Take your marks for Digital Transformation

As discussed in Chapter 3, one of the primary inhibitors in achieving change and defining a roadmap to increase IT agility is not having enough time. It has been well documented by business and IT consultants that more traditional IT teams spend in excess of 80% of their time maintaining current operations and supporting mission-critical applications.

With such little time left for everything else, including innovation and change, it is no wonder the most common discussion we have with IT leaders is how to find time: how to free up resource to identify possible innovation options, how to evaluate these options and their impact to the business and, of course, how to find the time to implement your plan.

So how do you create time? A rare interview between Warren Buffett and Bill Gates (hosted by Charlie Rose in 2017) suggests an answer: by protecting it. Reflecting on what he had learned from Buffett over the years, Gates said that he had realised that he had to do less so that he could focus more, and that he had to fanatically protect his diary to ensure there was a lot of time to think, plan and innovate.

“People are going to want your time,” Buffett said. “It’s the only thing you can’t buy. I mean, I can buy anything I want, basically, but I can’t buy time.”

You need to protect your time, therefore, because you cannot gain more of it. Consider prioritising innovation, to understand what your organisation is shouting for, what customers need, what competitors are doing, and how to achieve your next step.

As well as this time to innovate, it is also important to establish the current status of your IT operations. After all, any journey is many times more difficult if you don’t know where you are starting or the direction of movement towards your destination. Progressive Digital Transformation - that is, delivering competitive differentiation - requires a clear direction of travel to achieve faster time-to-value.

So where do you start?

On the following pages you can find some key recommendations:

1. Realign your team to focus on continuous improvement

The best way to do this is to create an ‘innovation team’ responsible for evaluating future options and ideas that align with business objectives. Ensure you closely support this team and promote time on a regular basis to elevate discussions.

2. Identify Business as Usual operations that are time-consuming

Possessing the agility to shape and engage with customers across multiple channels (online, phone, face-to-face and mobile) has a dramatic positive impact on customer satisfaction and improves case efficiency.

3. Assess your readiness for digital transformation

A ‘readiness assessment’ analyses your Current Mode of Operation (CMO) to understand all aspects of your digital ecosystem, evaluating the alignment between business and IT strategy. This identifies where challenges or opportunities exist to prioritise IT services improvement and maps a journey towards your Target Operating Model (TOM). Armed with this information, you can capitalise on current areas of strength and define development initiatives for greater business outcomes.

Our evidence highlights that organisations who adopt this style of approach have not only been able to demonstrate a strong Digital Transformation agenda, but have also been able to easily identify and prioritise projects that will deliver the greatest ROI.

Furthermore, by coordinating your IT services to better align with the business, you’ll help to reinforce the shift in culture towards embracing innovation and positive change (as outlined in Chapter 5). This focus will act as a catalyst to engender Continual Service Improvement, which accelerates further change and ultimately benefits your clients - thereby delivering competitive advantage.