Over the past two years, businesses of all types and sizes have relied heavily on their IT teams, not only to help them overcome the challenges of the Covid pandemic, but also to give them hope for success. ‘a better future.
Wonderful things are happening to businesses that appreciate the power of IT. That’s what a report released by PwC shows, which highlights positive correlations when IT and business professionals work together.
“A common vision with [le] business world “
PwC’s survey, based on responses from 1,040 business leaders and 210 IT managers, finds that “IT leaders” are more likely to invest in cloud technologies, including business applications, infrastructure and development platforms. These digital leaders represent around a fifth of all technical executives surveyed. PwC defines them as leaders who “have a shared vision with their business peers”.
“IT leaders have also made significant investments in process automation, putting tools in the hands of employees to get things done faster, leaving them more time to spend on business-focused work. value and knowledge, ”says Jenny Koehler, partner at PwC and co-author of the report.
“As an interface technology, APIs allow companies to modularize their systems for easy replacement and upgrades,” she explains. “APIs also serve as an authorization technology that grants outsiders carefully balanced access to internal resources. These features not only allow a business to quickly reconfigure its systems based on issues and opportunities, but also outsiders to rely on the company’s digital real estate. “
How reverse businesses create value
These investments have paid off, as the PwC survey shows. IT leaders are more likely to see improved financial performance, as well as greater innovation and productivity.
IT managers can also help move their organization towards a platform strategy, which helps create value beyond the walls of the organization. In the digital world of the 2020s, more of the value comes from outside the company, which is made possible by the right technology structure, write Marshall W. Van Alstyne and Geoffrey G. Parker in the Harvard Business Review.
This emerging model, which the co-authors call a “reverse business,” relies on a platform strategy. It means “providing the tools and the market to help partners grow”. In contrast, incumbents typically use digital transformation to improve the efficiency of their current operations.
How to solve this problem ? “Digital investments need to put the firm in place to partner with users, developers and merchants, at scale, with a focus on value creation, which is the foundation of the reversal. the firm. “
The co-authors, in the Harvard Business Review, quote a study of 179 companies which confirms the effectiveness of this inverted model. Companies that have used application programming interfaces (APIs) to open up their services to outside partners or customers “have experienced an average growth of 38% over 16 years.”
“As an interface technology, APIs allow companies to modularize their systems for easy replacement and upgrades,” they explain. “APIs also serve as an authorization technology that grants outsiders carefully balanced access to internal resources. These features not only allow a business to quickly reconfigure its systems based on issues and opportunities, but also outsiders to rely on the company’s digital real estate. “
Bringing the commitment beyond IT
Executives, managers and IT professionals will play a leading role in their business. Business leaders expect no less.
Based on the results of these surveys, which reflect the gains IT teams can make, industry analysts make several recommendations.
The company must first of all be engaged well beyond IT. “Tech leaders should proactively engage their peers,” recommends Jenny Koehler of PwC.
It will then be necessary to be able to take advantage of the network effect, explain the analysts. “Among reverse businesses, the network effects that appear when partners create value for each other are a major source of growth in intangibles,” say Marshall W. Van Alstyne and Geoffrey G. Parker. “The ability to coordinate the creation and exchange of value (user-to-user, partner-to-partner, and partner-to-user) is one of the ways that traditional businesses are transforming. It also makes it possible to change the scale. Transforming atoms into bits improves margins and range. The transformation from the inside to the outside amplifies ideas and resources. “
Finally, analysts are turning their attention to cloud acceleration. “Align your business stakeholders with the promise of the cloud, depending on the industry you’re in and where you’re at in your journey,” recommends Jenny Koehler. “It requires making specific choices about how the cloud will help differentiate the business – what digital and technological capabilities you develop, the customer issues you will solve, and the role your business plays in industry or others. ecosystems. “
Source: ZDNet.com