We live in a disruptive world. Every day we hear amazing stories about new businesses coming on the scene and disrupting entire industries. From introducing a new model, or transforming what’s in place, they raise the bar on the customer experience and reinvent product and service delivery. While meeting these expectations requires a new mindset, recent research suggests IT managers and business leaders from small and midsize businesses may not value such disruptive change in the same way.
According to The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) study Digitising IT: Catalysts for Growth, 71% of IT leaders from small and midsize businesses rank digital initiatives highest or relatively high in priority, while only 57% of non-IT leaders responded the same. These differing attitudes can be attributed to the overall focus on the business – especially when you consider 63% of small and midsize businesses are less concerned with digital transformation overall, compared to 76.6% of their larger counterparts.
Additionally, the report indicates varying views on the primary objectives of digital transformation, that are reaching deeply across technical and nontechnical areas. For example, IT leaders are focused on using digital technology to improve products, services, and customer experiences. On the other hand, the business side prioritises improved use of data and information.
The data is clear: IT and lines of business need to be on the same page when it comes to digital transformation. And for IT leaders, this challenge signals an opportunity to raise their status from keeping the lights on to catalysing a strategic evolution of the strategy and focus of the business.
Turning digital differences into leadership opportunity
One explanation for divergent digital transformation priorities is that every business leader is playing a part in digital transformation – but only in the context of their specific business area. In fact, the EIU study suggests that digital initiatives are most commonly driven by individual departments with IT playing a supporting role. Yet, IT could do more to engage and guide the rest of the company to ensure people and processes are aligned with their executive peers’ strategy.
Here are three ways IT can elevate its leadership and expertise in the digital transformation discussion:
- Relate the IT agenda to business strategy. In every digital initiative, three IT priorities are generally relevant: security, scalability, and integration. Driving these priorities home with business leaders throughout the transformation will ground every effort – no matter how small or big – with a clear strategy and outcomes that are measurable and specific.
- Innovate to help the business evolve Most digitisation efforts centre on creating specific experiences for users and customers. This focus challenges IT to innovate new technology and capabilities for the entire company. In turn, different skill sets, tools, and mindsets should be adopted to allow the firm to grow beyond business as usual.
- Realise that all business areas – even IT – are eyeing the same goal. Everyone at the leadership table has the same objective in mind: to build and maintain market leadership. However, if the foundation of your digital transformation is not secure, optimised, and effective, the firm will never fully realise this vision.
It’s time to play a critical, strategic role in digital transformation
One of the luxuries of my job is seeing first-hand how our customers are seizing this opportunity. For the most part, IT leaders from small and midsize businesses are improving how they currently operate; they create new business models and sources of value, and lead their business ecosystems. They are using our solutions and services to create a digital business platform and road map to shape their foundation for agile engagement with business stakeholders and in-the-moment outcomes.
While all of these developments are exciting, I am more amazed at how the IT organisation and the perception of IT leadership are evolving. IT leaders are increasingly rising in strategic prominence. They are not only are keeping the lights on, but, more importantly, they are securing a strategic role within the core leadership team by driving business-wide transformational insight, action, and innovation.
What’s their secret? It’s the realisation that digital transformation is an opportunity for the entire company to unite under a shared vision. Using IT as the common thread of experience and expertise, small and midsize businesses are realising a digital vision that builds industry-disruptive competitive advantages.
Hernan Marino is COO of marketing at SAP
This advertisement feature is paid for by SAP, which supports the Guardian Media & Tech Network’s Digital business hub.
