Moving beyond digital transformation is the new strategic imperative

Digital transformation has become a strategic discussion in every boardroom and not just a topic for CIOs. The importance of investing in a forward-looking digital future was understood across the Asia Pacific region, long before the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic certainly accelerated matters. Now, many companies are looking beyond transformation, to what will allow them to take a true leadership role in the digital future.

The pandemic forced many enterprises, across industries, to integrate digital technologies and processes into their operating model to fuel growth and build a competitive edge.  What is interesting is how much it will remain a priority moving forward. Recent data from PwC shows that 60 per cent of senior executives believe that digital transformation will continue to be critical to business acceleration and success  in 2022.

But what does this look like, and what ongoing investments will companies make to take a leadership position in this new world of ongoing transformation?

Tata Communications defines those organisations that have stepped beyond digital transformation as "digital trailblazers," and those are companies that have the technology, processes and people in place to be digital-first in everything they do. "Digital trailblazers are the companies that have the most advanced digital operating models, connectivity platforms, and strategies that can ensure secure and trusted operations," Tata Communications Vice President & GM - Asia Pacific, Japan & China, Amitabh Sarkar, said. "That group is small, today, but there are a lot of aspirations among enterprises, across the board, to transition to that enviable position because it is directly proportionate to business growth."

To achieve this status, it is imperative that companies prioritize their investments in building software defined, resilient, adaptive, flexible and secure networks. These should provide a seamless experience to both internal & external stakeholders in today's hybrid world.

Why digital trailblazers are primed for success

A digital-first business will not only have the right tools, technologies, and skills, but also the structure of the organization at all levels will be aligned to this paradigm. It will be a strategic imperative for every stakeholder focused on building a digital-first culture across the organization.  

Organizations that achieve digital trailblazer status enjoy a significant competitive advantage. According to research recently published by Tata Communications, 74 per cent of digital trailblazers  are successful in establishing secure and trusted relationships with customers.

Sarkar pointed to a leading insurance major that Tata Communications had helped enable with a cloud-first strategy in the APAC market as an example of what could be achieved by digital trailblazers. The company wanted to expand into new markets, shift to a flexible cloud platform, adopt an agile way of working, move to an opex model, eliminate the need for large capex investment with the scaling of business and achieve superior business outcomes.

The company integrated the Tata Communications IZO private cloud platform, which Sarkar said provided a fully managed, agile, secure and flexible solution that not only reduced the total cost of ownership (TCO) but also enabled business continuity with a secure anytime, anywhere access and superior customer experience with no latency.

Meanwhile, the enhanced CX and management of it across the customer lifecycle, using a single pane of glass, helped the insurer differentiate from its competitors in the market. Digital trailblazers can exist across vertical and sector, and businesses of all sizes can achieve this status. For another example of a digital trailblazing journey that Tata Communications was able to assist with, there was a leading building management, control and automation company that was searching for a managed services partner who could help them navigate their move to a cloud-first model and transform their UC experience across voice and data, globally, for thousands of employees.

The challenge was to deliver a superior and seamless hybrid work experience, while also achieving a significantly reduced TCO and higher productivity. Tata Communications was able to provide its collaboration solution to retire the legacy environment for the organization, resolve technical debt in the infrastructure and applications, and subsequently deliver a cloud-first and more secure communications platform across voice and data.

The three questions every CIO needs to ask

To achieve continued success as a digital trailblazer, Sarkar highlights three key questions that CIOs need to ask of themselves and their teams:

1)     Something that is fundamental to building the digital operating model is about having a strong digital fabric across the organization, which involves an agile network, hybrid cloud and a secured platform that leverages the ecosystem using APIs to deliver incremental growth and an enhanced CX. So the CIO needs to ask, first what is the maturity and readiness across these elements, and how is the CIO enabling the organization to cut through the silos of businesses to deliver a superior business outcome?

2)     In the new paradigm of hybrid workplace, how is the CIO ensuring that the organization's customers, employees, and partners can connect, communicate and collaborate seamlessly?

3)     How is the CIO helping to mature the digital trust strategy? At both the consumer & enterprise levels, how are CIOs preparing for the ransomware attacks on the supply chains, and controls being applied across devices & networks to ensure that there is a zero-trust approach towards cyber security strategy?

"Answering these questions will allow for an understanding of the elasticity and the longevity of the four key factors driving the technology agenda: agile infrastructure, skills, hyperconnected ecosystem and the workforce," Sarkar said. "It will tell you how connected and coupled the systems are with business and the various stakeholders like employees, customers, partners, and technology solutions."

As will be discussed in an upcoming CxO roundtable, Asia-Pacific organizations are ahead of the curve with all of this. Around 65 per cent of businesses in APAC have been successful in transforming to a digital-first model. Additionally, APAC businesses are also ahead of the pack in terms of future planning, with 48 per cent expecting to be digital leaders in 12 to 24 months from now. These numbers are ahead of the global average.

Furthermore, research firm IDC highlights that businesses in APAC are well positioned to leapfrog rivals in other regions in their speed of recovery from the COVID crisis, thanks in the main to their existing investments in digital transformation. IDC believes that businesses across APAC are now focussed on a return to growth and expansion.

Digital represents the next wave of opportunity for enterprise, and while this needs to be managed by the CIO and executive suite, the early mover advantage as the world recovers from COVID-19 is an opportunity that no enterprise can afford to ignore.  

For more information on taking a leadership role as a digital trailblazer, click here.