Introduction
We have been talking about the digital transformation for a number of years now. And although many interesting developments keep appearing that are part of the transformation, the exponential change that was predicted by many does not seem to happen. Here are three reasons why the transformation takes more time.
The exponential change that was predicted by many does not seem to happen
1. It takes time to move from CAPEX to OPEX
Operating Expenses or OPEX refers to the costs of a company’s day-to-day operations while Capital Expenditure or CAPEX refers to the expenses a business incurs to create benefits in the future. Though the advantages of moving your IT spending (or parts of it) into the ‘OPEX’-realm for IT services seem obvious, CFO’s are still reluctant to do so. Even for the ones that are subjected to fast changes (which applies to most IT Services).
Part of the problem is due to the CAPEX paradigm where organizations and its financial managers have been raised. But also many organizations have considerable ‘sunk cost’ that needs to be written off. So, what is the right moment to switch?
Finally, going from CAPEX to OPEX often means the move from ‘doing it yourself’ to ‘let someone else do it for me’. This means you need to think about things like security of the partner you select.
Will you still be sleeping at night when your General Ledger and CRM are ‘floating in the cloud’? And of course, your IT department may have something to say about this as well which brings us to the next reason.
2. IT departments defending their position
As stated in the first point, bringing part of your IT ‘to the cloud’ often means doing less yourself. Some IT departments will not be happy about this.
Many at times new IT products and partners seem to IT departments as career threats or as more work. In other cases, these departments enjoy a certain level of 'privilege' on decision-making. When it comes to selecting new IT products and partners, they may use that power to defend their position.
IT departments have considerable power because of their domain knowledge within the organization. This allows them to reject technologies or solutions that goes against their biases!
3. Overwhelming choice of solutions
Cloud Services like SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), aPaaS (application Platform as a Service), IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), DaaS (Desktop as a Service) are fast becoming the norm for any business. However, the number of solutions are growing so fast that selecting the right system for you requires a significant investment in time and money.
Changing market and evolving competition makes it hard to predict which players will survive. So, sticking to your old but stable systems may not seem to be such a bad idea, until it collapses altogether one day!
This 'paradox of choice' is not something that is going to change anytime soon. Adapting to this changing landscape may take some time but it is a worthwhile investment to explore and find out what works best for your organization.
So, would you rather wait and fail or adapt your strategies with the changing times we live in?
Conclusion
Is the digital transformation stalling? We don’t think so. But there are reasons why digital transformations may take more time.
There is no 'One size fits all' solution. Being aware of digital transformation speed breakers and blockers can help you find your unique approach for your organization.
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