Digital transformation is a prerequisite for survival in the vast majority of industries – and the effects of rapid technological advances can be felt all the way to the core of a company’s business. The organizations that manage to react in an agile way are far better prepared to respond quickly to new technologies and changing consumer trends.
Just look back to the way the world was 20 years ago: No Google searches, smartphones or Netflix. Today, technological development is storming ahead, and technology plays a crucial role in the way companies work and adapt.
The key to survival and keeping your company relevant is agility. This means developing a structure that enables your company to act quickly and effortlessly; a company that is flexible and can adapt to new market conditions as soon as they arise.
Make the whole company agile
Where agility as a concept used to belong exclusively to the company's IT department, it has now become a general phenomenon that can be felt throughout the entire organization. Digital transformation affects all areas of a company. Being ready for change and continuously prioritizing and adjusting the business has become a must for virtually everyone.
Technological development affects all companies in all industries. In order to remain relevant in the long run, companies should drop the "we usually" approach - because it is no longer possible to predict or control a process from start to finish.
DevOps makes your company more agile
For many companies, technology is no longer just a tool, but the core service of the business itself. This process of change requires concrete actions in a company's technology, culture and processes.
DevOps is a professional movement aimed at unifying Development and Operations. When these two different business units work in collaboration with each other, it is possible to implement new services on an ongoing basis. This means that the company can work at the speed dictated by the market and become a truly agile company.
DevOps completely transforms the way companies develop and deliver services. With more frequent software launches, it is possible to achieve a faster time-to-market, where the focus is on higher levels of customer experience and satisfaction.
Pretotyping – fail fast, recover fast
Pretotyping is basically a "fail fast, recover fast" method for launching new digital services, ideas, and products. The idea is to launch a minimum viable product (MVP) and then collect valuable market and user data. This allows for an early and qualitative evaluation of whether your solution meets the needs and expectations of the target group.
Pretotyping allows you to take a "go/no-go" decision about a new project in the early beta phase – before investing time and money in prototypes or finished solutions. For this reason, the model is perfect for organizations that work in an agile way. With pretotyping, you can quickly pull the plug on ideas that haven't quite hit home yet. This leaves you the time, money and enthusiasm to either try some fine-tuning or experiment with brand new ideas until you discover what your target audience really wants.
Pretotyping represents a break with the traditional "waterfall model", where the company plans processes from start to finish down to the smallest detail. This model usually results in long production cycles with the risk that the product becomes obsolete or fails to impress the target group by the time the launch is finally ready.
Implementing a cloud in your day-to-day work
To achieve a more agile working process and react to quickly changing market needs, more and more companies are choosing a cloud-based platform as part of their digital transformation.
Cloud solutions typically shorten data delivery time and enable large amounts of data to be handled quickly. Many cloud services allow for individual selection of business applications for their system in the same way as people choose applications for their smartphones.
Because cloud solutions deliver great flexibility, scalability, availability and pay-per-use, it already plays a significant business role for many organizations. By going cloud it is possible to work in an agile way – no matter the size of the company. It also means that data security is kept high on the agenda.
How agile is your company?
Is your organization ready for digital transformation? Both markets and companies are undergoing major changes as a result of rapid technological development. By making good use of technology's numerous opportunities, you can ensure that your organization is agile enough to react quickly to the sudden demands of a changing market.
