Move over digital transformation and make way for the digital imperative.
You may have seen this buzzword floating about recently and heard it being used in relation to digital transformation, but what exactly is it and what does it mean for you? Read on to find out…
Firstly, let’s address digital transformation
Digital transformation is all about using technology to transform the way that you work or do things.
For example, COVID-19 became the catalyst for the shift in the way we work when it hit in 2020. The standard working life did a complete 180 for many of us, as with lockdowns and restrictions being imposed, we all had to find new ways to work – from going into the office to working remotely. Without technology, the enablement of remote working would not have been possible. Many organisations moved their IT infrastructure from in-house servers to being hosted over the internet in the cloud. Doing this allowed all team members to access their company files, systems and applications – such as the Microsoft suite - from wherever they were, with ease.
Technology has enabled us all to work smarter and safer in one way or another, and with it constantly evolving and progressing, it’s imperative that we are all utilising the tools that are available to us, to make our day to day work activities more efficient, allowing us to be more productive. This is where the digital imperative comes in.
What is the digital imperative?
The digital imperative is about taking the next step from the digital transformation and making it a necessity. The most successful and evolving businesses are those that are forward-thinking and digitally enabled. The digital imperative is all about acting urgently to embed the technologies and solutions that you need when it comes to digital transformation – whether this be through automation or optimising your cloud solutions. You do not want to get left behind.
Therefore, it’s no longer a case of there being things you ‘would like to do at some point in the future’ but it’s about being proactive and constantly thinking about how you can improve your processes with technology, so that you can keep up with demand and competition. It’s about embracing what’s available to you through technology and using this to improve the way that you work, communicate and collaborate.
Many organisations are not fully utilising the tools that they have, because they are simply unaware of all of the capabilities that the platforms they invest in offer, and how they can make their working lives easier.
This is why, at Sharp, our mission is to make technology easy. You do not have to spend time struggling to familiarise yourself with new technology, as we do this for you. We provide advice and training for you and your teams to enrich the way that your organisation operates. We listen, understand and consider your complex technology needs, creating a seamless solution that works, so you can focus on doing what you do best.
5 elements of the digital imperative
Microsoft claims that rising to the digital imperative is the difference between thriving and standing still in the new era. There are five imperatives it calls on all organisations to embrace, which we have broken down for you below:
- Migrate to the cloud – Although, many organisations have already made the shift to cloud computing, there are still many that have not upgraded from their on-site servers, which are now becoming an aging infrastructure. Hosting your existing systems and applications in the cloud means you minimise the risk of data loss and improve your ability to work remotely, all while reducing costs.
- Empower everyone to do their best – A fusion team is a team of experts from different areas in the business (pro and citizen developers) who come together and use data analytics and insights to drive business success. Empowering this team by equipping them with the best tools to scale impact together is key.
- Collaborative business processes – Hybrid working is here to stay with flexibility increasingly becoming a non-negotioable, so you need to ensure that your business has the right collaboration tools in place to enable calls, meetings, chat, scheduling, project planning/management and more. It’s all about using seamless collaboration tools to provide efficiency when working together in a hybrid environment.
- Make your data work for you - Spend more time creating value and less time integrating and managing your data estate by implementing AI and automation intelligence, to add value to your business.
- Prioritise Security – It seems that every other month, we hear of another major corporation or the public service sector falling victim to a cyber attack. Just like technology, cyber attacks are constantly evolving and becoming slicker by the minute. Prioritising your security should always be your main objective, to protect personnel as well as confidential business information and data from being exploited. At Sharp, we recommend a multi-layered approach when it comes to cyber security. Learn more here.
The digital imperative is not just for your tech team
An important thing to note is that the digital imperative is not just an IT/tech team thing. It’s a people, process and mindset change. We are not limited by technology anymore, so we all need to be thinking about what we are doing moving forward and what we can do to improve each task within our day to day business challenges. It’s not about the next best thing but the incremental changes that can be made to get there.
The possibilities are endless with technology, which is why you need to embrace the digital imperative.
