Welcome to the Digital Transformation Jungle

Welcome to the Digital Transformation Jungle

• 1.
  How IT LeadersCan Help Guide Their Organizations Through the Wilderness Welcome to the Digital Transformation Jungle
• 2.
  But rapid innovationcoupled with rising customer demand for better, faster, and more personalized experiences have businesses entangled in a dense jungle of challenges as they cut their digital transformation paths. Naturally, IT leaders and their departments are poised to play a leading role in an organization’s digital transformation journey. But as it stands, they’re not exactly king of the jungle. In fact, just 19% of CTOs and CIOs are leading transformation efforts for their organizations, according to research from Altimeter Group. The good news? The opportunity for ascension is there. By going beyond managing processes and finding ways to adapt and enable innovation across the entire business value chain, IT leaders can help their organizations navigate, survive, and thrive in the digital wilderness. In this eBook, tech and IT experts, analysts, and practitioners share their top insights and tips for how IT leaders can become more strategic business partners to propel digital transformation efforts, and foster innovation and cross-departmental collaboration. If you’re ready to take a leading role in your organization’s digital transformation, take the first step by digging into these insights. Our world has been navigating the rugged digital landscape for nearly three decades.
• 3.
  THE EXPERTS Roy Illsley OllieO’Donoghue Claire Agutter Stephen Mann Ian Moyse Marlon Molina James Finister Adam Holtby
• 4.
  The new roleof IT is to act as an enabler and agent for change by defining the architectural environment for the corporation. IT must ensure that through the use of policies and procedures it can support the freedom of line-of-business users to access services needed to meet business objectives in a coordinated and secure manner. The difference between the new role and purpose of IT and the current, or previous, is the technology is now more democratized and available without IT consent. This means that IT must be more business knowledgeable and ROY ILLSLEY Principal Analyst, Ovum The new role of IT is to act as an enabler and agent for change by defining the architectural environment for the corporation. PREPARE FOR NEW TECH TO TAKE ROOT Click to Tweet define the architecture that balances the supply and demand equation in a way that meets corporate governance policies. The skills required to deliver this level of service are a mixture of deep technology understanding and a broad awareness and appreciation of the business. 4
• 5.
  CLAIRE AGUTTER Director, Scopism Fordigital transformation to succeed, we need to stop talking about IT and the business as if they were separate organizations. As recommended in the VeriSM approach, in the digital age we have to think of IT as a capability, which can include the IT department, outsourced IT services and IT services commissioned directly by business departments. We need to see all our business leaders, not just the CIO or CDO, embrace the digital mindset and consider how technology can either optimize or transform ways of working. This mindset then needs to cascade down through the organization as we look at the impact on structure, teams, individuals, targets and more. ROUSE YOUR EXPEDITION PARTY Click to Tweet We need to see all our business leaders, not just the CIO or CDO, embrace the digital mindset & consider how technology can either optimize or transform ways of working. 5
• 6.
  IAN MOYSE Cloud ThoughtLeader & Director at Cloud Telephony Provider, Natterbox IT for too long has been technology led and restricted instead of outcomes focused. Many talk about focusing on the business, but themselves pose technology challenges as barriers to not walking the walk. Today, this is over! Businesses cannot afford to allow individual opinions or legacy obligations to hold back innovation and transformation to support more expecting customers. The world has changed and continues to evolve with increased rapidity. Millennials and Z’s entering the workforce are born into a mode of expectation; everything, everywhere on any device; taking mobile, cloud, AI, VR, IOT, and more in their stride. IT Leaders must focus on the outcome for the new internal and external customers, taking an outside- in approach, punching through obstacles of legacy tech and human opinion to deliver a robust and agile engagement that constantly leverages all the affordable tech now available. We are now in the game of change and change again! Furthermore, IT needs to become non-I! The legacy implications of the “IT Department” is to configure, setup and support technology. IT needs to show a better understanding of needs at the departmental level, perhaps embedding an IT person in each department to understand their local requirements and challenges. With Shadow IT and Cloud applications departments, other departments are selecting and are able to license to their own needs in isolation. For an IT leader, this is a challenge to be embraced and not blocked. The encouragement and support of agility is key in today’s world. Businesses cannot afford to allow individual opinions or legacy obligations to hold back innovation & #DigitalTransformation. TRAVEL OFF THE BEATEN TRAIL AND INTO THE THICKETS Click to Tweet 6
• 7.
  It perhaps soundsobvious, but it is vital to get to know the business of your organisation. You need to go out and spend time, lots of it with people, including your organisation’s customers. It also helps enormously to find out what is happening in other organisations, and not just in their IT departments. Perhaps less obviously, it can be useful to reach out to other departments for their help on a regular basis and involve them in strategic IT decisions. Finally, when positioning solutions, always start with a discussion on the business issue, not the latest miracle technology unless it is already clearly on the business’s radar. JAMES FINISTER Global ITSM Strategist, Tata Consultancy Services When positioning solutions, always start with a discussion on the business issue, not the latest miracle technology. TAKE THE LEAD, BUT ENABLE YOUR TRAVELING COMPANIONS TO CUT THE BRUSH Click to Tweet 7
• 8.
  It’s a bitof a cliché to say “collect and analyse data” but it’s really one of the most powerful things business leaders can do to build a trustworthy, impartial strategic view of their business operations. IT leaders are not only a vital part of any data-oriented project, but they are also an important stakeholder in its analysis, evaluation, and the initiation of actions. From here, the value IT Leaders add is to contextualise the data using their business experience and knowledge to bring an important voice to the conversation and help guide business decisions in an environment where IT and digital services are becoming the lifeblood of the modern enterprise. OLLIE O’DONOGHUE Research Director of IT Services, HfS Research It’s a bit of a cliché to say “collect and analyse data,” but it’s one of the most powerful things business leaders can do to build a trustworthy, impartial, strategic view of their business ops. LET DATA BE YOUR COMPASS Click to Tweet To do this, they need to make sure the technology estate provides the data and actionable information needed to fuel decision making across the business and broker this capability for the rest of the organisation. While also partnering with the business and helping it use this information to drive new technologies into product and service development in a way that makes sense to the unique environment of the enterprise. 8
• 9.
  STEPHEN MANN Principal Analystand Content Director, ITSM.tools 1. Digital transformation’s scope is not limited to one or both of new products and services that exploit technology and data (and the associated new revenue streams), and better customer engagement mechanisms (again facilitated by technology and data). With it also being about better business back-office operations (that include the ability to work effectively within and across departmental boundaries). 2. Investments in new products/services and customer engagement mechanisms will be suboptimal without an enabling back-office (digital) transformation. 3. Digital transformation is not about technology — it’s primarily a business transformation that affects, and is affected by, people. It thus requires a new organizational structure and capabilities, plus associated cultural change, not just the creation of new IT services. 4. Digital transformation requires a focus on the customer journey and customer centricity — something that will potentially be at odds with the IT department’s traditional focus on efficiency-based process optimization. 5. The organization needs to be fully prepared for the activities required for, and the pressures caused by, digital transformation. 6. Digital transformation isn’t a one-time thing — instead it’s an on-going initiative. #DigitalTransformation isn’t a one-time thing — instead it’s an on-going initiative. KNOW THAT SURVIVAL HINGES ON YOUR ABILITY TO UNDERSTAND THE TRUE LAY OF THE LAND Click to Tweet To start, and to progress, their digital transformation efforts, IT leaders need to understand that: 9
• 10.
  Digital transformation isnot about adapting or transforming products and services. It’s not about the conversation we have with customers or the technology we use. Digital transformation is about transforming everything. But don’t think change is happening simply for the sake of change. It’s a new vision and innovative approach to how we do business internally and externally. IT leaders are amazingly positioned to take the lead here—and they’ll likely find that the most knowledgeable and experienced people they can collaborate with are already inside their company. Some companies have already recognized this and are training their employees to MARLON MOLINA Director of UDIMA-IDG for Digital Transformation, IDG Communications ESPAÑA Digital transformation is about transforming everything … It’s a new vision and innovative approach to how we do business internally and externally. CHALLENGE YOUR INSTINCTS TO UNCOVER NEW WAYS OF THINKING Click to Tweet understand the basic of solutions with IoT, big data, and cloud computing. They’re building a competitive advantage. If you take a similar approach, you can help your company be the first to jump into innovative and high impact solutions with your own assets. 10
• 11.
  Amongst all thetalk of new technologies and new ways of working, it can be easy to lose sight of what is most important when it comes to digital transformation: people. Technology is a key element, but people should be at the heart of any digital transformation effort, and technology adoption should be driven by the need to better enable them. Digital transformation must be something that involves everyone as opposed to being something that is imposed upon people. Additionally, as important as it is to consider more user-focused design thinking, there’s also a need to minimize business risks. Therefore, balancing what users are demanding with what can safely be delivered is important. It is in this ADAM HOLTBY Senior Research Analyst, Ovum Technology is a key element, but people should be at the heart of any #DigitalTransformation effort. DON’T LOSE SIGHT OF THE FOREST FOR THE TREES Click to Tweet balancing act that IT service management (ITSM) has the potential to deliver real value. In particular, business relationship management and the service desk are areas that can help IT departments build a better understanding of how people work and of their evolving needs. An outcome-focused and people-centric approach can also help organizations build individual user profiles and identify common needs across different business functions and groups. 11
• 12.
  By breaking downthe silos that impede transformation and by fostering collaboration. As each of our experts touched on, IT leaders are in a great position to cut down dense departmental silos, and create efficiencies for people, process, and technologies to help their organizations adapt, stay alive, and outlast the competition. Use these experts’ insights to adapt your thinking and strategy as you move forward in the dynamic landscape. Successful digital transformation is critical for survival. Now is the time to position yourself as a natural leader to guide your organization into the wild future. Discover more insights for driving your organization’s digital transformation efforts forward. How can IT lead the charge for their organizations to not only survive, but thrive in the ever-evolving digital wilderness?
• 13.
  A global leaderin IT and enterprise service management, Cherwell Software empowers IT to lead through the use of powerful and intuitive technology that enables better, faster, and more affordable innovation. The Cherwell® Service Management platform is built from the ground up with a unique architecture that enables fast, flexible, and frictionless implementation and upgrades — at a fraction of the cost and complexity of legacy solutions. Cherwell has a global network of expert partners serving customers in more than 40 countries. Corporate headquarters are in Colorado, USA, with global offices in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia. +1 719.386.7000 Corporate Headquarters | +44 (0) 1793 544888 EMEA Headquarters | [email protected] | CHERWELL.COM Copyright 2018 Cherwell Software Ltd., All Rights Reserved. All other product or company names references are used for identification purposes only and are/or may be registered trademarks of their respective owners.