An Introduction to Business Technology: Industry leadership through integrated technology management functions
The ongoing technological revolution forces all organisations to constantly look for ways to improve. At the same time, the ability to innovate and develop new digital solutions and services faster is now on top of the agenda in all business sectors. When considering how technology is led in your organisation and perhaps discovering the gaps between IT, digital business and R&D, do you think you could benefit from a more integrated and innovative approach?
The shifting business landscape calls for CDO, CIO and CTO functions to be organised in a way that best allows them to maximise business potential, drive change and adapt quickly to constant changes. In addition, an evolution in mindset is required everywhere, regardless of the industry.
Relentless improvement has become a key strategic theme across organisations. In fact, some companies may become disruptive simply by adopting technology faster and better than the competitors.
Harnessing the potential of technology – to create value for the business
Businesses, whether in the public or private sector, are living, breathing and operating in environments where the ground beneath their feet is constantly moving. Technology and its availability have changed the landscape as we know it.
Traditional operating frameworks and models are not able to support technology-driven business need and capability management. Uncertainty, reduced development cycles, disruptive use cases and increased market competition have altered the role of technology in the business. Business executives struggle to forecast the future of their competitive environments, markets and value chains.
Harnessing the potential of technology to create value for the business has become a necessity which, in turn, has led to requirements for the information technology (IT) organisation to become transformational rather than operational. In other words, technology has transitioned from the back office to the forefront – into the hands of customers, employees and society.
The IT function needs to become a dynamic and fluid organisation, ready to shift focus and repurpose resources at a moment’s notice.
The business expectations and requirements towards the IT function have undergone a radical shift within a relatively short time. The IT function needs to become a dynamic and fluid organisation, ready to shift focus and repurpose resources at a moment’s notice. There is an ever-growing need for more flexible and agile ways to adapt the rate of change, and this has created new challenges for the IT functions who need to do that in a way that does not require a complete revamp of their management model. If the IT functions reject the need for change and stick to the old, established methodologies, they risk losing their credibility in the eyes of the business.
When the traditionally led IT and CDO functions struggle to meet the needs and demands by the business in a timely manner, there is a tendency to turn to ‘stealth’ or ‘shadow’ IT operating in a self-service environment. On the other hand, CDO led organisations are typically agile, but they may in turn lack the ability to plan for and to manage solutions on a broader context, now that digitalisation has progressed to enterprise level solutions.
How should we respond to these challenges? With a shift in mentality, change of pace, and with effective management of what already is and what will be in the future. This is what the Business Technology Model is all about.
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