Posted on April 4, 2020
Estimated reading time 4 minutes
In “What’s driving the Modern Workplace?” we identified the key trends that organisations need to embrace, and discovered that to set your business up for success you need a cloud first, mobile first modern architecture.
Delivering this modern architecture is often dependent on some form of digital transformation project and is not a case of simply piloting some new tech, but a wider business transformation.
We know how the story goes: ‘the majority of digital transformation projects fail’ – an incredible 70% according to one report on Forbes.
The main cause of failure is a lack of understanding around the available technologies designed to support digital transformation projects (cited by 51% of organisations).
And then there’s the projects that fail to get off the ground in the first place – 86% of organisations haven’t yet undertaken a digital transformation project because they think they’re too complex, they’re bogged down by a legacy system, or they don’t have the resources or people to pull it off.
Any yet in order to deliver the modern workplace, your business needs to evolve to adopt new operational models as well as new technologies. Fail to move into modern day life, and your business will be fighting for survival, rather than leading the road to success.
We’ve supported many clients with their digital transformation, creating the operational efficiency and achieving profitable growth to retain their competitiveness in a digital world.
“Players, members and staff have easy and quick access to any information they need, when they need it from wherever they are, on a scalable intelligent cloud platform.”
Read the case study…
The following 3 simple steps will quickly get you on the road to your version 3.0:
Step 1. Assess your cloud readiness
Most organisations use the cloud today – 96% according to a report published in CIO.
But there’s a big difference between using a SaaS platform to perform a specific business function or using cloud storage as your backup method and actually running workloads in the cloud…
And there’s an even bigger difference between running those workloads in the cloud and adopting a cloud first strategy.
Cloud first is all about considering cloud computing solutions before any other to leverage new software, platforms and infrastructure on a subscription basis. As well as eliminating the capital and maintenance costs associated with on-premise infrastructure, it allows your business to scale with ease, enable your remote workforce and is inherently more secure.
Cloud first isn’t necessarily right for every organisation, and to help you gauge how ready you are, we offer an Assessment service, which shows you how to reinvent your business by:
- Reawakening your people.
- Remodelling your processes.
- Replacing your legacy tech.
Discover more about our assessments…
Step 2. Build a business case
When it comes to embarking on a digital transformation to create a modern workplace, one of the biggest obstacles you need to overcome is the need to ‘keep the lights on’. While many businesses recognise the benefits and importance of upgrading their organisation, projects often stall because their teams are so wrapped up in maintaining business-as-usual.
And then there’s the problem of a lack of agreement amongst CIOs of what digital transformation means in practical terms. Couple this with the fact that 39% of senior executives feel overwhelmed by the complexity of digital transformation, and the prospect of even getting your project off the ground seems bleak.
But it’s not impossible…
To secure buy-in, you need to build an appropriate business case, which determines what the modern workplace looks like in your specific organisation. It has to identify the scope of the project and the benefits it would bring – hooking into how the proposed changes would enable you to adopt a new cloud first, mobile first modern architecture. Then think about the costs involved – and the potential cost of doing nothing, and calculate the expected return, as well as consider the wider resources it might require.
By carefully thinking through your modern workplace and creating a more tangible vision of what it looks like, you will overcome any complacency within the management team, fears over disruption to business-as-usual and question marks over required investment.
Step 3. Enlist the help of a partner
Despite the majority of organisations having some form of cloud presence, 85% are still reluctant to move workloads to the cloud due to risk and security concerns. But most clouds are inherently secure, because the vendors dedicate an extra-ordinary amount of time, money and resource to making their technology bulletproof.
We believe this reluctance to move to the cloud stems from a lack of knowledge, and therefore confidence in their ability to execute.
Research conducted by Vanson Bourne agrees. It found that 50% of organisations said, “they do not have the skills in-house to manage cloud security, with 52% saying that they have incomplete awareness of how their organisation’s security posture in the cloud affects their overall IT security.”
If you’re thinking about delivering a modern workplace to your organisation, you need to find a specialist partner to hold your hand every step of the way and make everything easier.
It’s a common occurrence in our business – we start working with a client to find that they’ve previously engaged another consultancy to help, but after being given a large, impressive report they’ve done nothing.
Why?
Sometimes it’s because they don’t understand the advice they’ve been given, other times it’s because they just don’t have the inhouse skills to action it.
What a waste.
One area where we know we excel is execution because once we’ve created that plan with you, we’re going to deliver on it and make it your new business-as-usual. We can do this because we ask the right questions – it’s not about how much they want/need to boost productivity by this year in order to save £x, it’s about creating a picture of what the modern workplace looks like in their business and the impact it will have. And we can only create this vision through the open and honest relationship we build.
When our clients choose to work with us, we reward their trust with a dedicated account manager who’s available to answer any questions or provide reassurance on any concerns. We create a plan that aligns with their real objectives (not just the ones written down in a business strategy document). And we break it down into a roadmap with a realistic timeline so everyone can visually see what needs to happen and believes it’s achievable so gets behind it.
The whole experience is more relevant, more human and more personal.