Bi-modal CIOs Made Redundant by the Digital Enterprise
SINGAPORE, July 11th, 2016 – As technology disruption continues to impact the business landscape, the distinction between digitization and digitalization grows clearer.
Digitization was once the onus of businesses at the very beginning of the IT revolution when the prerogative was simply to migrate analog to digital, while automation sought to expedite work processes and streamline results. Since then, technology has played a more active hand in shaping business strategy; it seeks, in fact, to transform it.
Conversely, digital transformation (DX) of the enterprise digital technologies, are integrated with organizational, operational, and business model innovations, which bring to light new ways to operate and new revenue streams. While there is no one-size fits-all approach to digital transformation, there exists a set of conditions that must be met for in order for businesses transitioning to digitalization to remain viable.
In the DX Economy (DxE), a CIO’s role must necessarily evolve: protecting business’ viability while fully exploring the potential of technology as a change agent emerge as two major, inter-linked challenges. While several schools of thought have emerged suggesting the best, balanced path forward to digital transformation, few are as misaligned with digital transformation as bi-modal (BM) or two-speed IT.
BM IT erroneously and counter-productively asserts that technology must be kept in silos, and that while one practice is focused on delivering IT services, maintaining stability and efficiency, the other takes on more experimental approach to deliver innovation. This approach naively promises a low-risk way to try out new ideas and new IT business processes whilst keeping the proverbial lights on.
In understanding the demands of true digital transformation, it must be stated that continuous innovation needs to be scaled to the rest of the organization; cross-departmental integration and agility is now the biggest currency by which IT departments are now benchmarked. Bi-modal IT by its very nature erodes this currency; to keep transformation in silos is to impede it. High-performing organizations need not trade off agility in favor of what’s safe, disjointed and low-risk.
True innovation, characteristic of digitalization and the DxE, calls for sweeping change in leadership models; every CIO must take action to ensure the IT organization is the go-to partner in the digital transformation of the business. The CIO must set the pace for digital transformation, without placing limits on what can be transformed, how this happens and who is involved. Bi-modal IT at best only partially captures the need for closer collaboration between IT innovation and IT operations, but it misses out on a critical component for success: the ability to continuously integrate change and business transformation without disrupting business performance across multiple departments with multiple stakeholders.
With so many priorities requiring balance, CIOs are facing a crisis of leadership. By employing a framework such as IDC’s Leading in Three Dimensions, an IT leader can begin rationally balancing diverse priorities, while still priming the organization for innovation. L3D offers essential guidance for CIOs, helping CIOs partner with and educate the business on a DX journey. L3D treats the delivery of DX-added business value as a continuous process of linking three critical IT leadership dimensions: innovation, integration and incorporation.
• Innovate — Partner with the business to create digital innovations.
• Integrate — Transition new technologies into stable business services.
• Incorporate — Evolve existing technology platforms continuously by infusing new skills, techniques, and culture.
IDC has predicted that by 2017, 60% of companies with a DX strategy will deem it too important a responsibility for any one functional area and create an independent corporate executive position to oversee the implementation of DX across the entire organization. The CIO is naturally a top candidate in today’s marketplace to assume this position. However, by choosing to go bi-modal, a CIO begins to “self-limit” by acknowledging that his or her role is that of an outdated participant responsible for keeping the lights on, not an acting enterprise-wide orchestrator of change. In this critical period of change, IT leaders must equip themselves to effectively change the mindset from digitization to digitalization (and DX) or find themselves made redundant as the new economy moves on without them.
Registration: To hear more about IDC’s Leading in 3D please join us for our live web conference, The Shortcomings of Bimodal IT: Digital Transformation Demands a Full Spectrum Leadership Model, scheduled on Wednesday, 13 July 2016 at 11:00am ET and 3:00pm ET (13 July 2016 at 1100pm SGT and 14 Jul 2016 0300AM SGT respectively). Alternatively, you can access the webcast on-demand to a more convenient time for you. Simply click on the hyperlinks to register for the live-viewing or on-demand access to this webinar.
For inquiries on this research, please contact your IDC account manager or Shari Jane Jansen at sjansen@idc.com. For media inquiries, please contact Tessa Rago at trago@idc.com or Alvin Afuang at aafuang@idc.com
About IDC
International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC’s analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world’s leading technology media, research, and events company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC
