Digital Transformation and ITSM

Digital Transformation Amid The Pandemic

The COVID pandemic has come as a wakeup call for many organizations and their leadership because in very limited time, the operations of the organization had to be transformed so that thousands of employees could work from home, that clients could be served the same products and services but from different settings, which in turn led to infrastructure investments amid global disruptions in 2020.

The choice that most companies faced when the pandemic struck in 2020 was to become more agile and resilient or risk being left behind in the changing world scenario.

This choice led to many organizations drastically accelerating their investments in business transformation using digital technologies to continue to serve their customers and exist in the unpredictable world scenario.

Today, companies worldwide realize that a more proactive approach is required to better prepare themselves for unpredictable incidents like COVID in the future, even considering the 2nd, 3rd, 4th waves of COVID as most probably unavoidable realities.

Before 2020, if you ever talked to a CEO of any organization, they would say that business transformation needed to be done but they were in no rush. But after the pandemic, business transformation closely linked with digital transformation has not only become “a must have” but the urgency of implementing strategies, systems and processes that would keep the organization functioning and operational at all times has become non-negotiable.

Many Business leaders now realize that digital transformation is a do or die situation for their organization, that they as a business would not be able to survive without it. And rightly so. Digital transformation can bring about multiple benefits like:

Improved Efficiency
Higher agility
Increased transparency
Better operations
Flexibility
Informed business decision making

And these lead to

Happier customers
More engaged employees
More professional company culture
Increased profitability

Companies who still don’t evolve digitally and upgrade digitally to keep up with the changing times either might face business stagnancy in the future or worse, even extinction.

Role of IT Infrastructure In Digital Transformation

In this digital era, the success of an organization is determined based on many new factors such as user experience, increased rapid time to value, and improved business models. To live up to the expectations of the changing times and changing environments, a fundamental change in the IT infrastructure is required.

To ensure a successful digital transformation, a strong, secure and reliable IT infrastructure is a must. IT infrastructure which covers data centers, communication networks, IT security, and end-user technology services, is the technology foundation that supports a company’s business strategy, its ability to innovate with technology, and its digital capabilities. Upgrading an IT Infrastructure to meet the strategic requirements of digital transformations requires proper planning and expertise to minimize downtime, manage costs and effort, and speed up deployment time.

Unfortunately, there are many organizations which are still working with outdated technology, high costs, and inadequate performance from service providers. With such outdated infrastructure, digital transformation and the growth associated with it can remain a distant dream.

Benefits of IT Infrastructure Transformation

As digital initiatives and technology advancements are happening, quality IT infrastructure has become a an absolute requirement. Right from back-end capabilities to customer facing advancements, to internal employee engagement applications to social collaboration tools, and the increasing use of cloud infrastructure, IT plays an important role in business transformation.

Following is an analysis of some of the benefits of IT Infrastructure to implement Digital Transformation:

Strong foundation

Just like a grand skyscraper would crumble without a strong foundation, IT infrastructure provides the base which shoulders your Digital Transformation applications. Even the best of applications cannot provide the promised performance if there is a network bottleneck or server resource crunch.

Better Return on Investment

Enhanced Security

As there are new threats and viruses introduced every day, the security of the IT infrastructure needs to be upgraded continuously too. Timely patch management, monitoring of alerts and taking quick actions on them, gap analysis and risk assessment, as just some of them. Thus, securing the infrastructure keeps the service providers on their toes most of the time ensuring smooth sailing, uninterrupted access to network resources for organizations.

Improved Service Levels

When high quality, upgraded digital infrastructure replaces old school infrastructure, the service team helping employees and customers is more efficient in managing tickets, issues and resolutions are achieved sooner than later.

Thus, the level of customer service is elevated leading to improvement in customer satisfaction.

Steps To Enhance IT Infrastructure

As we have established the fact that growth required Digital Transformation which in turn needs solid and well managed IT Infrastructure as the foundation for growth. But changing IT infrastructure dramatically in one go could be a complex process. Poorly planned changes could result in significant business systems and operational outages that block revenue.

So, we recommend asking the following questions about your IT Infrastructure readiness before embarking on your digital transformation journey:

Do you have the right server Infrastructure? Servers are required to host the applications and store data. You can directly subscribe some SaaS applications as a service from Cloud, but in many cases, you need to have your own on-premises servers. You need to decide and strategize as appropriate.
Do you have well designed Network? A strong and trouble-free Network helps in reliable connectivity between users and applications.
Do you have an automated backup system? An automated backup solution is a savior if your data is corrupt or your server crashes unexpectedly.
Is your network monitored 24×7? Network monitoring helps identify and rectify problems before they cause business downtime.
Do you have the right IT Team? IT Infrastructure is an amalgamation of many technologies, so it’s important to have people with different skill sets to manage IT efficiently. After all, implementation of an application is one-time, its management is life-long.
Do you have the right process? A well-defined process can bring the transparency and efficiency between users and IT and ensure smooth business operations.
Do you have the right tools? Efficient IT Operations management require tools like Helpdesk, ERP, asset management, accounting, etc.
Is your network secure? Unplanned digitization brings about security risks in the form of malware attacks, data theft, ransomware, etc. So, make sure you have proper protection in place like firewall, strong antivirus, etc.

Do You Have The Right Partner?

Who is your technology partner? Have they been there and done that? How much experience do they have in deploying high end systems and upgrading IT infrastructure? What is their success story? What are the results they have got for others? What do others have to say about them? Can you work with them in the long term? Would they stand by you when things get challenging ? Do they have the capacity to manage challenges?

These are some of the questions that you must consider before awarding the contract to potential vendors.

We at Decoding IT have been in this industry for 8+ years helping clients like you get to the next level of growth by helping them enhance their IT Infrastructure.

But we don’t just help in enhancement of IT Infrastructure, we take care of it from the bottom of our heart. We offer you the balanced framework of people, process and technology in our IT Service Management package. You can get more details at powermyit.com.