Beauty of digitalisation is, it can be done without revamping the core completely
Published on : Tuesday 22-10-2019
Digitalisation is imperative but enterprises are still struggling with implementation. How can begin the process?
The first step would be to just take it up and not put it on the back burner anymore. Digitalisation is here to stay. It is not just a fad which is going to go away soon and give its way to something else. It will evolve overtime, but it will not go away. So sooner we ride the wave the better it is.
Once the enterprise decides to take it up as a strategic imperative, it is best to start with a detailed analysis of its business processes and the overall business strategy of the organisation. Then, based on both, the decision makers need to identify a phased approach for their digitalisation journey. Most companies are complex enough to make it difficult to digitalise the entire organisation in one shot. And chances of failure of such a huge all engulfing project or initiative is rather high. Hence the phased approach. Also it’s extremely important that IT and Business takes these decisions together. Neither groups should take it independently to make the implementations smooth and the outcome as expected.
Another thing to keep in mind is not to do a major core change in order to digitalise. It’s always best to keep the core intact and digitalise on top of it, unless the core itself requires to be changed.
For many organisations, the stumbling block is the silos, which ironically, digitalisation seeks to break. Is this a classic chicken and egg story?
While silos do create a stumbling block for most initiatives and its best not to have them, I do not think that having silos is particularly hindering the digitalisation process. The beauty of digitalisation is that usually it can be done without revamping the core completely. It can be done in pieces. I doubt whether any company can digitalise end to end simultaneously. They need to do it in phases and hence silos are not a huge challenge. However, what is necessary is business and IT decision makers to be on the same page and work towards a common goal.
Is joining one of the digital platforms the only way for an average enterprise?
No it’s definitely not the only way. It’s the fastest way. But that is assuming that the digital platform of choice addresses the business processes of the organisation. Otherwise customisation can prove to be quite expensive, time consuming and sub-optimal. So if any organisation is going the platform route then it’s extremely important to scan the market for the platform that best suits their business processes. And many a time these platforms might not be the markets leaders. Hence scanning the market and analysing the products are all the more important.
Often, companies get bogged down in discussing technologies rather than outcomes. How should an effective CTO deal with this?
This is one of the major stumbling blocks of the digitalisation journey. Traditionally, the CTOs and CIOs and sometime even the Procurement Office were making the IT decisions and hence the decisions were based only on technology or price. In the digitalisation era, Business needs to play a key role. The decisions need to be driven by business outcomes and business priorities. However, technology discussions are needed because the organisation should always choose a technology that is most scalable, best suited for their existing technology stack and also their overall strategic goal. Hence it’s extremely important that the CTO collaborates with the Business Heads to ensure that the decision meets the desired business outcomes, with the best suited technology, be it be-spoke development or of the shelf platform for digitalisation. So an effective CTO today needs to do a couple of things, first work jointly with the Business Head and secondly scan the market to see if a good platform is available in the market that suits their requirement, since that will ensure faster time to market.
Finally, is multiplicity of vendors creating conflict in the process?
Multiplicity of vendors is never bad for any organisation – it gives them more options to choose from, it gives them a higher bargaining power.
Moreover, each vendor tries to be a little different from the others and while the differences are typically very minimal, they do try to create a niche for themselves, however fine the difference might be. So with a multiplicity of vendors, any organisation will have the best possible offerings to choose from. But it does require the decision makers in an organisation to scan more thoroughly and choose the best suited vendor for themselves. Hence knowledgeable people need to be the decision makers and decision should not happen just on cost. In a crowded market, making a choice based on cost is typically a losing proposition. With too many players in the market the ones with weakest offerings tend to make pricing their key differentiator to enter the market. Hence choosing purely based on cost is better avoided, unless it perfectly suits an organisation’s requirements. So as long as an organisation has knowledgeable people to make the choice of vendors, multiplicity of vendors is not bad at all.
Mohua Sengupta is a Senior Business Leader, with 25+ years of experience across the globe, both in the Financial Services and IT Services Industry. In the past decade, Mohua has focused on Digital Transformation, Digital Banking, Distributed Ledger Technologies, Application of Emerging Technologies in Banking, Insurance Healthcare to name a few. After spending almost a decade in Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group, Mohua shifted back to India and have worked in organisations like Wipro, Accenture, Patni, iGate, ITC Infotech and 3i Infotech. She is also extremely passionate about Women’s issues especially in the Corporate. A much published author with 100+ articles in business journals of repute, Mohua is also extremely passionate about Theatre and together with her husband, co-founded Ventures, a banner for theatre enthusiasts, in 2014. Ventures has produced 3 full act plays which have been staged in various prestigious auditoriums in Bangalore and outside. Academically Mohua is an MA in Economics, an MBA in Finance and is also a Certified General Account of Canada. Most importantly, she is a mother of a 12-year-old daughter.