IT Guide: How to THRIVE in 2019

We work with IT teams every day and have seen that 2019 is a whole new landscape and for IT teams not just to survive but to THRIVE they will need to update their approach.

With the rise of AI, the Cloud and shadow IT - we have seen successful IT teams start thinking about how to partner with their business counterparts to have a real impact on the bottom line - not just how to develop another technology for the stack.

Changes Needed for 2019

Capitalize on AI - don’t fear it

Many IT managers get nervous around the mention of AI/ML, but those that see the opportunity of AI changing how they can do business “for the better” are those that will thrive in 2019. They see the rise of AI as a way to do more with less and move from obstacle to opportunity - and better control their future as a value add instead of just another technology commodity.

Turkmen Deniz, a partner at OC&C recently said in a CIO.com article, “The adoption of artificial intelligence will force IT managers to evolve if they want to stay relevant by creating an effective AI strategy.”

Better align with the business

Pratyush Rai, CIO of Kaplan Higher Education says, “It’s critical for technology managers to align their technology road map with business objectives, otherwise it’s purely a technology project and will gain very little traction within the organization.”

In our customer interactions with IT teams, we see the most success when IT and the business are aligned - specifically when it comes to how to approach digital transformation. Those IT managers that understand the business objectives and can effectively architect technical and innovative business solutions become invaluable to organizations - thriving not just surviving.  

Enterprise Architecture approach

Part of being aligned with the business is to see beyond the technology in the stack and see the organization as a “connected enterprise” with an enterprise architecture approach.

Jeanne Ross, Former Research Director and a Principal Research Scientist, at MIT Sloan School of Management says “winners in digital disruption have integrated channels, seamless end-to-end transactions, real understanding of customer data, and real tight security. And these all require an organization with enterprise architecture.”

She furthers states that to achieve digital transformation, you must have a connected enterprise that can do three things:

1. Connect Everything - connect cloud applications, on-premise legacy systems, and data stores (including people and systems)

2. Can engage everywhere - Not only automating the business process but connecting the data to the business process at the right time and place - creating “contextual data” - giving organizations a better way to deliver engaging customer experiences and direct influence of the bottom line.

3. Run everywhere - deploys applications wherever it makes the most business sense: public cloud, private cloud, hybrid or on-premises.

How Can we Help?

Hundreds of architecture and digital transformation teams are trusting the Put It Forward Contextual Data Automation Network to achieve these outcomes. Users have access to hundreds of pre-built connectors leveraged in a configuration based approach. Capable of stateful and stateless processing, data can be manipulated, qualified, cleaned, or altered in any way as it transfers between endpoints. Sitting on top of that, we layer on a suite of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence algorithms that help the business achieve critical outcomes. As teams utilize Put It Forward, they can spend less time maintaining technology debt of the past and focus on developing new strategic capabilities for the future.

Check out our Digital Transformation Case Study and see how our Contextual Data Automation Network helps IT teams capitalize on AI, better align with the business and connect the enterprise with one seamless and secure platform. Interested in learning more about our solution, contact us directly and we will see how we can help.

About the Author: Mark Cowan is the Chief Data Officer at Put it Forward, the Data Automation Network. He has contributed to the definition of several global data standards, patents for data management, distributed system integration and financial systems. Mark is a recognized expert in system design, integration, and business enablement.