Companies today not only focus on digital transformation (DX) but they also look beyond experimentation and piece together islands of innovations to solve problems. They have passed the days where companies would celebrate each progressive uptake in their industry that closes an overall ROI gap with previous technologies. The digital pioneers of the COVID-19 era have shown that enterprises can step up and create a new future for themselves, despite uncertainty. This was possible with C-suite driven digital-first strategies, digital innovation programs as well as technologies designed to compete during one of the society’s most challenging periods ever!
Storms of disruption
The next three years will be a time of change for all industries. Leaders are working hard to have the best strategies and systems for digital transformation so that their organizations can handle the changes brought about by the pandemic. IDC expects the DX investments to reach US$750 billion in 2023, despite the rising inflation and potential threat of an economic recession.
There are many economic, political, and social disruptions that threaten to affect enterprises around the world for the next several years. Businesses in Asia/Pacific will need to quickly adapt to these uncertain conditions and emerge successfully from the storms of disruption by transforming into resilient digital businesses. They must create value based on the effective use of fast-evolving and innovative technologies.
IDC guidelines for CIOs on digital transformation investments
IDC FutureScape report comprises a set of decision imperatives that will help CIOs identify a range of pending issues they will confront within the typical 3-year business planning cycle, and for which a decision will be required. Here is some essential guidance by the IDC for CIOs.
For the short term (0-6 months)
CIOs establish internal forums to discuss the implications of future changes in key management areas. This must be followed by developing scenarios to anticipate which projects and programs have the best chance to be funded and will succeed.
For a medium term (6–12 months)
When planning for a medium term of 6-12 months, CIOs must develop benchmarking programs to identify where the current organization is compared to industry standards and future business expectations. These include organization, process, infrastructure, leadership, and risk/reward assessments. By coordinating business and IT planning, identify the most promising DX investment opportunities.
For long term (12-36 months)
For companies planning for a term of 1-3 years, IDC advises looking back at 12-24 months. This is for assessing the accuracy of previous plans and identifying opportunities for process improvement. For the upcoming years, CIOs need to assess how key drivers have evolved to impact business and IT strategies. They must incorporate external and internal data sources like surveys and benchmarks into the process of developing future planning scenarios to identify the Decision Imperatives and IT Impact of the most critical key business drivers.
Wrapping up
CIOs must enable their teams, across all job functions, to adapt operations to new conditions. During a time of crisis, they must be able to guide the organization to develop, retain, renew, and optimize relationships with customers, suppliers, and partners. An effective response to new threats by learning from the past and predicting the future is also necessary to tackle the headwinds during the coming years.
The above guidelines by IDC will enable CIOs to make the right decisions so that clear and measurable business outcomes emerge and their organizations not merely survive but thrive through disruptions.
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