Digital Transformation can be a daunting undertaking for CEOs to consider and prioritize in their organizations, but the alternative is much, much worse. When businesses fail to meet changing market expectations, clients will go where their needs can be met. The internet has shrunk the world, which means you no longer have the benefit of location or loyalty to rest on. A perfect example of a missed opportunity is in the historic overtaking of Blockbuster by Netflix. The lesson we all learned was in a world of Blockbusters, be a Netflix.
How to Be a Netflix, Not a Blockbuster
In the 90’s Blockbuster was the largest movie corporation out there, with no true competition. In comes Netflix starting with mail order service, then Redbox put kiosks in grocery stores, and streaming services started to pick up steam. Blockbuster did not follow suit or use its size to outpace the competition. By 2014 the last 300 Blockbuster stores had closed, and Netflix had 50 million subscribers. Six years later in 2020, after continued innovation and growth, Netflix has over 73 million subscribers. What does this have to do with your company? Technical Innovation is changing the game for companies today and CEOs who lead their organizations in adapting and digitally transforming will survive and thrive, but there is reluctance to prioritize it among some CEOs.
Although 84% of executives agree on innovation as an integral factor in growth strategy, only 6% of them are satisfied with innovation performance. (McKinseyv& Co). Why is that? What is it about digital transformation that fails? Primarily, it comes back to a cloudy understanding of the technology needed to meet the needs of the innovation ideas and how the two meet in the middle for successful testing and innovation.
Overcoming Employee Resistance
A true digital transformation can alter a business at every level, this is where employers can run into some resistance from their staff. Change can be intimidating and scary and humans find comfort in stability. Sometimes, it’s just as simple as the fear of the unknown and poor communication. A great way to overcome employee resistance is to communicate the benefits of digital transformation and how it can make their job easier and positively impact business. Let your employees know that going virtual can improve client retention, increase revenue, streamline the sales process, create remote work opportunities, put the business at a competitive advantage, and improve growth.
Transformation Leads to Competitive Advantage for You AND Your Clients
A client of Data Canopy’s, Itiviti, is a leading technology and service provider to financial institutions worldwide. They have partnered with Data Canopy to make a cloud transformation of their entire electronic trading platform. Itiviti opted for a hybrid private-public cloud strategy to reinforce the modularity and flexibility of their platform. This cloud transformation will give Itiviti’s clients improved operational performance, increased efficiency, greater security, and reduced IT costs. Itiviti will also enable capital market players to seamlessly extend the deployment of their business across the globe by leveraging the new cloud-based trading infrastructure. Itiviti worked together with Data Canopy through the entire discovery and strategic planning process. “The most important aspect of the project for all our business lines is to enable future growth and drive business innovation,” states Antoine Moreau, Head of Infrastructure Services at Itiviti.
Can You Do It?
A question every executive team should ask themselves: Are our goals dictated by the way we have always done business, or by the ideas that we have that will spur change and growth? Finding trusted technology partners and new staff to bring your ideas to fruition should never be a hindrance, but instead should be an opportunity. There are so many options today to bring platforms online, with cloud services for testing and building ideas, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS) companies, mobile apps already built and ready to be customized, a lack of knowledge or expertise in any or all of these should never be the reason that innovation is not embraced. Experts are available who can guide you through the discovery, planning, and migration process to ensure that your company is maximizing efficiency, cost, and performance every step of the way.
At Data Canopy, we pride ourselves in forming lasting partnerships with companies we serve. If you are considering taking the leap to digital transformation click here to speak with one of our advisors.
