We have moved from the Internet era in the early 2000s to the cloud era today; however, we will soon transition into the Matrix era – the Matrix being the term the Leading Edge Forum (LEF) uses to describe the intersection of multiple game-changing technologies that will drive significant change in the world in which we live and do business. The synergistic combination of cloud computing and machine intelligence – both of which are developing rapidly – will increasingly be able to perform just about everything that companies and individuals do, and much more. How should IT organizations prepare?
How does this impact the IT organization?
As part of our ongoing research into the future of enterprise IT, for the past six months, we have been studying organizations that are at all stages of this evolution, and we will soon publish the findings. Some things are immediately clear. First, to protect against the unpredictable events disrupting your world, your organization needs to be designed for constant evolution. You will have to be able to sense, learn, and respond to situations quickly before you are left behind. Second, you urgently need to develop the ability to extract value from the technological evolution going on around you. These changes are more predictable but unremitting.
Unfortunately, traditional “enterprise IT” is not designed to optimally deliver either of these aims, but our research has shown how the IT organization can achieve them over time by undertaking its own evolutionary journey. It’s clear that each organization’s journey will be different. They are each starting from a different position and are subject to varied “climatic” conditions that will impact the speed they need to evolve at, and the most pressing issues they need to resolve.
The research used the Wardley mapping framework, developed by the LEF’s Simon Wardley, and applied it to the evolution of the IT organization. The LEF’s Glen Robinson and Bill Murray cross-referenced this with real-life examples gathered from the technology leadership of organizations that are either mature in their evolution, in the midst of their own evolution, or not yet started. Our research has revealed the stages organizations have to progress through as well as the different routes they can take in order to get to the utopia state of an IT organization designed for constant evolution.
Evolutionary stages and routes
Stage 1 – Situational awareness
Our research found that many organizations are very much in the dark about their current situation. The Wardley mapping process enables organizations to better understand the competitive landscape they are operating in, and to see where to attack and where to defend. It also helps develop an improved set of data to make decisions needed for Stage 2.
Stage 2 – Preparation for constant evolution
This stage is about developing the IT organization so that it can operate with one foot in the new world while still managing the legacy. Your legacy systems can be toxic, constraining your business and preventing it from evolving, but there are ways to work with the legacy at the same time as embracing the new and driving innovation across the entire business. Stage 2 involves using specific but complementary operating models that work in harmony with each other.
Stage 3 – Exploiting the Matrix
By now you will have a plan for dealing with the toxic elements, to be organizationally ready to embrace the new, and can make the changes needed to fully exploit the Matrix yet still defend the areas of your business under attack. There are common “gameplay” strategies used at this stage of evolution to disrupt and to protect against disruption.
The future IT organization
With the pace of technology evolution and the disruption that will be brought by the Matrix, what is in store for the IT organization of the future? Many of the tasks we are doing today won’t be done tomorrow, and new tasks are coming that will require new types of skills and workers. This is both predictable and inevitable. As we enter the Matrix era, it is imperative that organizations are well on their way to being built for constant evolution. The IT organization is the place to start.
The LEF is DXC Technology’s commercial think tank. To learn more, click HERE.
Source: HBR
How to Design Your IT Organization for Constant Evolution – SPONSOR CONTENT FROM DXC TECHNOLOGY
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