Digital transformation: securing your company’s future | 7wData

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When it comes to the marriage between organisations and technology, digital transformation is often the unspoken relationship problem that needs to be addressed.  

Digital transformation, or using technology to make processes more effective and efficient while opening-up new business opportunities, is usually (and quite rightfully) high up on the business agenda. Keeping up with the latest technologies and upgrading strategic processes accordingly should enable a more agile and robust way of working – an aim of forward thinking organisations.   

According to a report we conducted with IDG Connect, digital transformation is a key focus for organisations across key Western European markets, with 60 per cent of current IT investment designed to support future business expansion and growth.

However, despite decades of investments in IT infrastructure, very few companies say they’re hitting the mark when it comes to fully upgrading to digital technologies.

It is imperative for CIOs to focus on implementing digital transformation, however, there are factors holding them back.

Almost two-thirds (64 per cent) of organisations have struggled to adequately implement cloud, mobile or Big Data analytics as they are unable to keep up with the pace of change of technology and 64 per cent of businesses admit to struggling with the speed of digital change. This is understandable as new solutions and technology innovations are developed at relentless speed.

Although investment in digital transformation is a key focus for organisations, the cost of implementation can often become a stumbling block – for some this is an expensive makeover which makes it a difficult commitment.

Interestingly, as much as 63 per cent of businesses also state that finding the right partners is a barrier to implementation. Organisations that want to undergo a digital transformation need strategic partners to help them implement innovative technology and drive process change. Strong partnerships enable agile projects and strategic bets on technology platforms.

Finding the right partners can be achieved by effective research and by having the right conversations. You should be sure to discuss your stance on cloud hosting, user experience and training – also highlight your policy on service level agreements (SLA) and response times. Discussing these issues will help you to make the right decision.

The desire for access to company data is spurring a surge in targeted cyber-attacks each year and these are becoming more sophisticated. Effective digital transformation must guard against these threats.

Digital transformation isn’t just for ensuring robustness and agility, data security is also a key consideration for many organisations. Cyber-attacks are growing in numbers and equally in strength of attack vectors. When you consider that on average four to five new malware variants were discovered every second in 2016, it’s clear that security is going to remain top of the agenda for many businesses.

The growth of the Internet of Things and connected devices is likely to cause additional security headaches for companies pursuing transformation. Cyber-attacks are no longer contained to just computers, attackers are sharply discovering new weak points, caused by the proliferation of connected devices. Any company roadmap for digital transformation needs to take this into consideration.