Best Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation

Change is Faster than Ever, but Will Never Again Be This Slow

This succinct summary of the challenge of modern life is a quote from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, from his keynote at the Davos World Economic Forum in 2018.  And although that organization tried to downplay the sentiment later that year, Trudeau's claim seems an accurate summary of our times. Change is hard for human beings; we are accustomed to a great deal of consistency from one day to another: in what is expected of us, in the tools we use to perform those duties, in how we're perceived by others and how we interact with others, in what constitutes the necessities of life, and in how we obtain those necessities.  Most of us feel we can "handle" change, but when we say that we usually mean one change at a time, and with a pause after each change before we're forced to confront the next one. The challenge today [...]

By |2020-12-21T14:33:10-06:00November 15th, 2020|Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership, Tech Disruption|
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Business Impact – the True North for Innovation

There is a lot of hype within the business sector around emerging technologies. Talk of finding new, creative ways to solve business challenges never fails to incite a buzz within organizations, for good reason. With the right compass heading, technology can sustain or change a company’s culture, and many new technologies are emerging that promise a significant impact on business over the next few years. At times the excitement is about the technology and not its business impact Innovation is important, and powerful, and impactful, but only if it creates real business results. Without the right compass heading, forward motion is NOT progress but only wasted effort and time.  Likewise, innovation for its own sake (outside of a pure research context) is often just a drain on time and money. Instead of seeking the latest technology for its own sake, an assessment of need & opportunity is incredibly important. Innovative [...]

By |2021-01-05T19:44:35-06:00October 21st, 2020|Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership, Monetizing IT, Optimizing IT|
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Virtual CIO Case Study · Paying By the Drink for the Right Wine

Buying wine by the bottle (or case) may be the most economic option to acquire it at scale, but if a bottle is beyond your means or needs, and you find the particular vintage you want, paying by the drink is the right option. And so it is with Virtual CIOs (aka Fractional CIOs/Remote CIOs/Part-time CIOs)... This quote is actually from one of our recent clients, a mid-size company who engaged our Virtual CIO service to provide IT leadership to several IT groups who had previously reported separately to the CEO.   Why Our Case Studies are Anonymous Innovation Vista does not list our clients on our website or post a "logo page"; we do not issue press releases to announce client signings or project successes.  This policy is an important extension of our care and protection of our clients' strategies, in order to avoid letting their competitors know anything [...]

By |2021-01-11T09:53:11-06:00September 21st, 2020|Digital Transformation, Enterprise Systems, Innovation, IT Leadership, Optimizing IT, Stabilizing IT|
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Gold Nuggets of Data all over the Ground

Increasingly, how an organization views and uses their data determines their level of success, and therefore the value of the enterprise. Data can be as valuable as gold nuggets for companies, but too often it’s ignored--“left on the ground” rather than mined, gathered, and inventoried as a strategic asset. Gartner research indicates that by 2021, the vast majority of stock analysts will include “data” components in their corporate valuation models for how much structured information each company possesses and how strategically they use it.  This fact will surprise few.  And yet despite this being a well-known fact, Forrester estimates that between 2/3 and 3/4 of corporate data still goes unused in any capacity for analytics.   Care Must be Taken to Protect Your Customers’ Privacy No doubt your organization has contractual obligations and has made promises (explicit or implied) to your customers to protect ALL data which, if released, could [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:40:09-06:00August 19th, 2020|Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, Digital Transformation, Innovation, Monetizing IT|
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The New Digital Normal of Customer Expectations

Digital disruption began well before we were all forced to practice social distancing, but recently it has advanced into sections of society that were previously slow to adopt. As more and more business is conducted online, especially from the palm of their hand, customers are beginning to distinguish between companies who provide an easy experience vs. those who have limited or no digital capabilities. This is really just a continuation of the evolution of customer preferences, and the rewarding of those who align with (or even drive) that evolution.  In the not so distant past, we witnessed what can happen to a brand that does not respond quickly to customer behaviors. Customer battles were everywhere: Blockbuster vs Netflix, and every box store vs Amazon. Now, in the tenuous aftermath of the nationwide COVID-19 economic shutdown, we are seeing other sectors being challenged to make digital the new normal, including service, [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:42:51-06:00June 15th, 2020|Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, Digital Transformation, Innovation, Monetizing IT, Optimizing IT|
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Escaping the Catch-22 of Post-COVID Digitalization

COVID-19 has escalated and turbo-charged digital transformation across the globe. Prior to COVID, many organizations planned to build out more options for their employees to be more productive by working remotely. They planned to create a way for customers to interact with them and buy from them online, and allow for their management teams to have dashboard views of their internal productivity and customer interactions. Most planned for these enhancements to be phased in over the next few years. Now digital transformation is a necessity for successful business in a post-COVID economy. Yet companies without those capabilities already integrated in will struggle to build them. With the onset of social distancing measures and state mandates for keeping business fronts closed, remote work has never been more essential. It's not just for the sake of productivity, but for safety--and ultimately, worker engagement. Success is now incumbent on a company's ability to [...]

By |2020-10-02T15:11:08-06:00May 18th, 2020|Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership, Optimizing IT, Stabilizing IT|
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Turning CRM Data into Deep Customer Insights

The world is becoming increasingly personalized.  Frequent flier numbers and customer membership programs enable companies to track consumers' buying patterns; social media platforms and digital marketing channels enable them to know even more about our preferences and lives.  The door has been opened to inappropriate uses of this information, as evidenced by the "fake news" and Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandals from the 2016 election.  But far more commonly, companies are using customer data in legitimate to personalize their communications with customers, with significant results. Customers are happy for you to know about them According to Accenture, 83% of consumers are willing to share their data in order to enable a personalized B2C experience, and 91% say it actually impacts their buying habits.  For B2B purposes, companies have long known there is easy access to public data about them, so any gain in efficiency is welcomed from suppliers who make use of [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:44:47-06:00February 19th, 2020|Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Systems, Innovation|
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CRM Adoption Needs Good Leadership as Much as Good IT

Over 90% of companies with dedicated sales teams have licensed a CRM system, and yet far fewer of these companies believe their CRMs are strategic in their impact to the top and bottom lines.  Quora got double-digits responses to the question "Why do salespeople hate CRM?"  "Why do salespeople love CRM?" had not been posted as a question as of the time of this writing. Why is it so challenging to get sales teams to use CRM systems? Contrary to some other commentators on this topic, I don't believe the problem of low CRM adoption is due mainly to the systems being overly complex, or salespeople having limited grasp of software generally.  Don't get me wrong; some CRMs are no doubt too complex, designed by techies without sufficient input from real sales teams, etc.   There are over 300 different CRM systems in the market today, and no doubt some are [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:47:03-06:00January 16th, 2020|Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Systems, Innovation, IT Leadership, Monetizing IT, Optimizing IT|
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What CXOs should know about Digital Transformation

Digital transformation is a buzzword which has crept into the language of business in recent years, and the definition of the term varies greatly. At Innovation Vista, we define “digital transformation” as the effort to use technology to grow revenue. Digital Transformation - IT strategy insights for CXOs Digital transformation is driven by a broader view of Information Technology than its traditional goals of increasing efficiency and automation to help businesses save money and boost productivity. Today, technology has advanced in ways that allow businesses to do much more than what was possible in the past. Even in its traditional scope, IT has become a major component of most businesses' success. Most corporate executives and C-suites are comfortable with it in this shape and size, but when there’s talk of re-envisioning IT, even with the promise of greater impact, CXOs can become understandably nervous. Hesitations on Digital Transformation One of [...]

By |2020-10-03T13:02:36-06:00December 14th, 2019|Digital Transformation, Enterprise Systems, Innovation, IT Leadership, Monetizing IT, Optimizing IT, Stabilizing IT, Tech Disruption|
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Transformation Needs the Top, Even if it Doesn’t Start There

No matter where the vision for innovation comes from, the board and CEO must support and evangelize transformation for it to succeed. If the board and CEO don't fully grasp why the transformation is needed, or how it should be achieved, it can bring about more harm than good. They would be better of pausing or canceling the project until everyone can get on the same wavelength. The worst whiplash an organization can receive is a "transformation" project being pushed by IT which doesn't have the support of top leadership. Why? Because the rest of the company will take their lead on how to respond—how seriously to take the change—from their top leadership. If they see shoulder shrugs, they may shrug too and won’t be fully committed to getting on board. Just as importantly, the support from top leadership will deeply impact the behavior of those pushing the change—in IT [...]

By |2020-10-02T14:58:27-06:00October 11th, 2019|Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership|
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