Future of IT

To achieve market speed, increasing numbers of organizations are embracing modern delivery techniques, including formal and informal agile techniques, such as Kanban, LEAN etc. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach with Agile or Waterfall, digital leaders are rightsizing their processes as a function of scope, risk, impact, and cost.  

For IT, this means aligning the methodology to the task at hand. For scenarios requiring deployment of large, complex, monolithic and highly structured technology (e.g., ERP), an agile approach alone might not make sense. Many digital leaders embrace hybrid approaches, where traditional and modern methods allow for an innovative balance of teaming structures, execution cadence, and incremental delivery. When exploring new capabilities, modern delivery methods support iterative delivery. This can help organizations “test and learn” quickly to balance speed, agility, risk, and maximize alignment to target their business ambitions.  

Another emerging aspect of modern delivery is the DevSecOps model, which automates the connection points between Development, Security, and Operations. This provides organizations with the tools and agility to enable change quickly and efficiently. DevSecOps also helps enhance operations integrity and security, and provides increased control and compliance visibility. 

Modern delivery requires new skills and more flexible engagement. Organizations that manage their own IT will need to invest differently to create and sustain leading IT capabilities. The war for talent has focused significant attention on the needs of the modern adaptive workforce. Digital leaders embrace the full spectrum of IT sourcing options to enhance their captive and traditional resource pools. This would include contractors, boutique firms, and gig workers.  

Instead of having internal people managing everything, operating models are making room for new processes and skillsets and deploying them in an agile manner – precisely when they’re needed, for the specific tasks required. In tandem, they’re building new structures to support new talent and retain knowledge.  

To gain speed and manage risk, digital leaders leverage data. Data capability used to be about maintaining records and connecting systems. Today, it’s about exposing information to make effective decisions quickly. Organizations and, by extension, IT teams, are now focused on data as a strategic asset – and on its potential monetization. IT is deeply bound up in the data value chain and has an increasingly critical role in protecting its integrity. To truly benefit from data as an asset, and serve the data savvy executive, organizations will need to elevate data skills across the organization.

While business and technology leaders recognize the value of the market speed operating model, problems arise when they collide with existing processes, like governance and funding. These functions are traditionally hierarchical and tightly controlled. To help enable market speed IT, digital leaders are embracing dynamic funding models, where technology is in direct support of business units and tied directly to P&L. Instead of releasing funds at fixed frequencies, organizations are enabling rolling windows of funding. This shift in IT is starting important conversations elsewhere, for instance, about the impact of shared capability on finance and investment. 

The market speed IT operating model exists to enable a value driving and differentiated customer experience. The degree to which customers reward a compelling experience is contingent on trust.  Customer trust is more than cyber defence and privacy compliance, it includes the perception of trustworthiness spanning the entire experience. IT therefore needs to start thinking about the end customer and about building customer trust across the whole value chain. This is a huge leap from the classic view that saw the IT function as shielding the organization from external threats. This new perspective touches every aspect of technology capabilities – from latency, to availability, to operating hours. Adaptive IT hones in on operational details that help prioritize and enhance the end-customer experience.