Digital transformation is the core focus of the Federal Government’s $1.1 billion National Innovation and Science Agenda, the aim of which is to ‘drive smart ideas that create business growth, local jobs and global success’. According to Jean-Baptiste Adet, Director of Customer Experience Management at OpenText Corp, an EIM (Enterprise Information Management) solutions provider, the agenda is also recognition that businesses that don’t actively manage digital transformation now, will have to waste time and resources reacting to digital disruption.
Adet told Dynamic Business that digital transformation must be strategically driven by the whole business, not just the IT Department, and it involves organisations being proactive, not merely reactive to external disruptive threats.
“Growth and innovation – in product, strategy, and experience – are more dependent on information capabilities than any other business factor,” he said.
“These two factors are most likely at the edges between disciplines, and the collaboration between the CIO and the other business leaders can create rich opportunities. CMOs, for example, are increasingly influential in technology decisions. To be efficient and take ownership of digital transformation, the information enterprise must look at its information operations and its business operations as one.”
Adet said that organisations are 26% more profitable when digital transformation is core to their business. He explained, “Information defines our relationships with our teams, our customers, our partners, our products, our markets and our futures – regardless of the size of the business. The winner is the one that can do the most with that information – and embraces the digital transformation.
“But not every organisation is moving fast enough on their journey to digital transformation. Only 14% of the enterprise organisations are digital transformers. If you aren’t transforming your business now to address the drivers of digital transformation, you could soon be out of business. 75% of the Standard & Poor (S&P) 500 will fall out of the index in the next 15 years! Preparing for the disruptive trends becomes critical: Digital leaders outperform their peers in EVERY industry.”
To compete in the increasingly digital world, businesses must, Adet said, take three important steps:
- Take care of the basics: Reduce costs, improve efficiencies, and increase competitiveness.
- Reassess the business model: Consolidate information and upgrade process platforms to enable growth.
- Improve competitiveness: Integrate systems, foster innovation, build partnerships, and increase revenue through speedy information delivery.
