2020 showed us that those organizations that have not properly addressed their technology and digital infrastructure paid a significantly larger price when the pandemic hit than those that did invest and successfully shore up their infrastructure. But we can’t stop there. In 2021, organizations of all sizes and industries need to continue to rethink how they execute their business strategy in this age of digital transformation. This should start with how an organization delivers products and services to how it interacts with its customers to how it keeps its customers engaged with the context of key scenarios that may be likely in the months ahead.
Organizations cannot simply claim to be digitally transformed simply by adopting new technologies or business applications. Technology is only a channel, the true value lies in leveraging it to empower ones’ workforce by streamlining processes and increasing visibility for informed decision making. Just as how social media is a channel in which there are various aspects which determine the growth of a channels subscription or views on a video in the same way but in a broader sense technology gives us the liberty to grow our organization but we must know how to aptly use it for us to make the best use of it.
IoT, Big Data, Analytics, Business Intelligence, Cloud, Social Media integration and Mobile are few of the many capabilities organizations today are pursuing in a digitized ecosystem. Simply stated, these capabilities can be achieved via implementing extensions and point solutions on top of traditional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems or it may require a more extensive and encompassing change.
Executives today have a wide variety of enterprise applications to choose from, often putting them at risk of making wrong choices in a time-sensitive environment. New entrants, who are looking for enterprise applications for the first time can easily fall into the trap of building an application portfolio that is a conglomeration of best-of-breed applications, or picking an all-in-one ERP solution. Incumbents often get overwhelmed by choices they have to make in terms of moving to the cloud or staying on-premise, and how they can upgrade their existing technology stack to meet digital transformation initiatives.
In a near real-time decision making setup of technology landscaping projects, the default starting point tends to be magic quadrants or other research articles that provide analysis of the top players in a particular industry or functional area. Decision makers fail to pay attention to the obvious basis of these research artifacts; though the information provided is authentic to a degree, the criteria for evaluation are generic. The majority of these research artifacts evaluate software based on generic criteria such as – vendor’s customer base, geographical spread, new customer acquisition, common industry business processes to name a few.
Organizations blindly following these research articles as their Bible, fail to realize that a generic evaluation is not sufficient to substantiate a software’s fit to their organization. Technology solutions should supplement or complement ones’ business objectives. Just by choosing a prominent solution, one cannot claim to be prepared for thriving in a digitized ecosystem.
To avoid common pitfalls, organizations should establish a framework for their technology landscape that is driven by their “business strategy” as well as their technology strategy. This becomes mission critical when one thinks of the speed of technological change in any given industry. Frameworks would help executives establish a methodology to frequently evaluate their organization’s technology landscape against business objectives. Hence, allowing organizations to keep up with technologies driving transformation without losing sight of its relevance to business strategies.
TSI’s consultants bring experience from helping our clients evaluate or reevaluate and redesign their technology roadmaps. With deep understanding of client’s industry, technology trends and business goals, we can help you –
- Carefully think through and clarify your business strategy – in 2021 – what is YOUR unfair advantage?
- Think through important scenarios that may be forthcoming and consider the “impact analysis”
- Outline a relevant, scalable and business strategy driven technology landscape
- Plan a thoughtful and pragmatic implementation based on what your organization can and should take on
- Design and foster a culture that would allow you to adapt to digital transformation capabilities
Contact TSI to discuss your digital transformation strategies or if you need assistance in strategizing one.
