Managed Services: How ICT drives business transformation

ICT leaders should play a pivotal role helping their companies succeed at digital transformation.

With the support of their CEO, CIOs need to deploy Managed Services to support a successful digital transformation that keeps their company competitive while retaining focus on the ongoing business.

Digital transformation is imperative because barriers to entry that used to protect established companies are crumbling as innovation disrupts industries, overturning long-standing incumbents. Companies that intermediate without adding significant value or have high costs or fail to create “sticky” relationships with customers are most at risk.

According to respondents to a recent survey, 52% of business leaders say that have already experienced significant disruption to their industries because of digital technologies and 78% consider digital start-ups to be a threat. Therefore, digital transformation is an imperative for every part of every business, including Information Communications and Technology (ICT) departments. CIO’s should take the lead in ensuring that technology helps to: Make it easy for customers to find, research and buy from you.

• Generate more revenue from your existing customers
• Penetrate new markets that were previously inaccessible
• Create entirely new products and services based on digital analytics

But CIOs must also continue to maintain their legacy environments including their systems of record. Assigning internal resources to manage and staff transformation initiatives risks a loss of focus on customers and operations. ICT must find a way to keep key resources focused on day-to-day decisions and processes that will maintain competitiveness until the benefits of transformation start to be realized.

Companies that are determined to achieve digital transformation must work with a service provider who will deliver Managed Services to achieve a balance between transformation and running the ongoing business.