WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

Even before congested ports and parts and labor shortages began to snarl supply chains in 2020, companies needed to update their supply-chain technology. They haven’t done themselves any favors by clinging to manual systems and antiquated software, including one widely used application that’s so old the provider will soon stop supporting it.

Focusing on business processes can lead companies to end up with multiple systems that perform similar functions, such as customer-relationship management. Concentrating too much on technology can cause EA teams to organize their work around building applications rather than enabling the business.

Digitalization is now going mainstream. For example, the Economist has devoted a full issue to it.  “Whether you are going for a run, watching TV or even just sitting in traffic, virtually every activity creates a digital trace—more raw material for the data distilleries. Meanwhile, artificial-intelligence (AI) techniques such as Machine Learning extract more value from data. Algorithms can predict when a customer is ready to buy, a jet-engine needs servicing or a person is at risk of a disease.”

Digital transformations are, by their very nature, complex. There are multiple moving parts, integrated processes and technologies, and the need for expertise that cannot already be found in the company. In most firms, however, there is a small cadre of technology professionals who can impose relative order on the proceedings. CEOs and CIOs should consider the benefits of pulling enterprise architects closer to the center: bringing them to the table with business leaders, devising metrics that reveal the value of their work, and creating the type of incentives that will challenge them and prompt them to stay for the long term. Such an approach is critical not just for limiting risk and protecting against the potential challenges and downsides of digital transformations but also for ensuring a clear upside—a close and lasting partnership between the business and IT.

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5 key recommendations

1. Don’t reject BYOD — be prepared for it. Give your IT administrators actionable data on device ownership and health that can inform risk-based access control decisions.
2. Encourage safe computing practices and good security hygiene, such as running regular security updates or using device encryption, passcodes and additional authentication to protect systems and data.
3. Configure systems and deploy policies that enable automatic updates for as much software as possible to remove some of the friction that users feel when manually installing updates. We found that an overwhelming number of out-of-date browsers and systems don’t take basic steps like enabling automatic updates.
4. Switch to browser platforms that update more frequently and automatically, like Google Chrome.
5. Disable Java and prevent Flash from running automatically on corporate devices, and enforce this on user-owned devices through endpoint access policies and controls.