Knowing The Unknown

Taking the mystery out of IT transformation

- KT Ong

Transform digitally, or perish. In the last few years we’ve been constantly reminded of the risks of falling into obscurity if we don’t take the full advantage of what the digital era has to offer.

Yet while digital transformation increasingly appears on business and IT leaders’ agendas, many organisations are yet to establish what it really entails – making the transformation process a bit of a mystery. An IT transformation maturity curve study commissioned by Dell eMC via the enterprise Strategy Group found almost all businesses are struggling with the transformation journey (95% of those surveyed agreed).

The main challenge for most organisations is that they were not started in the digital era. They bring legacy systems and operating models that have worked well in the past, so IT transformation creates a fear of “we don’t know what we don’t know”. At the same time, organisations agree that transforming legacy IT is essential to winning in the future and ensuring competitive advantage for the business.

One thing is clear – no two transformations are alike and every business, with its own set of challenges and strengths, will need guidance and support to begin the IT transformation journey. And each business will need to demystify what this journey will look like for them. Based on the research, organisations that have experienced benefits and improved business outcomes through transformed IT have four core truths in common.

Using these, and through collaboration with strategic partners, they can better understand the unknowns and find a way to optimise their level of IT maturity to become fully transformed.

1. Embracing agile principles