Over the years, the implementation, application, and best practices of information technology have seen a gradual evolution. What started with local systems, iterative innovation, and analog systems has evolved into a world that’s always-on and ready to change at any given moment. Organizations who recognize this shift tend to stand the test of time and enjoy the freedoms of market leadership, while those who ignore the warning signs often meet their unfortunate demise.
As Americans celebrate the freedoms and independence this week, IT organizations should be looking at similar themes in IT that allow them to emerge as market leaders. In this blog post, we explore the mindsets required by CIOs to survive in an increasingly competitive market.
- Characteristic #1: Be Customer Obsessed: In the United States, it’s often said that the government is for the people and by the people. These characteristics must also be shared by technology organizations who want to retain trust in their respective industries. According to Nigel Fenwick and Todd Schadler of Forrester, doing so requires an “almost manic focus” on how to deliver outcomes that matter to customers faster, easily, and more productively than before. For many organizations, this means investing in new research techniques, creating systems of engagement, and deeply understanding changing customer tastes.
- Characteristic #2: Abandon Monoliths: Much of today’s technology transition is dedicated to breaking down the monolithic structures that have long defined IT. While customers never see internal systems, it’s up to organizational leadership to bridge legacy standalone systems, business units, products, and budgets to deliver a connected experience across the buyer’s journey. Organizations can achieve this by going fully cloud native, adopting a hybrid model, implementing APIs, or leveraging iPaaS.
- Characteristic #3: Engage Continuously: In the past, organizations could get away with development philosophies like waterfall methodologies, which served as an iteration of technologies. No longer can organizations survive with these mindsets, especially as customers become impatient with downtime or low availability. According to a survey by AppDynamics, 88% of mobile users uninstalled an application due to performance issues. To combat the potential of lost customers, organizations must instead embrace Agile and DevOps philosophies which unify development teams and promote a continuous stream of updates.
- Characteristic #4: Explore the New: In the last few quarters, the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and mixed realities (artificial, virtual, etc.) have ruled the public consciousness. Each of these has the potential to help organizations create additional customer value while extending brand reach and interest. While every CIO will approach the necessity of these technologies different, having an eye and creating exploratory committees is a good start.
- Characteristic #5: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify: As everything becomes a process, it’s important for organizations to simplify for speed. One example is leveraging containers, which is a form of operating system virtualization that packages code and software into independently running units. Implementing operational agility, according to Forrester, will prevent customer attrition and accelerate new technology adoption. Improvements in management, security, and standards will only increase the emphasis in this area.
In closing, these are several of the mindests we recommend for organizations looking to achieve IT independence. As we’ve explored in our IT ecosystem series so far, each type of solution provides a unique value proposition. When expanded to a mindset, CIOs provide their organizations the opportunity to transform into market leaders and examples of customer experience.
Declare Your IT Independence
Are you an organization looking to catch onto new IT developments before it’s too late? Reach out to us at sales@perficient.com today to see how we can help you with your transition projects.
