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Innovation

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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Innovation – The Great Equalizer

For small and midsize companies competing against large competitors, it can often feel like they are set up to fail. The competitors may have stronger purchasing power, economies of scale, and lower cost of capital, making it hard for the smaller companies to gain any sort of an edge. But the innovation of new technologies is giving many companies hope that they can indeed compete with large competitors several times their size. Innovation is the key to balancing the scale of power. Despite their significant advantages in economies of scale, larger companies also have a liability which can become significant in the emerging Digital Age. Because of their size, large companies have many more layers of bureaucracy and formality. Each of those layers in a larger organization is a delay in decision-making and innovation, particularly when the changes being contemplated are significant and impact a company's business model, pricing, supply [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:57:51-06:00October 26th, 2019|Innovation|
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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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Step 1 to Swimming in the Digital Pool – Get in the Water

Do you have a vision for the potential of technology to impact your company's future, but lack the details to make specific proposals? Part of leadership is seeing the need for change and taking steps to share and implement this vision with your team. The first step doesn’t have to be perfect or huge—you need not jump into the deep end of the pool right away, but it's critical at least to acknowledge that you need to learn how to swim. No matter how your organization uses data—processing, analyzing, or simply entering it and viewing it on a daily basis—there is a high likelihood that some kind of digital technology can take your efforts to the next level.  Initially, you may not have clarity on how automation, AI, or analytics will play a part, but neither is it a requirement for someone to know all the strokes before deciding they [...]

By |2020-10-02T14:57:39-06:00October 5th, 2019|Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership|
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Not Every Company Needs Our Services – Only Those Which Have Data

A recent McKinsey study found that companies which invested in data quality and analytics increased their profit margin an average of 6%.  For context, the average profit margin across Fortune 500 companies was just 10.7%...!  Who isn't interested in pursuing an increase in their profits of 2/3?  And unlike traditional IT automation, Digital Transformation can not only reduce costs but also potentially increase revenue. Unless your company does not track or utilize data at all, you are missing an opportunity at these kinds of returns if you're not "weaponizing" your data.  GAAP Accounting does not currently allow companies to book their data as an asset on the balance sheet, per se, but it’s safe to say that between two companies with similar financials, the one with the highest quantity & quality of data is truly “worth more” (and will have tangibly better results!) than one with limited, low quality data.  [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:50:10-06:00September 29th, 2019|Data & Analytics, Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership, Monetizing IT, News|
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Early AI Won’t Reach Professionals’ IQ. Build it Anyway

When you teach your children how to read, you don’t hand them a dictionary. You start with one letter, then move on to the next, hoping you know enough words that describe the letter “X” and can create a system from which they will learn on their own. No one expects a toddler to suddenly pick up the morning paper and process the symbols inked onto the page into useable information—but even knowing that, they begin the long, tedious, (painful?) steps to ensure that one day their child, years down the road, can read the morning paper if they so choose. The results are worth the pain in the end. Yet when people hear about the developments of AI in business, many of them assume the process is pointless if the technology has not reached a level of newspaper-reading, so to speak. What would be the point of investing money [...]

By |2020-10-03T12:11:42-06:00August 1st, 2019|Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, Innovation|
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Dangerous Inoculation – the Problem of Failed Early Digital Projects

Organizations run the risk of being "inoculated" against the power of innovation if their early investments in technology or "digital transformation" fails to deliver business benefits.  In fact, "Digital" is becoming a four-letter word in some companies. One risk is if the initial digital "pilot" is over-hyped by its sponsors, possibly in an effort to get approval for the initiative if it's a controversial topic.  While it may seem justifiable to over-promise a little with the idea that "they'll get excited when they see how close the team can get", in fact this is a very dangerous stretch which risks killing the chance of future projects altogether.   Better to continue to win hearts and minds to the vision using reasonable expectations than to stretch them unwisely. Inoculation can occur even if expectations aren't stretched though.  In some organizations the skeptics may lie in wait for a pilot project to fail [...]

By |2020-10-02T14:53:10-06:00July 14th, 2019|Digital Transformation, Innovation|
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JUST Keeping the IT Lights On = Awaiting Disruption

Is your IT just “keeping the lights on”? i.e. Are you just waiting to be disrupted?  Don’t get me wrong – keeping the lights on, avoiding security breaches, even creating organizational/margin efficiency with IT – these are worthy goals. But they are TABLE STAKES in today’s economy; we go far beyond this in our proprietary Innovation framework: → STABILIZE your IT – yes “the lights need to stay on” reliably, securely, auditably → OPTIMIZE strategic trade-offs – get what you pay for, pay to your point of maximum ROIC → MONETIZE your IT – invest in tech capabilities to drive REVENUE & MARKET-SHARE Innovation Vista’s mission is to INNOVATE BEYOND EFFICIENCY for TOP-LINE IMPACT in midsize companies: → Taking market-share with tech capabilities your competitors can’t match → Enabling Digital connection not just in remote teams, but with your customers → Accelerating your existing revenue cycle with deep customer insights [...]

By |2021-01-05T19:53:58-06:00June 18th, 2019|Digital Transformation, Enterprise Systems, Innovation, IT Leadership, Monetizing IT, Optimizing IT, Stabilizing IT, Tech Disruption|
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Turning IT into a Profit Center · Client Success Story

Innovation Vista keeps our past clients and partnerships confidential.  Unless you choose to publicize our joint work, the public - and specifically your competitors - will not know you are working with us, or planning anything new or different.   Sun Tzu said it well: All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.  -- Sun Tzu, The Art of War It is often useful for new and potential clients, though, who are envisioning possible innovation and digital projects, to consider how our approach has benefitted other companies, even just in broad anonymized strokes... One recent example was a financial intermediary involved in connecting counterparties with specific investment needs [...]

By |2021-01-16T11:36:40-06:00May 1st, 2019|Artificial Intelligence, Data & Analytics, Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership, Monetizing IT|
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Why We Build Trust First for Innovation Success

"Build Trust First" is Innovation Vista's mantra on all engagements relating to change, transformation and transition.  We believe it is absolutely necessary for success! Gartner reports that 75% of Digital Transformation initiatives will fail, highlighting particularly higher risks when these are seen as "IT Projects".  That is a daunting estimate, but one based on real facts and track records.   ..and one we believe is based on human nature...   Trust is a universal Human Need Turbo-charger   Although we apply this approach to IT-driven transformation, it is truly in effect in every aspect of our lives.  Myriad leadership studies have proven the connection between success/efficiency/effectiveness and trust.  And each of us can confirm in our own lives the "difference" between situations where trust was absent vs. present; it is not difficult to recall in which situations we were at our best... As with many things, the impact of trust may be [...]

By |2020-10-31T22:34:23-06:00June 5th, 2016|Digital Transformation, Innovation, IT Leadership|
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