“We all know how looking back even short spans like five years we can see how different things were. With the accelerating pace of change today and the arrival of new developments in machine learning, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things and others, in five years’ time today’s business will look quite primitive, I suspect.”
Sector impact
Digital transformation is impacting every sector, Ćušić says, but at different levels of maturity so far. “Some industries are quite advanced, like retail or travel or financial services, and some are yet to be affected like, perhaps, pharmaceuticals. Over and above the technology, however, it is also a question of leadership. You could see it as three ‘dimensions’ — disruptive technology, digital capability and leadership capability. It has to be strong, transformative, with strong governance and deep engagement with technology leadership. They all have to be developed in parallel, otherwise you could end with lots of new digital capabilities but no direction or leadership. Conservative business leadership, on the other hand, runs the risk of falling behind in digital capabilities.”
In the technology progress, he believes that Agile, Lean and similar approaches are very important, even key. In the past, big planning up front, very detailed and diligent processes, actually slowed companies down. Today, what is important is that each small advance is actually meaningful to the business. Small failures are part of the game. But if you have to fail, fail early, fail ahead of your competitors. But in many organisations, that requires significant cultural change — transformation, in fact. So we are back to the necessity for strong leadership.”
No overnight change
Which would be along the journey, according to IBM’s Sinéad Scully. “However you define it, digital transformation is not some kind of overnight change. It is based on new ways of thinking, about business and its technology, about different ways of engaging with clients and customers. It is also clear that those customers will more and more dictate the kind of engagement they want. Research globally shows that they are shifting to wanting ‘experiences’ from the organisations they are dealing with rather than simply the goods or services. That will decide where their money goes.”
Irish organisations are now taking this very seriously, Scully says, and taking the time to understand what their customers want and trying to align their future business strategies accordingly. “Many of them are taking the Agile business development approach, not just in IT, trying and testing and revising according to what they find. These are the torchbearers, who have a good idea where they are heading and are already seeing revenue benefits. It is a very different approach, technology is a key element but neither should technology hold us back in what we want to achieve.
“Traditionally, IT was designed for functionality. But in digital, we are aiming to design for experiences, and that’s a very different mind-set however much the underpinning ICT is shared. The whole digital transformation thing is a journey, organisations are at different stages, mostly in Ireland that means very early stages, but the general direction is very clear.”
There are more and more Chief Data Officers in Irish organisations, she observes, with positions of genuine power and strategic leadership. “We are even talking to some customers right now who have new products ready to go to market but have put them on hold for a short while to review their strategy and re-think their approach. It’s not the products so much as the target market segment, say younger people, and how it could be approached better in today’s world.”
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