Part 1 (of a 3 part blog series).
In the opening keynote at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2017 on the Gold Coast, Val Sribar, Senior Vice President at Gartner, urged the more than 1,700 CIOs and senior IT executives attending to embrace the urgency of digital transformation (DX).
We (ASE) were fortunate to partake in this conference in conjunction with NetApp. Preparing for our speaking session, got us thinking about our own customer experiences and our take on this topic.
When the term digital transformation is mentioned, the perceived understanding of this reference tends to be one involving a holistic rip or replace approach. This doesn’t have to be the case. Nor should it be – if done correctly! Uncovering an opportunity whereby a customer nearing the end of their strategy or technology investment is placed in a position to undertake a “clean slate” DX engagement is a rare find. It’s gold really!
For the majority of organisations that we speak to in the SMB space endeavouring to embrace the so-called DX dive, they tend to want to run digital projects. This doesn’t mean they are running a digital business. There’s a difference. Transformational projects tend to require inter-operability between new and legacy environments or platforms, with success denoted as no impact to BAU and greater efficiencies obtained. A challenging task with no out of the box solution on offer (as yet). Transformation fundamentally has also changed. Asking the question – do organisations really understand this shift and evolution? Come 2017, digital transformation has evolved. Initially focusing on hardware, this view then moved to a software focus, fast forwarding to today where attention is all about DATA – the industry constant! #datadriven
Data used to be the enabler of business performance. Now data IS the business. Reports suggest that data consumption will increase by 53% per year, nearing 2020. Data Management spans a broad spectrum of engagement, as we see daily with our customers. It is often the catalyst for transformation, but its real value in terms of insights is far too frequently under-estimated or under used.
Delighted to have AW Edwards, an ASE customer join us and NetApp on stage at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo to showcase a real-life scenario of incremental transformation. Adoption of tablet devices and 3D fully federated construction modelling by AW Edwards has seen a significant improvement in productivity and communication between stakeholders. Whilst the organisation’s data acquisition has grown in the last two years by nearly !00%, with projections set to accelerate further.
Digital transformation is not a strategy with a start and end date. Oh no! It’s an iterative journey. Interestingly enough, we identified that despite the gravity of digital uptake, many organisations still operate in an analogue fashion that underpin their workflows. It’s not difficult to see why transformation for many businesses becomes a complex and difficult undertaking. Those that do it right are those leading the DX change. They understand that results come from taking many small (often disparate) digital steps that together make the DX journey. The journey of properly integrating, connecting and managing their data.
Appreciating data is a businesses greatest asset. You be the judge.
