Digital disruption is big and will not be denied. Organizations of all sizes are being forced to adopt a digital strategy that is nimble and agile or risk being left behind as a relic.
Digital transformation is not about the adoption of a specific technology but rather the creation of a sustainable strategy that can guide an organization through a series of challenges and changes in the years to come.
The key to a digital strategy is the adoption of an infrastructure that enables those in your organization who know the most about your business -- your customers and your operations -- to contribute to the design and execution of improved business process.
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Key elements to a successful digital strategy should leverage the cloud, mobile, social, data science and the internet of things, all of which are converging to disrupt every business in every industry in every region of the world. As a result, traditional software falls short and here’s why:
1. Projects take too long to build.
The days of traditional software release cycles and long drawn-out road maps are gone and being replaced with easy to use, no-code / low-code (drag & drop configuration) cloud-based platforms which enable anyone, not just IT, to create & execute business process improvements sooner than traditional development resources. This win-win situation delivers faster value for the business and related stakeholders.
2. Processes are too inflexible to change.
Many legacy systems & software solutions can’t progress as fast as the processes they’re designed to support. Once the process starts and requests are embedded & recorded, you can’t easily make changes to address new learnings nor can you accommodate new decisions based on new information. You’re left with a half-baked process that you and your team must live with.
3. Change is too expensive and too slow to sustain.
Software and IT (people & technology) are not cheap. The more you buy, the more you need. Before you know it, your organization is bogged down with heavy IT applications and the only answer seems to be buying more software and IT to support your current infrastructure. Online databases are often subscription based and at a fraction of legacy system costs and easily scales for growing teams.
4. Talent is too out of date to maintain.
Cloud, mobile, social and many other digital technologies have all been commoditized in 2017. Their access is ubiquitous and cost is negligible (by traditional standards). You no longer need the talent to build these things -- they are already at your service! What organizations need now is an infrastructure that enables your best and brightest employees to take their front-line experience and improve process design and execution within days and weeks instead of months and years.
Digital disruption is upon us and quickly moving from early adopters to the early majority. The tools are here and the time is now to bridge the gap between the technical domain and the business needs so that organizations can stay focused on their customers and not their infrastructure. Ignore it at your own peril.
