Demystifying the technology transformation!

Technology transformation should not give you the jitters. It is a simple question of redefining what is important to your business. It is crucial to focus on that rather than use it as an excuse to upgrade the IT infrastructure, ERP and MIS Systems.

The simple result of following trends rather than needs can be a disaster for your organisation. The ROI and relevant benefits of transformation should be the main prerequisite. It boils down to strategy not technology! 

To drive better alignment of IT with Business, organisations should focus on developing the strategy to improve their technology management processes. Performance optimization and cost factor should be the key business drivers:

• Accurate capture of business requirements and ensuring their effective fulfillment through technology services
• Optimization of IT assets to ensure effective delivery of IT services at lowest cost possible
• Business strategy and objective driven prioritization of investments
• Better synergy across organisations with use of IT processes, tools and methodologies
• Establish criteria, measurements and SLAs for a continual monitoring of the delivery of IT services
• Establish IT governance framework that is defined by both the business and technology groups
• Processes that define the way Technology investments are conceived, budgeted, approved, executed, measured and monitored
• Portfolio optimization to reduce capital and operating expenses
• Portfolio management that is value driven through alignment with the business objectives

To meet the technology transformation objectives the organisation needs to demonstrate in the market its ability to leverage its technology investments in driving the continuum from achieving a significant cost take out to that of profit generation.

Cost Factor:

I is easier to demonstrate value on this side of the spectrum. The IT department can demonstrate cost savings achieved due to improved efficiency and increased productivity to justify technology investments. This way they may self-fund their initiative with the savings achieved.

Profit Generation:

It is more difficult to operate on this end of the spectrum. The organisation must demonstrate its market leadership and find viable market opportunities. In addition, it must overcome challenges in people, process and technology before being able to leverage it’s IT investments to fulfill market opportunities.

Technology transformation projects are normally two types. Brownfield and greenfield are both IT terms. Brownfield transformation is the development and deployment of the new IT systems within the immediate presence of existing (legacy) IT applications and services. This implies that the new system architecture must take into account and coexist with the legacy systems already in production. A brownfield project usually refers to a major upgrade, or a redevelopment of an existing system where there are issues like backwards compatibility to existing file formats, interfaces, modules, etc. On the other hand, greenfield development lacks any constraints imposed by prior work. It’s totally a new dimension open for all kinds of ideas and innovations.

Both terms relate directly to technology operations, i.e. systems and applications are running as per the expectations of the business. Brownfield operations is IT operating as traditional IT services with legacy tools and processes, emphasizing accuracy and quality that a traditional IT department is doing for ages. The greenfield projects encourage speed and agility, for example new startups doing eCommerce, mobile payments, fintechs and white label financial firms. It is interesting to observe that greenfield projects now a days are closely tied to the new tools / technologies, agile software development, SAAS and cloud adoption

You need transformation roadmap for both kind of projects. The question is what kind of information you need to populate the roadmap? It should start with the business need and the respective time-lines should be provided on short-term, near-term or long-term basis. Following fields are some of the key attributes of the roadmap:

1.      Business Driver

2.      Initiative

3.      Description

4.      Business Criticality

5.      Ease of Implementation

6.      Timelines – can be 6, 12, 18, 24, 36, > 36 months