It is nothing new for IT organizations to be at a strategic fork in the road, where paths seem to lead in radically different directions. Right now, many are torn between sticking to a familiar path and taking the road not yet travelled. Is there a third way to put enterprise IT on the right track? Derek Britton has a map – and a way out of the digital dilemma.
Tricky Business
If running the IT enterprise was ever easy, those days are over. COVID changed everything. Transformation plans either accelerated or changed direction. The market mood today is one of conflict between managing both short-term resilience and future change in a constantly shifting digital landscape. It seems a left or right fork choice. A digital dilemma.
Change is—of course—inevitable. The dilemma is about how to manage that left fork change—the road to transformation—while staying on the right track to run day-to-day business operations in dynamic markets. Micro Focus calls this “run and transform.”
In my recent Network Computing article, I talked about the organizational “digital dilemma” and you will hear that a lot in the forthcoming months. But what is it—and how can Micro Focus help our customers resolve these directional conflicts?
Run and Transform
Supporting our customers is what Micro Focus does. We help direct our enterprise customers into tomorrow by creating the enabling tech they need to succeed in the digital economy. That’s the transform piece. At the same time, we help them achieve positive change while maintaining business as usual—we sometimes call this ‘keeping the lights on,’ and this is the ‘run’ part.
The key is to do both—at the same time. That’s the third way.
The run and transform model works: in the last 18 months, many customers have adapted to sudden, massive changes in commercial models, staff locations, supply chains, technology strategies, and market trends simply because they had no choice but to do so, while also putting in place plans to evolve to support future aspirations. They kept going with an eye on the future that was suddenly upon them.
Digital dilemma in a nutshell
Even without a global pandemic, IT organizations were committed to transformation. Statista cites spending stats of $2.1 trillion by 2023* as organizations look to plot a course out of choppier seas and towards the calmer waters of future success.
But many fingers are still hesitating above the transformation go button. IT organizations are risk-averse and do not like journeys in the unknown. Any directional changes with the potential to disrupt the everyday flow of work sits uneasily with CIOs devoted to keeping things going. Even organizations with systems and processes incompatible with the rapid growth, enhanced customer experience, or accelerated evolution of new-world business models are reluctant to accept the risk. That path is well-trodden for a reason.
And that is the digital dilemma. Balancing today and the future; current concerns against aspirations for tomorrow. Whether to risk transformational change or protect operations already under significant strain. But what if you could do both—at the same time?
How Micro Focus enables our customers to “run and transform”
We deliver mission-critical technology and services that help tens of thousands of customers worldwide manage core IT elements of their business. Strengthened by a top-10 patent portfolio and expert professional services, our broad set of technology for security, IT operations, application delivery, governance, modernization, and analytics provides the innovative solutions you need to run and transform—at the same time:
- Accelerate Application Delivery: Deliver at high speed with low risk.
- Modernize Core Applications: Evolve and innovate your trusted systems.
- Simplify IT Transformation: Cut complexity and build agility.
- Strengthen Cyber Resilience: Adapt with intelligence.
- Analyze Data in Time to Act: Accelerate prediction accuracy.&
With Micro Focus’ solutions, what had previously been daunting transformation goals become less of a systemic risk, and more of a manageable, predictable upgrade on previous IT investments. Our long-standing focus on both “staying current” and customer-centric innovation has provided a platform for continued success. The key is aligning those upgrades with tried and trusted infrastructures to support the business in finding their own way to a ‘best of both’ future.
Less a dilemma, perhaps, more a sensible digital decision.
*In 2022, spending on digital transformation is projected to reach 1.78 trillion USD. Between 2020 and 2023, direct digital transformation investments are forecast to amount to almost 7 trillion USD.
