Legacy vs Legendary- How the Right Tech Strategy Can Change Your Business Paradigm

Future-ready, Flexible, on point, Human + Machine, Bespoke Strategy: The ethos of Radixweb

IT is no longer an elusive avenue. No matter what business you are in, the post-pandemic era and the global IT-scape calls for sporadic changes in your tech strategies. Today, every company is a tech company, and every CEO is a tech CEO. Your company's financial success will be determined more decisively than ever before by the technology path you take now, or rather should I say, the tech strategy you adopt.

Moreover, you can expect the global IT market to grow with a valuation of USD 26925229.38 million by 2032. However, needless to say, the majority of CEOs aren't getting the most out of their IT investments. Reasons aplenty, the most common being sand grabbing the wrong tech strategy. As a post-pandemic effect, business models have undergone overnight changes, and so have digital transformation roadmaps changed.

Since there has been a considerable spike in consumer engagement through modern tech, the world has seen several new forms of cyber risk emerge. It also outlines what firms who are reaping the benefits of enterprise innovation accomplished at five important decision points: progress, adaptation, timing, human-machine workforce, and strategy. Knowing what decisions to make at these points will aid leaders in establishing enterprise innovation models that will fuel Future Systems—boundless, flexible, and radically human.

Fitting Technology to the Right Socket vs Opting for Tech to Gain Bragging Rights

To disrupt the competitive status quo, every organization in every industry is increasingly resorting to technology-based innovation. Unfortunately, the vast majority of businesses do not realize the full benefit of their technological investments.

A recent survey of 188 US public company directors, corporate board members and RSMs revealed that around 60% board members mentioned that their firms are lacking apt digital leaders; while 83% said that they have been including tech transformations in their strategic decisions, 84% mentioned that their objectives behind digital transformation is ultimately customer satisfaction.

As senior members of our firms, we need to ask ourselves a few questions. Is it possible that we have the right technology but the incorrect application? Or are we at all leveraging our IT investments wisely?

The majority of businesses are making sub-optimal decisions about their technology investments. As a result of these less-than-ideal decisions, we've coined the term "innovation accomplishment gap." That's the disparity between their efforts' potential and actual value.

Let us now point out the 3 glaring risks associated with digital transformation drives in an era of hyper use:

1. New Disruptions:

Every day the world is getting new technology and iterations of the existing ones. So, the speed of tech adoption and its obsolescence is oftentimes at loggerheads. I have heard many CIOs crib at the fact that by the time they were warming up to technology, the market was hit with a newer version and their transformation drive lost steam.

2. Data Privacy:

One of the most notable outcomes of the pandemic on businesses was the tech boom. Almost every business wanted to incorporate new tech tools in order to stay relevant in the market; which again gave rise to an uncontrollable amount of virtual data. Nobody in the tech-scape was prepared to process and secure such enormous data burst and this gave rise to several data security breaches.

3. Lack of Apt Talent:

The dearth of and engaging the right resources has always been a challenge for the IT industry. IT businesses not only had to keep themselves constantly updated on perennial advancements, but also had to generate a new breed of techies with ever-changing requirement of capabilities, C-level executives are putting business unit, product, or geographical chiefs in control of the tech investment choices that touch their areas because they are under pressure to move quickly. In the short term, it works well. However, this results in a number of deeply entrenched, highly customized systems working in isolated areas of the business.

These technologies are incompatible at a time when technology innovation is becoming increasingly reliant on platforms, ecosystems, and enormous amounts of connected data to power AI systems.

Information that could help businesses innovate isn't shared. Even the most successful pilots can't be replicated across companies. Because of how personalized these systems have grown, updating and modifying them to work as they should become increasingly challenging over time.

CEOs are in grave danger of failing if they continue on this path. They must embark on a journey toward Future Systems based on their individualistic data. It's a whole new method, as well as an innovation and value multiplier.

It’s very crucial to point out that most firms operate on the basis of long-term tech strategies, which are maximum of a year, at the best. Short-term tech plans may seem cost-effective initially, but they aren’t sufficient for aligning an organization’s tech and business objectives. I would like to stress here that the core objective of leveraging technology is to aid business needs for achieving the organization’s mission and vision at large.

How Ultra-Modern Systems Can Surpass Legacy Software and Add Business Value?

We set out to figure out what the best IT investment strategy would be. Here's my take on the situation. -

Leaders:

Despite accounting for only 10% of the whole group, these companies grow revenue at more than twice the rate of the bottom 25% of the study group (the Reachers).

Reachers:

In 2018, organizations squandered 15% of their annual revenue. In 2023, the cost will be 46 percent of Reachers' annual revenue if both Leaders and Reachers continue on their current paths.

Middlers:

The middle 20% of the companies we evaluated, or those in the 40th to 60th percentile, grow revenue at more than 1.5 times the rate of Reachers. Leaders, on the other hand, continue to expand at a rate that is more than 50% quicker than Middlers.

Leaders vs the Rest (no one cares for consolation prizes)

How widely do you want to implement new technology across the organization?

By lowering prediction and calculation costs, new tech trends such as AI and cloud give up nearly infinite opportunities for altering corporate operations.

Reachers and even Middlers, on the other hand, tend to apply them to a small number of procedures, mainly in marketing and sales.

Even when organizations construct hubs and blur organizational boundaries, they don't connect the hubs to the rest of the organization. As a result, the corporation has no method to 'transfer' these inventions, which means they aren't as valuable.

Leaders change two times the number of processes as Middlers and three times the number of processes as Reachers.

Leaders analyze what other processes might use the same technologies when evaluating each process. They're continually considering the ramifications of a single investment.

I would like to define a few basic steps that would help you implement your tech strategy without a glitch:

1. Build a tech team to lead the transformation:

Engage your CTO/CIO followed by a team of tech experts (you can even hire tech consultants for varied perspectives) to form a blueprint. Do not forget to have people from the business verticals for a business-compatible plan.

2. Have a defined plan:

Lay down your business objectives first. Your tech advancements should never clash with your objectives down the line. Weaving your tech strategy around your business objectives clearly defines your DON’T’s. Also, do realize if your tech plans are in accordance with your company’s tech architecture. This will give you a due perspective on when your existing hardware and software will reach their expiry. That will enable you to draft the perfect timeline for implementing new technology.

3. Sell your tech strategy:

You need a host of people in your confidence – the leadership, the shareholders, and people within the organization. You must determine at this stage what, when, how and to whom communications are to be made.

Can Your Current IT Investments Adapt to Changing Business Needs?

Having IT systems that can adapt and respond to changing market situations appears to be a no-brainer. However, this is not the case in most businesses. Reachers may opt to patch a legacy system due to security concerns, for example. Patching is effective in the short term, but it only addresses the symptom rather than the fundamental problem.

Lifting and transferring apps to the cloud, as many Middlers want, is better but still insufficient. Data storage and computing expenses are reduced when data is moved to the cloud. However, it does not afford strategic flexibility.

Leaders don't only regard the cloud as a data center. They see it as a driver for cross-silos and cross-business innovation.

Is Your Timing Right

What is your plan, schedule, and sequence for implementing new technologies?

Reachers and Middlers are waiting to see what happens.

Most Reachers, for example, explore new technology but do it incorrectly in terms of timing and sequencing.

Middlers may explore while also doubling down on industry-specific, specialized technology. Both options are unsatisfactory: Failure to sequence technology adoption at the core reduces technology investment returns. Concentrating on industry-specific technology binds businesses to specific technologies. This limits their future potential to pivot or mix technologies.

Leaders adopt new technologies at a faster rate than the rest of the group. And, before attempting to scale them, they put in place the procedures that will allow them to do so.

Human + Machine Workforce

How will you make it possible for your employees to be augmented by technology?

Reachers' most appealing option is to rely on tried-and-true, one-size-fits-all training programs. This is because they frequently feel that when new talents are required, they can acquire already-trained specialists. However, skills are increasingly becoming obsolete, and job descriptions are changing at a faster rate than ever before.

Employees' specific needs are better matched to the most relevant training programs by middlers. However, this strategy overlooks the necessity for people to be able to work with sophisticated technologies in the future.

In comparison to Middlers and Reachers, most Leaders employ experience learning in tandem with intelligent technologies like AI, analytics, and machine learning (ML) to forecast and match worker training with essential job abilities and even rewrite job descriptions.

Leaders are actively seeking to leverage technology to make work more engaging while also increasing productivity. These efforts, crucially, also enhance their relationships with employees.

Radixweb's Distinctive Edge

Strategy brings together decisions concerning advancement, adaptation, timeliness, and the human-machine workforce. How a company integrates its technological investments will ultimately decide how well it is poised to avoid disruption and exploit opportunities.

Reachers effectively democratize IT by allowing business units to address their unique pain areas (the first choice). This method enables the units to move quickly. However, it leads to "shadow IT" which is handled by people who are not part of the IT department. As a result, systems are unable to communicate with one another, limiting strategic agility.

The same can be said for focusing on neighboring markets or experimenting with new company methods. The issue is that disruption can occur anywhere, not only in the markets that a corporation is interested in.

My parting words are that as a Tech Consultant of a leading software development company, I thrive on building a powerful presence in the market while providing optimal value to my people and my clients by leveraging the power of technology. From infrastructural upgrades to fostering an ever-learning culture, we at Radixweb are poised at the brink of a technological revolution to take legacy as a concept to levels nothing short of legendary.