Next Phase of Digital Transformation - Are we ready?

Digital Transformation is everywhere, no matter where you are… Technology drives every part of our digital lives whereas, behind the scenes software drives innovation and enables business and technology transformations.

With no doubt transformation drives business results; but, how the digital transformation strategized and executed might vary from company to company. The basic principles considered for digital transformation are - Innovation, Go-To-Market faster, Development Velocity, Automation, Cost Reduction, Process Digitalization and Performance Optimization.

Software is revolutionizing digital transformation in every industry. Software engineering has evolved to “modern software engineering” - moving from waterfall to agile, software development and operations teams to DevOps, DevOps to DevSecOps, monolithic to microservices architectures, data centers to public clouds to multi hybrid-cloud, virtual machines to containers, containers to serverless, and many more…. That in itself is transformation.!!

In order for businesses to meet the expectations of their customers, they need to adopt new practices, find innovative ways to be connected to their customers all the time. Technology has played an important role for businesses to drive transformation. The closer we look at journeys of technology transformation stories they are few similarities of missteps that are worth mentioning here.

The consequences of transformation are intricate - IT complexity is growing exponentially; as the rapid adoption of new technologies is on raise like never before, new technologies continue to add complexity, too much time spent on resolving digital performance problems, needless to say Cybersecurity remains a huge pain point for organizations with increased complexities and technologies and cultural shift across organizations.

Does it end here?

Organizations started adopting the next evolution of emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI - Machine Learning / Deep Learning / N), Blockchain, Augmented/Virtual Reality, Internet of Things, Autonomous things, edge computing, serverless computing, Quantum computing etc...

This emergence of technologies will drive disruption and introduce/create new business models all together. It is not just about the adoption of these emerging technologies;

Are we prepared for this next shift?

Knowing where we are marching - are we preparing our workforce to be ready for the future? Or are we going to use the same old excuse - “we cannot find the talent/right skills to get the job done”.

People are crucial element for Digital Transformation and it is important that every leader focus on preparing their workforce with skills that are required for tomorrow. What we have done in the past might not be relevant for tomorrow.

In today’s world, Leaders must first transform themselves - reminds me a famous quote from Mahatma Gandhi (“For things to change, first I must change”). With specific to Technology Transformation leadership - It is important leaders allocate time to focus on building digital mindsets and behavior to drive digital culture across the organizations, drive action to deliver (goals, objectives, strategic alignment, etc.), build partnerships inside/out, invest in skills for tomorrow, define success, measure everything, and create transparency.

Building a Digital ready workforce is very challenging and there isn’t any magic button. Leaders across organizations must conduct a talent gap exercise in technical skills that are vital for digital transformation/strategy and prepare/equip the workforce (at least 75%) to be ready for tomorrow.

More importantly, leaders will require to re-think their traditional management styles especially with generational workforce (e.g. Millennials, Gen-Z) in workplaces. The generational workforce is demanding - not just on their pay, their work, culture that fits their values and flexibility. It is important generational workforce to have seat at the table; as they are the future leaders of innovation and transformation.

Conclusion:

The next phase of digital transformation is more focused towards digital-centric society and for companies to be successful - leaders at all levels need to be ahead of the game, start strategizing their goals for tomorrow, and preparing their workforce for the future.