Decoding the future of IT operating models

• Gartner forecasts worldwide IT spending to grow by 5.1% in 2022.
  
• IT businesses now seek visionary leadership to assist them in focusing on and planning software implementations, generating efficiencies, and enhancing service quality.
  
• 99% of businesses confirm that DevOps has had a positive impact on their organisation in 2020.
  

Most businesses are now on their way to digital transformation as they employ disruptive technologies to innovate goods, services and business models. Chief information officers (CIOs) have been battling to keep up with their business stakeholders' unquenchable thirst for additional digital capabilities. In fact, Gartner has predicted global IT spending to grow by 5.1% in 2022. CIOs increasingly rely on third-party vendors for the technical support they require. As a result, several CIOs have implemented multi-speed IT, increased their usage of agile approaches, or even built new digital divisions from their traditional IT departments.

While leaders around the world were focused on responding to and recuperating from COVID-19, questions concerning future operating models have appeared, and must be addressed quickly in order to successfully emerge on the other side. The global digital transformation market was valued at $521.5 billion in 2021. This is estimated to more than double to $1247.5 billion by 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 19.1% during the period.

In the past, IT was primarily seen as the back-office department in charge of providing training, configuring software, patching up hardware and equipping new hires with the appropriate technology. But today's IT operations are moving toward a more proactive and future-focused natural flow. Business leaders are becoming more aware that IT cannot just be tasked with "keeping the lights on".

IT businesses now seek visionary leadership to assist them in focusing on and planning software implementation, generating efficiencies, and enhancing service quality and environment. People in enterprises may now connect with one another, vendors and clients all across the world thanks to technological advancements.

Instances of advanced IT operating models

• Vendor collaboration

Enterprises profit from outsourcing IT tasks in a world powered by cloud services and internet of things (IoT). Businesses like the fact that they don't have to hire qualified IT workers directly. Even IT service providers, however, can take advantage of outsourcing parts of the business to other vendors as a cost-effective strategy for any growing company. Vendors deliver a product to the company, which regulates service standards and overall quality. The corporation must ensure the success of the final product by making sure the vendors are well aware of the company's service standards, and by prioritising communication and collaboration throughout the process.

• Change in work culture

To increase service delivery, quality and speed, companies are embracing cultural changes such as using Agile concepts and DevOps. In fact, 99% of businesses confirm that DevOps has had a positive impact on their organisation in 2020. Agile teams work on projects in sprints, keeping in close contact with business users all through the process. Members of the team are fluent in a variety of programming languages and use them to create on-demand cloud services that match business demands. Reinforcing the development team’s understanding of the business model, using quick prototyping procedures and understanding how IT restrictions hinder development – all of this play a part in the firm's successful operations.

• Partial integration

The IT group collaborates closely with the team to achieve specific business-focused goals in a partially-integrated approach. These models are excellent for businesses that rely on IT service delivery and results to succeed. Business transformation is the benchmark overall. IT departments should take a variety of approaches to IT integration. These comprise – establishing new positions such as Chief Innovation Officer, Business Analyst, Service Specialist, and Solution Specialist; putting in place new performance management procedures; and engaging in professional development so that IT professionals can better grasp how their work affects the organisation's value.

• Full integration

A fully-integrated company model needs IT to be present in every process of the operations. As a result, CIOs must react by expanding IT resources beyond a single back-office department and move toward a strategy that includes seamless integration across all business channels – operations, processes and corporate IT. Customer demand for enhanced service delivery is driving the need for organisation-wide digitization.

As a result of implementing this strategy, improvements can be achieved in delivery of services, both internally and externally, besides value creation. Companies that take this approach are frequently the ones that already use data and analytics to track the requirements of the clients they serve. Full integration goes a step further by allowing staff to move outside their comfort zone, create objectives and foresee client needs. IT will not only be responsible for measuring results but also for assisting in their implementation. This technique will be most effective if there is a cultural transformation. Organisations need to encourage IT teams to use customers' data points to build fresh and novel projects. A completely integrated IT culture dwells on innovation and a futuristic vision that leads the digital transformation mission!

SEE ALSO:
Google Pixel 6a vs Nothing phone (1) – price, specs and features compared

Facebook’s revenue drops for the first time ever and may fall further in the future