IT transformation, similar to the lifecycle of a living creature, is complex and often evolves through different stages. As an IT leader focusing on transformation at the enterprise level, you must consider multiple factors that may arise along the way, keeping in mind that digital maturity doesn’t happen overnight.
Consider these three lessons to ensure your company’s IT transformation is ready to take off.
1. Pay attention to operational transformation
It may be tempting to dive right into the action items necessary to launch a full IT transformation. However, operational transformation is the first step to success: It drives innovation, enables collaboration, and expedites internal processes that often stall progress on larger initiatives.
This behind-the-scenes transformation enhances IT transformation efforts because it prioritizes efficient workflows for manual processes and helps teams adapt to new ways of cross-departmental communications and collaboration. IT transformation may linger without operational transformation, stalled by legacy processes that block progress.
[ Related read: Digital transformation: 6 lessons for CIOs. ]
Investing in workflow technology platforms can enhance operational transformation and ensure a smoother overall transformation. Such platforms are most impactful at the enterprise level as IT teams help all employees contribute to transformation initiatives.
2. Ensure cross-organizational visibility
Many organizations encounter roadblocks in their IT transformation efforts because they can’t achieve cross-organizational visibility. Without visibility, processes are often slowed or stalled entirely, creating silos and preventing CIOs from executing initiatives and strategies.
Preventing siloed information should be one of the first goals of a successful IT transformation. Democratizing data increases efficiency by enabling departments to collaborate more easily. Furthermore, cross-functional communication fosters innovation and provides a more well-rounded experience for all parties.
To avoid silos and ensure greater visibility, help your teams build a process that the entire company is committed to and fosters streamlined communication and easier execution. Communication tools with connected APIs and ecosystems will help employees adapt to these process changes.
3. IT transformation = business transformation
It’s essential to communicate clearly and guide all employees through IT transformation. Large-scale changes can lead to unintended consequences, so align closely with other leaders. Overall, reinforce the positive results of new business processes, including company growth, greater efficiency, and improved collaboration.
[ Get answers to key digital transformation questions and lessons from top CIOs: Download our digital transformation cheat sheet. ]
