Place new digital capabilities in neutral central function
The acceleration of digitisation is forecast to enhance customer experiences, inspire wider enterprise growth and induce long-term productivity. The ensuing opportunities for the GCC are twofold as the region progresses towards digital maturity.
IT and technology decision-makers must engage in collaborative endeavours with business leaders to re-imagine services and products from the ground-up, so as to facilitate smart solutions for digital user-driven journeys. With shorter-term pilots for digitally enabled use cases, leaders in IT and technology can create rapid impact and build momentum for an accelerated digital transformation truly agile delivery.
A key to that comes from a dual track approach, one that combines core technology operations and new digital efforts through an updated operating model, such as is the case with Bionic companies.
BCG research shows that a Bionic orientation results from increased automation and AI adoption across internal and customer-facing processes, and includes new organisation capabilities such as agile delivery, advanced analytics and a human-centred design. A Bionic company also uses a refreshed digital-oriented technology governance to make decisions around foundational solutions, user-facing products and services, investments, and long-term innovation.
A successful digital model drives collaboration by reducing boundaries between IT and business teams, accelerating joint decision-making, and creating common ownership and accountability of digital transformation efforts.
BCG’s first-hand experience with organisations ramping-up digital maturity, posits the following: IT and technology decision-makers should place most new digital capabilities in a neutral central function, at least temporarily.
To maintain close collaboration, the introduction of a strategic digital and design authority that encompasses IT, business and a new digital function should act as a governance forum to facilitate strategic choices relating to both customer-facing products and services, and internal digital efforts.
As IT and technology leaders help drive organisations’ digital journey, they naturally build new management skills and functional capabilities, through operational exposure to a new digital model. This in turn increases their career capital and widens opportunities, internally or externally.
For long-term viability, IT and technology decision-makers should complement core operational competencies with track record of impact in newer digital transformation business metrics. Ultimately, this presents core opportunities to give back to the community, with organisational secondment of fresh graduates, or through personal mentoring and coaching for high-potential professionals.
Principal challenges for decision makers
- IT and technology decision-makers face a perfect storm in the region with hybrid work trends taking centre stage while digital transition is ongoing.
- This is impacting all sectors and industries with a broader set of challenges.
- GCC technology and IT leaders need to navigate around core operational complexities as they maintain their business-as-usual outputs.
- The need to maintain momentum and bridge to new digital approaches marks a big challenge too.
- The next steps must be grounded with focus on greater development and retention, scale-up of modern capabilities to succeed the latest digital efforts.
Key Takeaways
- BCG research shows that a Bionic orientation results from increased automation and AI adoption.
- A Bionic company uses a digital-oriented governance to make decisions around user-facing products and services, investments, innovation.
- Successful digital model drives collaboration by reducing boundaries between IT and business teams.
- Successful digital model accelerates joint decision-making, common ownership, accountability of digital transformation efforts.
- IT and technology decision-makers face a perfect storm in the region with hybrid work trends taking centre stage while digital transition is ongoing.
- GCC technology and IT leaders need to navigate around core operational complexities.
Introduction of a digital and design authority that encompasses IT, business, digital functions should act as governance to facilitate strategic choices.
