FEATURE: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
fundamentally alter how a business operates.
Organisations can use DX to make agile and
profound organisational change.
Data-driven
All this is underpinned by the role data
management plays in delivering on a DX
environment. According to the International
Data Corporation (IDC), 76% of enterprises
are at a digital deadlock. They are unable to
reach the stage in which they have broken
from past practices and are transformed to
align with new market needs.
business requirements that has resulted in
islands of data.
These are separated by diverse formats,
different data points and the like. Depending
on the complexity of the environment, manual
integration of data can become a timeconsuming,
expensive and error-prone process.
While insufficient management buy-in
and resistance to change contribute to this
impasse, a lack of preparedness means
many DX projects are destined to fail even
before they begin.
Therefore, a DX strategy requires an
intelligent core that identifies, collects,
transforms and normalises data across
the company. Having such a data-centric
approach means the business can plan
more effectively, integrate its current and
proposed technologies into a single platform,
budget better and ultimately, embed DX
throughout the organisation.
Henry Adams, Country Manager for South
Africa at InterSystems
ORGANISATIONS CAN USE DX
TO MAKE AGILE AND PROFOUND
ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE.
This becomes the vital enabler needed to
help decision-makers develop plans quickly
and connect previous disparate components
in more effective, digitally-focused ways.
In doing so, a company can create a
bulletproof foundation for business growth
and future innovation.
Overcoming problems
To do this, decision-makers must overcome
what has traditionally been an extraordinarily
siloed data environment. As businesses across
industry sectors have grown with decades
worth of aggregated technologies, solutions
have developed to address specific line of
Security also needs to be at the front and
centre of all DX initiatives – where there is
data there are threats and organisations
can’t walk into any data-driven exercise,
particularly one that is centred on customer
experience, without factoring in security.
Nowhere is this more apparent than
in the banking and healthcare sectors.
IDC research shows that 61% of banks
worldwide are digitally deadlocked and
unable to go beyond the stage where
digital initiatives are repeatable and well
managed. Given the complexities of their
data environments, this should hardly come
as a surprise.
Conversely, healthcare doesn’t just deal with
data, it primarily deals with humans.
According to Forbes, the success of
‘healthcare lies in a company’s ability to
make customers’ lives better’ which paves
the way for Digital Transformation for
good. Something that can only be achieved
through the accurate understanding of data.
Fortunately, an open data architecture
can assist in bringing together siloed
applications and data repositories.
This transition requires a willingness to
change and wanting to adapt existing
36 INTELLIGENTCIO www.intelligentcio.com