Understanding the new drivers of transformation

The past two years have been unlike any other, and at an organisational level, we are seeing widespread consensus among decision-makers: the need to transform. From CIOs through to engineering, development, and IT teams, we’re seeing increased pressure to create agility and innovate to meet the increasing demands of customers and internal stakeholders.

Organisational agility

Adopting technology solutions to optimise growth and penetrate new markets is not a new strategy. However, the pandemic has accelerated the need to digitally transform.

There are various reasons for this – from restructuring to meet the demands of a hybrid/remote workforce, to addressing inefficiencies in how particular departments operate. Whatever the reason for transformation, there is one silver bullet to success: agility.

According to a recent global survey by McKinsey, the most successful agile transformations:

• delivered around 30% gains in efficiency, customer satisfaction, employee engagement, and operational performance,
• made the organisation five to 10x faster; and
• turbocharged innovation.

The same McKinsey survey found most successful transformations occurred because agility was driven by the leadership team.

New customer demands

It’s always been a consumer’s market, but even more so in a digital-first world. To meet these new customer demands, organisations need to seek out and deploy the most appropriate digital applications and experiences.

That could be something as small as redefining your online sales funnel, or it could mean automating time-consuming jobs such as generic call-centre enquiries to free up your staff to focus on more value-add tasks. The challenge for many organisations will be collecting the right customer data that reveals which knowledge gaps they need to plug.

Operational efficiency

Investing in new technologies must be considered within the context of IT spending and the speed at which you can change. After all, your operations need to remain efficient throughout the transformation.

A piecemeal approach to transformation – one that makes changes step by step rather than all at once – can ensure departments aren’t overwhelmed by new technologies, while also giving your customers enough time to adjust to new ways of interacting with your organisation. This also puts less strain on IT budgets and can open you up to broader opportunities for innovation and competitive advantage.

Open Innovation (OI)

While most organisations have recognised the need to innovate, defining exactly how they can do that is a common sticking point. Enter, Open Innovation. OI is an effective and agile strategy that enables organisations to use the smartest people and the best data to reach critical goals.

SUSE recently partnered with Economist Impact to produce The Open Innovation Barometer. You can also use the self-assessment benchmarking tool to evaluate how you compare to other organisations in terms of OI readiness and planning.

No industry remains static, and if the past two years have taught us anything it’s that every organisation must embrace change and become more adaptable if they plan on outpacing the competition. With technology and innovation as key focuses, you have the best chance to transform successfully.

About the author

As the Chief Operating Officer for SUSE APAC, I’m focused on enabling our team to deliver on the strategic vision for delivering cutting-edge Open Source solutions that allow our customers to Innovate Everywhere. With more than a decade of experience as a senior executive and strategic consultant across the enterprise technology sector, I bring my expertise from sectors such as supply chain, construction, and engineering to understand the complex challenges our customers are facing, and how we can be best positioned to assist in their ongoing transformation.