When 70% of CEOs claim to have digital transformation (DX) at the centre of their IT strategy*, clearly change is afoot. But how many of these DX strategies will ever extend beyond the boardroom? What, in effect, do they really entail? DX is being merged with the Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning, even Artificial Intelligence (AI) to create an unmanageable, unfocused concept of ‘doing things better’ without addressing the fundamental, underpinning essence of that change – the data.
With so many innovative technologies coming to the fore, it is easy to get distracted; but organisations need to focus on the core objective – what is the point of increasing the amount of data collected if the business does not have complete trust in that data? Why make data look visually appealing, if people still won’t use it to automate processes and decision making? If individuals are not prepared to accept that data resources enable better decision making than intuition, a business cannot be digitally transformed – however much it has expanded its connection with customers, suppliers and partners.
Data driven
There is no doubt that better use of data can have a dramatic impact on the bottom line. Being able to effectively and reliably use the data that a company owns and generates, means that every aspect of the business can be managed more effectively. Yet surveys show that less than 20% of companies think of making true business value from any knowledge they derive from their data and a similar percentage only think that they can turn data into useful information. Less than 30% claim to know what data they have or can get*.
So much for the great Business Intelligence (BI) revolution or the promise of big data. And the problem is getting worse, not better. As the digitally enabled technologies gain ground, organisations are leveraging the connected world to increase data volumes exponentially. 90% of the global data resources were created in the past two years,* and much of this increase is machine-generated data, both from industrial infrastructure consumer devices and other smart devices. But where is the value?
Right now, while DX may be a board-level objective, when it comes to strategy or roadmap, there are some concerning signs. On the one hand, organisations are investing in new ways to capture data – from connected devices onwards. On the other, they are embracing exciting visualisation tools, such as exploding pie charts and genomic analytics. Spot the gap? Where is the underpinning data structure? Where is the essential data trust?
Achieving change
Forget the pretty pictures and the amazing technologies that can collect previously unimaginable quantities of real-time data; a successful DX strategy is one that embeds a data-driven culture at its heart. A digitally transformed business is one that has inherent data trust and a conviction in the quality and efficiency of data-led operations. And how many organisations’ DX strategies have that on their roadmap?
Realising the DX objective is less about IoT and 3D visualisation and far more about significant cultural change. This change cannot be imposed from the top or driven by IT: the objective must be to create data confidence across the organisation by demonstrating the quality and hence value of the new data resources.
So how can that be achieved? How can a business accelerate cultural change and create a truly data-driven organisation, one with the data confidence to embrace and trust the depth of new data resources? Achieving that unshakeable data confidence may appear daunting, especially to organisations wary of embarking upon massive investment – but the latest cloud analytics services enable businesses to try out analytics both to gain confidence and to respond to a specific business objective. And that is a significant step forward.
Realising transformation
Cloud based, flexible DX systems and services provide companies with immediate and cost-effective access to data, without replacing the existing systems integral to the day-to-day operations of the company. This is not about Big Data – that doesn’t work. Yes, cloud based analytics tools can be used effectively across large volumes of data, of different types and from different sources, but it is the flexibility of the cloud service that is key. By offering the chance to take a tactical, bite-sized approach driven by a tangible business outcome, organisations can begin to embark upon that process of developing data confidence – and hence becoming data led.
A cloud based analytics platform provides the essential data foundation. It creates the building block for the cultural change that will define a digitally transformed organisation, an organisation that will have immediate visibility of all data and, critically, implicit trust in that data. While existing applications will continue to perform as usual, the digitally transformed platform will enable organisations to rapidly build new applications that use diverse data resources to drive operational change. And with this data platform in place, organisations can confidently scale and embrace a raft of digital innovation, from AI to cognitive analytics.
There is no one size fits all, of course; no prescription for a digitally transformed organisation. But by taking a solution-led approach, rather than a nebulous ‘digital’ strategy, organisations can embark upon the transformation journey. Critically, the focus must be on addressing specific business requirements, whether prompted by the need to upgrade a dated system or respond to new operational requirements. By ensuring developments are business driven, data led and customer focused, with the right foundation a business can use its data to make essential change.
Conclusion
Of course, there have been multiple attempts to effect cultural change and achieve that data driven model. What is different this time? Essentially, it is culture not technology. DX is not about IoT or 3D visualisation; it is about creating a new business ethos where the entire focus is on becoming digital, about finding new ways that people can interact with the business, capture that data and leverage new insight to drive change.
And that new ethos is 100% dependent on data trust. With the right data foundation in place, organisations will have the data confidence to move forward. CEOs are right to have DX on the agenda – but the cornerstone of digital transformation is not IoT or machine learning. It is good data management – a way of gaining value from existing data resources as much as harnessing the new. With access to affordable, secure, flexible and scalable cloud based analytics, the rest of the transformation will take care of itself.
* IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Digital Transformation 2017 Predictions: Bob Parker, Group Vice President Michael Versace, Global Research Director (November 2016)
