With the almost incredible strides that technology has made over the past two decades, IT leaders are quickly becoming critical players in fueling business transformation. But with the nearly overwhelming amount of technology introduced daily, it's even hard for CIOs to know where to invest their attention.
Even though the tech market is expected to slow from 4.5% in 2019 to 3.8% in 2020, due to economic uncertainty, the growth gap between business and back-office tech is expected to narrow. This trend is, in large part, to many companies' efforts to reduce operating costs and preserve profit margins.
Also, the driving forces behind increased tech spending still exist. These include things like the adoption of cloud, artificial intelligence, improved analytics tools, back-office tech, as well as CX-oriented technologies.
If you haven't invested already, here is how IT creates business value for your organization.
Tackling IoT Data
Many companies today can capture and analyze data, but very few have the necessary infrastructure to deploy and manage IoT applications based on that data. As edge computing becomes more sophisticated, businesses require efficient storage and processing capabilities that can collect, analyze, and act on that data. A priority of every IT team is to develop the right platform that can do this and maximize the business value of IoT.
Eliminating Old and Irrelevant Data Metrics
A lot of organizations still operate on siloed data, the ever-present spreadsheets, and multiple versions of the same data. By defining and using a data analytics platform that can deliver actionable and data-driven intelligence across the business, companies can retire half, if not more, of its legacy reports.
Adopting AI and ML
AI and machine learning are vital aspects of digital transformation. A comprehensive and integrated data environment is an essential component for robotics, AI, and IoT, that can get all the information out of dissipated documents and into a single source that's always up-to-date. Such an environment makes it possible to get real-time information on schedules and budgets, as well as to make the company more flexible and resilient to future economic uncertainties.
Improve Customer Experience
Customers today judge a company based on the experiences they offer. CX is more important than the price or the product itself. IT teams should focus their attention using data to create an easy-to-read customer profile, which will then be used to generate a unified customer experience for every individual. It will provide them with a consistent and contextualized customer experience across all channels and touchpoints. Such CX will be able to deliver higher rates of trust, customer satisfaction, retention, and higher profitability down the line.
Catering to the Mobile Workforce
Customers, partners, and employees all expect anytime-anywhere access to information. Although very few businesses are prepared enough to embrace the proliferation of wireless devices in the modern workplace. Telecommuting and cross-departmental collaboration are at an all-time high and are only expected to get larger. It demands more flexibility in terms of when, where, and from which devices; employees do their work. Unfortunately, many companies do not have the necessary wireless infrastructure to cater to this mobile workforce. The IT department will be vital in keeping up with this demand.
Security and Costs
Data breaches and other forms of cybercrime have never been more prevalent. Then, there's the matter of compliance to various governmental regulations such as the EU's GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), etc. IT leaders and departments can implement solutions and leverage technologies that tackle security threats and manage regulatory compliance issues, saving companies on costs.
It can also help manage to spend across the organization by deploying the right technologies. One of the most significant issues in this regard are the costs associated with added services when businesses buy their own SaaS tools. IT can determine what's needed and what's not, to mitigate unnecessary spending.
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