Pandemic driving awareness of new ways of working
The pandemic has been one of the most significant drivers of accelerated digital transformations, with businesses on average accelerating their plans by 29 months. But underlying this is also increasingly demanding customers with lower tolerances of poor experiences, and with lower switching costs.
Modern businesses have recognised both the need to adopt new technology at pace, and that traditional organisational structures and philosophies have become a barrier to innovation at scale. Consequentially we are seeing more businesses break down siloes focused on just one part of the value chain into teams organised around lines of businesses and outcomes.
We are seeing more businesses break down siloes into teams organised around lines of businesses and outcomes
These teams can quickly gain and react to customer feedback, iterating and releasing products rapidly. This requires increased collaboration, transparency to data, and a culture that genuinely focuses on the customer, in turn driving the accelerated adoption of enabling technologies such as the cloud, data analytics, and machine learning.
The most successful businesses are using data to drive efficiency and resiliency in their operations
There is also a heightened awareness around reducing overhead by not just turning analogue back-office processes into digital equivalents, but fundamentally rethinking them. But this comes with the backdrop of a skills shortage which will ultimately impact businesses’ ability to execute. Executives know that they, and their workforce, need to continually upskill to continue to meet demands.
The principles of digital transformations and an outcome-based focus, lend themselves well to driving sustainability
Many businesses accelerated transformations to survive the pandemic, considering it a black swan event after which normality will return. In reality the pace of societal, regulatory, and consumer changes will continue at pace, creating a never normal in which companies need to learn to sense, adapt, and respond quickly to thrive.
Executives should formalise programs to increase workforce mobility and remote working; prioritise meaningful environmental, social and governance efforts; accelerate value-capture from data using artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics to drive operational efficiencies and customer insights; upskill the workforce from the Board down to retain and capitalise on their talent to provide a constant pipeline of new and improved services, and rethink their customers’ experiences while removing bureaucratic barriers to productivity.
This is not a large one-time initiative, rather a process of continuous reinvention whilst removing organisational complexity
Transformation and sustainability are interlinked. Both are lived pursuits of dynamically responding to changes in the environments in which businesses operate, with increased transparency and a focus on positive outcomes. With the move to hybrid and remote working, the use of cloud rather than home grown IT solutions, and customers increasingly demanding digital channels to engage with, businesses have an opportunity to significantly reduce the impact they have on the environment
A study by 451 Research found that AWS’s infrastructure is 3.6 times more energy-efficient than the median of surveyed enterprise data centers, with more than two-thirds of this advantage due to a more energy-efficient server population and higher server utilisation.
A study by 451 Research found that AWS’s infrastructure is 3.6 times more energy efficient than the median of surveyed enterprise data centers
The principles of digital transformations including clarity of vision, a unifying culture, rapid experimentation, and an outcome-based focus, lend themselves well to driving meaningful investments in sustainability and carbon footprint reduction.
Businesses are now prioritising new initiatives to drive digitalisation into channels to increase customer satisfaction, and to enter new markets.
