What is digital transformation? Many CIO’s view these two words as a catchphrase that at times may be confusing, and unfortunately for some meaningless. Much of the criticism can be associated with marketing materials abusing the term, advertising solutions designed to placate every need. Recently, digital transformation has become a euphemism for modernization efforts i.e. moving from legacy architectures.
For many businesses the first step is often investing in modernizing their storage, compute and networking resources. Ideally, the solutions sourced should scale as the organization grows. Recent technological innovations have dramatically reduced the cost and complexity involved with making these adjustments. Businesses can often architect their entire ecosystems through a single vendor.
However, digital transformation is much more. Simply defined, digital transformation is the integration of digital technology into all areas of a business culminating in vital adjustments in how organizations operate and deliver value. The International Data Corporation (IDC) predicts that by 2020, 60% of all enterprises will have fully articulated an organization-wide digital transformation platform strategy and will be in the process of implementing that strategy as the new IT core for competing in the digital economy. 2019 alone will see businesses spend in excess of $2 trillion and 40% of all technology spending will be on digital transformation according to the IDC.
The potential for increased efficiencies, reduced operational costs and optimized supply chain delivery is immense. Digital transformation will allow organizations to engage their audience through a variety of new digital platforms. Customers will be able to participate in personalized experiences, uniquely catered to their needs. Enterprises slow to engage digitizing their products and services will find themselves increasingly competing within a shrinking minority of the market.
Along with scalable infrastructure these new digital platforms will be fueled by data. Strategic business initiatives such as analytics, digital experiences, connecting endpoints, embracing IoT or investing in AI all have a common data foundation. Engineering a plan that will collect, analyze and store your data will be a fundamental element of this transition.
We will expand on the role of data, cloud adoption and the fusion of IT and business teams in upcoming installments of this series.
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