The CIO’s Digital Agenda: Running a High-Mature Digital IT

IT acts more as an ‘orchestrator,’ to conduct an information-savvy, customer-centric digital organizations.

Digital makes the profound impact from specific functions to the business as a whole, the purpose of such radical digitalization is to make a significant difference in the overall levels of customer centricity and achieve high performing business result. IT plays a pivotal role in the business’s digital transformation. But the first step first, how to run a high mature digital IT which has the multitude of digital capability to become a business enabler and innovation engine of the business?

       

Running a High-Mature Digital IT

• The Multitude of IT Dexterity: Digital makes a significant impact on every aspect of the business from people, culture to process and capability both horizontally and vertically. The purpose of such radical digitalization is to make a significant difference in the overall levels of customer delight and achieve high performing business result. IT is a key enabler of enterprise capabilities, and IT dexterity will directly and skillfully impact how effective of enterprise-wide digital transformation and business maturity. Here are multitudes of IT dexterity.

• A Frictionless IT: Due to the change and complex nature of technology and overloading information, the majority of IT organizations today still run at the lower level of maturity, they have been perceived as a silo function and support center, a controller only, or even the bottleneck to slow the business speed. So how can IT leaders re-imagine IT, reinvent IT brand, overcome culture inertia and numerous digital barriers to run a frictionless IT and become a top IT performer?

• Digital IT Continuum  The effects of an increasingly digitalized world are now reaching into every corner of businesses and every aspect of organizations. Business agility is imperative to meet the demands of rapidly evolving digital consumer behaviors and dynamic business ecosystem. Therefore, digital leaders need to more proactively rethink the art and science of business management, from learning to doing, from design to delivery, from talent management to customer satisfaction; here are three aspects of managing such a digital continuum.

• Three Levels of Digital Fluency: Organizations’ digitalization is surely a transformation journey, as it has to permeate into business vision, strategy, culture, communication, and processes. etc. If digital literacy is the ability to effectively and critically navigate, evaluate and create information using a range of digital technologies; and to move a step further, digital fluency is the business capability to skillfully manage information lifecycle, to create fresh content enlightening customers; to gain contextual intelligence for solving complex problems; and more importantly to be fluently in connecting the dots of innovation management for catalyzing business growth.

• Digital IT Maturity: Digital means customer-centric business. Digital IT should add more strategic advantages, not just run as a support function, and IT strategy is an integral component of business strategy, as more often than not, technology is the driver for business innovation. The trend of IT consumerization indeed provides unprecedented opportunities for IT to get more touch base with end customers, to empower employees as well. IT acts more as an ‘orchestrator,’ to conduct an information-savvy, customer-centric digital organizations, IT maturity directly makes an impact on the organizational maturity. Here are five aspects of digital IT maturity.

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