CIO OPINION
Ireland , developed a comprehensive cloud- and dataled strategy that enabled swift and effective action , leading to great results .
The ability to automate and standardise processes before scaling them across a business is the bread and butter of Digital Transformation .
Chris Zissis , Global Chief Information & Technology Officer – Capital Markets and Valuation Advisory at JLL , a global commercial real estate company , shares the company ’ s approach to integrating its fragmented tech and data stack and automating and digitising core business processes end-to-end . The result was a sophisticated global tech platform and peerless digital capability .
Not all transformations will be quick , but their impact upon an organisation ’ s ability to react faster in the future is worth the ‘ hard slog ’.
Once the team is on board , the transformation can progress quickly . Shakeel Butt , CTO at Green Flag , started with a tech team of six and scaled this up to 100 . On the way , he convinced the entire company to go agile – and now even HR is working to fortnightly sprints , like the product development teams .
Similarly , when Nationwide ’ s CIO , Gary Delooze , joined the Building Society in 2017 to help rebuild its technology capability and break its dependence on third parties , it often took six or seven hand-offs to get one task done . Now , with a unified and capable IT team , he claims that culture has been the success factor or blocker for everything the company has done .
3 . Embrace public cloud , automation and data
The public cloud is widely acknowledged to be the workhorse of modern Digital Transformation . It provides the scale , power and flexibility required to rapidly add capabilities , deliver services and create products .
Central to Compass Group ’ s Digital Transformation , Jon Braithwaite , Chief Information Officer , UK &
The most common method of generating additional revenue streams was to turn to data . Paul Whyte helped turn Best Food Logistics , a previously loss-making food logistics company operating the supply chains for some of the UK ’ s best-loved chain restaurants , into a powerful data aggregator , utilising Big Data and cloud-based reporting to optimise deliveries and provide exceptional customer service .
The company has subsequently grown and improved commercial rates and was acquired by Booker Group , a Tesco subsidiary .
4 . Actively foster flexibility and resilience that fits you and your company
Even the most monolithic of organisations can work towards the same flexibility as agile , modern startups . Not all transformations will be quick , but their impact upon an organisation ’ s ability to react faster in the future is worth the ‘ hard slog ’, as Matthew Griffin , Head of Commercial Telecommunications at TFL puts it .
His talent lies in the ability to slowly but surely edge mammoth projects forward in the midst of an enormous , complex network of demanding stakeholders . The travelling public expect no corners cut .
For Hima Mandali , Chief Technology Officer at Solarisbank , the effect of keeping things simple , flexible and independent at the organisation has paid off as customer Vivid Money , a German challenger bank , was able to build a whole new bank from scratch in just five months .
And when Carola Wahl began at AXA , there were a huge 400 transformation initiatives in play , which Wahl whittled down to 10 . Her advice is to choose a few breakthrough initiatives every year and stay focused . p
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