Start to look at how your operating model and organisational structure needs to change, and what role technology plays in bringing that value proposition to life.
What are the most important considerations for organisations that are planning to accelerate?
The first piece of advice for organisations planning to accelerate transformation is to remember that digital is not a tactic, it’s something that enables a specific business strategy. Throwing technology at a poor strategy does not support acceleration, it only creates more ineffeciency.
Organisations should start by ensuring that everyone understands where the business is going. This means understanding what customers expect, and what value the organisation can provide to help meet those expectations. From there you can start to look at how your operating model and organisational structure needs to change, and what role technology plays in bringing that value proposition to life.
Brands that are leading the field in building resilience and agility are those that have broken down traditional IT silos. They are creating environments that are collaborative, with strategy, technology and operations all working together to bring the customer experience to life.
How do you help organisations become more resilient? And what role does leadership culture and mindset play in that?
Resilience and agility are capabilities that are being created very successfully in the start-up space. If you look at companies that are built with lean, start-up methodologies, using sprint development, then you can see that they are highly resilient and agile, in the sense that they’re built, operationally speaking, to make rapid decisions.
In my 2021 book about digital transformation, I wrote that brands that are leading the field in building resilience and agility are those that have broken down traditional IT silos. They are creating environments that are collaborative, with strategy, technology and operations all working together to bring the customer experience to life.
This agile mindset is a capability that has to be developed, either by hiring externally or upskilling internally. It is the responsibility of the leadership team to create that agility, to operationalise it, and ultimately to deliver it. Speed and agility is often cited as being something organisations want, but aligning and onboarding the necessary skills can be challenging.
We have invested in new technology that enables Icreon to work remotely, while enabling increased digital interaction.
PAUL MISER
Chief Strategy Officer
Icreon
How has the pandemic influenced the way that you deliver your services?
Over the past 18 months we have invested in new technology that enables Icreon to work remotely, while enabling increased digital interaction.
We use Teams and Jira to communicate remotely, following SAFE (Scaled Agile Framework) methodologies. This combination has improved productivity, and we’re working with clients to help them achieve similar growth and to adopt agile frameworks.
We provide a new, expanded methodology into their organisations, teaching them SAFE methodologies and restructuring IT teams to integrate some of those leading-edge technologies. There can be a good deal of hype around new technologies and we provide a point of caution. It’s more important that we bring you up to a point of parity than rushing to deploy blockchain. Essentially, organisations need to understand who they are before rushing into any new technology adoption.
Icreon is a digital solutions agency based in New York. The company helps organisations to build customer experiences that drive organisational growth. This means helping business leaders to match their business strategy, using agile methodologies and cutting-edge technologies. The firm has huge expertise in how businesses are evolving, and how technology brings this innovation to life to drive growth and business success.