Digital DNA: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Digital Enterprise Part 1

This is Part 1 of a multi-part series on an innovative new way of looking at digital transformation and how information technology becomes ingrained into business processes and business outcomes.

The push to digital is a constant topic of discussion among today’s business leaders. But the road map to digital is often confusing and unclear. What is the role of the CIO in the digital enterprise? What about the IT team and the capabilities needed to infuse digital into the DNA of the organization? These and many other questions must be answered in order for an organization to become a modern digital enterprise. Understanding the foundational building blocks of cutting edge IT and how to use them to drive business goals is critical to maintaining a competitive advantage and truly becoming a digital business. Achieving digital means enabling your innovation-minded people with the organizational structure, governance, and technologies so that functional silos are removed and the organization operates as one delivering unique and impactful customer experiences.

Finding the right balance of people, processes, and technology

Digital transformation isn’t just about buying new technologies and gadgets or hiring new talent. It’s a fundamental shift in the way a company operates on a day-to-day basis. Getting the right blend of people, processes, and technology to extract real value from a digital strategy is the most challenging aspect of the process. At the center of the push to digital are the people, mindset, and skills required to adapt to a digital world.

The new digital team needs traits that are different from what most of us are used to in today’s technology environment. People need exceptional skills in collaboration, communication, problem solving, learning, and troubleshooting to be successful in the modern workplace. The best digital people also have a product mindset and are inquisitive about new ways of doing things and new technologies. This allows them to rapidly adapt as operating models are disrupted and new strategies need to be implemented.

Digital transformations require fundamental process shifts as well. Simply implementing automation on a legacy system is not going to take advantage of the full power of the technology. Processes must be evaluated and re-engineered to fully harness automation and cognitive computing technologies as well as workforce skills. Developing and deploying a mobile application to complement an existing web application does not necessarily result in a more meaningful engagement with users or customers. It must be supported by robust processes and an effective team.

Technology is now an integral part of the business. The IT department shares accountability and responsibility for revenue, customer satisfaction, profit, and growth. Taking the ecosystem of applications and services in the enterprise, we can segment the elements into digital DNA components. Each of the digital DNA components relies on the other components, and each is connected to the others through a complex tapestry of data.

This series will help you decipher the digital enterprise and provide insights into making digital part of your organization’s DNA.

To learn more about what Wavestone US can do for your company, visit https://www.wavestone.us/capabilities/.