IT Helps Shatter Competition!

Want to leave your competition in the dust? Don’t forget the significant advantage IT initiatives can deliver!

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This is the compelling message in the research report: Mind the Gap: Insights from Accenture’s Third Global IT Performance Research that is based on the feedback from CIOs at more than 225 of the world’s largest private and public organizations. Researchers noted that well-run firms have increased their gap with the competition when compared to what was observed last in 2008.

I offer below my takeaways from the report – actionable steps businesses can take when implementing technology to support profitable growth:

• Improve Customer Satisfaction by Web-enabling interactions. High performers tapped IT to deliver on core business objectives.
• Diligently Measure Progress and benefits delivered by IT. High performers made the case for new IT initiatives and diligently measured their progress and benefits.
• Know When to Switch to new applications instead of maintaining existing ones. As business processes evolve, there comes a time when maintaining existing applications takes more effort than creating new ones with features in line with current needs.
• Prioritize Workforce Performance by reviewing business workflows and developing effective business intelligence and analytics capabilities that help teams do their jobs better through access to needed data in real-time.
• Leverage Resilient IT Technologies by evaluating IT infrastructure and platform automation environments that are the backbone of private and/or public clouds. This allows them to deploy such technologies quickly when they make sense for the business.
• Implement Transparency of Processes by deploying real-time dashboards and alerts that make it easy to understand where bottlenecks are so solutions can be developed.
• Manage Corporate Knowledge and Resources through investments in standardization, worker skill development, market trend analysis, retiring workforce transition plan, and new career tracks for future work. There are numerous technology tools in the market that help better manage key aspects of such initiatives and efforts.
• Develop Strategic Partnerships with specialists who enhance the firm’s skill set and allow it to act with agility and flexibility. By using such outsourcing strategically, high performing organizations lower their total cost of ownership for applications and infrastructure.

The study found that it is possible to improve the value IT provides in helping an organization gain competitive advantage while at the same time delivering IT more economically. In other words, deriving more value from technology and improving its economy need not be mutually exclusive.

Conclusion

You and your technology service providers have a choice: Maintain the status quo, or take deliberate steps focused on leveraging technology to foster business agility, innovation and execution. The approach you and your team takes will determine the outcomes you are likely to see.

About the Author

Ranjit has been writing on computer topics since 1987 and has authored five books on CAD (MicroStation and AutoCAD). His next book (sixth) is on success in life and business (Be-A-Teacher.com). He is the founder of RAM Corporation, a licensed Professional Engineer and the Chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers National Capital Section's (asce-ncs.org) Automation Committee. He welcomes comments and feedback via email. To email the author, use the Contact Us page on this Website.