Should Business Transformation mean Business & IT transformation?

A few months ago, I had the pleasure of spending a day off-road biking on some powerful machines over the mountains and quarries of mid-Wales. I hadn't ridden a motorbike since I was in my teens but luckily enough the basics had not changed much and so after a bit of a refresher I was back up to full speed with only one accident all day and no broken bones.

The conversation over lunch was interesting because I was amongst some very experienced riders who having bought more powerful road bikes were honing their skills off road. The lead instructor was very supportive of this and he was shocked how many bikers graduate up the power scale, don't think about retraining and then..... well it doesn't bear thinking about.

The reason I'm thinking about bikes again is I've seen a similar trend in the IT space for a while and it's creeping into the area of business critical applications and so needs highlighting.

Many of these applications e.g. SAP, Oracle, Salesforce, Workday or even Cloud platforms from hyperscalers and others are sold based on the business value that they can deliver - this bike can take you further, faster and you'll feel like a much better human being on it. But, if we're honest, the consideration given to changing ways of working is either paid lip service too (one slide in 30) or badly managed i.e. no change management, not retraining, etc - you need to think further ahead due to more speed, you need better reactions to deal with hazards, etc...

We're also mostly just thinking about the purchase and bringing the bike home to our garage i.e. the initial project and roll-out - I'm not a big shopper but I'm told people get a buzz from shopping. We don't think about the journeys going forward, the maintenance schedule that's needed to keep it safe, maybe some regular refresher training to ensure we know the latest skills.

So, there are many instances in the IT market of improved capabilities that bring more power and the opportunity to "go faster". I've heard them described as a house move or the difference between a horse and a car, they're all equally valid but remember once the purchase has happened and the initial "move-in" or "parking in garage" is over, how do you ensure your investment continues to deliver pleasure for years to come without bringing damage to your investment or even worse, yourself!!

To achieve a true Business transformation, always consider IT transformation in parallel. I only fell into a ditch once that day, we all need to learn from past experience...

#ADMnext