements with business goals. These outcomes will vary based on your specific needs. However, there are a few key goals that crop up in every industry. According to a worldwide survey: • 42 percent of businesses want to lower their TCO • 35 percent would like to replace their on-premise legacy systems • 33 percent want to improve business continuity • 32 percent want to boost the speed of development • 27 percent would like to improve customer support or services
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  6 However, regardless ofyour competitor’s motives, it’s essential you identify your own personal goals and adjust your IT transformation roadmap to accommodate them. Find the right technology and build a compelling case for adoption Technology is at the heart of every IT transformation and is one of the most important factors in your final roadmap. Any investments you make must remain in keeping with the goals you’ve set. Here are some examples of technology that will transform your business and help you drive towards those objectives. 42 percent of businesses cite ‘Lower total cost of ownership (TCO)’ as the business goal driving investments for cloud initiatives.
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  7 Hybrid cloud For businessesfeeling the constraints of an on-premise infrastructure, moving some (or all) workloads to the cloud can make it easier to react to evolving business needs. Cloud-first initiatives are increasingly popular amongst growing businesses, with adoption enabling companies to: • Reduce TCO and storage costs significantly • Take advantage of a 99.9 percent availability rate • Embrace modern working practices and BYOD (bring-your-own- device) policies • Improve productivity and free up IT resources • Accelerate the deployment of new applications and services • Scale rapidly, on-demand and at a reduced cost • Take advantage of cloud-managed, security initiatives and maintenance
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  8 With these benefitsin your pocket, you can spend more time working on your core business and driving innovation (and less time fighting on-premise fires). The numbers show just how much of a positive impact cloud adoption has had on early adopters: Security benefits • 90 percent of companies trust the cloud with at least half of their sensitive information • 90 percent of Fortune 500 businesses run on the Microsoft cloud • More than 80 percent of businesses rate cloud security as better than or equal to on-premise security Cost • More than half of all businesses experience reduced IT expenditure when running workloads in the public cloud • Microsoft Azure can enable a 37 percent reduction in TCO Business-driven benefits • 52 percent of businesses experience greater scalability on the cloud • ‘Greater agility’ is cited by 45 percent of cloud users as one of the biggest benefits of the public cloud Productivity tools Workplace habits and employee needs are changing. With more and more job seekers looking for innovative workplaces and remote working opportunities, companies are feeling the pressure to transform their IT environments. By investing in cloud-based tools, such as Microsoft’s Office 365 suite, your business can attract the best talent, as well as ensure your employees can work wherever suits them best. With popular apps such as Teams and Skype for Business, your company can communicate and collaborate from any device and access critical documents at any time.
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  9 But, communication isn’tthe only advantage. Investing in intuitive tools can ultimately help to improve your business’s productivity efforts too. In fact, Office 365 can add 30 productive minutes per user per year. What’s more, investing in cloud-based tools eliminates the cost of building and maintaining on-premise infrastructure, saving your IT team time and effort. Machine learning, IoT and Big Data More than 20 percent of businesses cite ‘enabling innovation’ as the biggest driver of cloud investments, with 77 percent of companies believing that the potential for AI initiatives is a critical opportunity. With data accumulating at a staggering rate worldwide, many industries are using the cloud as a way to harness Big Data, IoT and machine learning opportunities. As well as benefiting end-users and improving the efficiency of business processes through automation, data-driven projects can help businesses establish competitive differentiation. But what does data-driven innovation look like?
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  10 Process automation Worldwide spendingon AI and automation is projected to hit $2.7 billion (£2 billion) by 2021. Using cloud-based tools, such as Azure Automation, your business can automate time-consuming, repetitive and error-prone tasks, such as inventory management or simple administration. As a result, this frees up more time to focus on core business innovation. IoT devices By 2025, it’s projected there will be more than 75 billion connected devices worldwide. And, by 2022, 414 million of these devices will be wearables. There will be 75.44 billion connected devices installed worldwide by 2025.
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  11 IoT devices canbenefit both your business and your customers. From life-saving health-tracking watches, to fraud-detecting smart glasses, data-driven devices help your company to: • Improve the customer experience through innovative and real-time services • Ensure business processes are compliant and quick • Reach customers in new ways, enabling you to send tailored competitive offers Predictive analytics By harnessing the power of the cloud and machine learning tools, such as Azure Machine Learning, businesses can introduce predictive analytics to their frontline. With the help of the cloud’s unrivalled processing power, businesses can predict market trends and customer behaviour, and tailor their products and processes to suit. Ultimately, this gives you ‘third sight’ - the ability to plan for the future, race ahead of competition and tailor your solutions to each customer individually. Deployment strategy Now that you’ve assessed your business, understood your pain points, and decided upon the right IT transformation for you, you need to overcome the final hurdle: strategy. A watertight deployment strategy must consider the resources, technology and budget your business needs to implement your IT transformation. You also need a clear outline of how you’ll achieve each step and who needs to be involved. Without a sound strategy, your transformation will never take shape.
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  12 Enlist help andbring your ideas to life Implementing an IT transformation strategy is difficult when you don’t have the right skills, resources or technology. In some cases, gaining business-wide buy-in simply isn’t enough. For complex IT transformation requirements, such as machine learning and AI capabilities, 28 percent of businesses say a lack of internal talent is the biggest barrier they face. To keep your IT transformation on track, you may find it easier to outsource certain projects to a technology partner. In fact, 30 percent of businesses believe technology partners are an essential part of any digital collaboration. More than 20 percent of organisations also expect their IT partner to have technological capabilities that they themselves don’t (such as cloud computing, IoT and cyber security). For this reason, choosing the right partner can be the difference between a successful IT transformation and a failed one. “When digital transformation is done right, it’s like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, but when done wrong, all you have is a really fast caterpillar.” - George Westerman, Principal Research Scientist with the MIT Sloan Initiative on the Digital Economy
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  13 About Doherty At Doherty,we provide your business with the tools it needs to turn digital transformation strategy into reality. With years of IT expertise and three Microsoft gold certificates under our belt, we can get you up and running in the Microsoft Cloud with the minimum of fuss. To find out more about the ways we bring your ideas to life, contact us today.