Research firm Gartner has listed five imperatives for CIOs to implement a ContinuousNEXT strategy in order to achieve success in a world that is constantly changing.
Five imperatives for CIOs
# Privacy
# Augmented Intelligence
# Culture
# Product Management
# Digital Twin
Gartner said organizations should be more adaptive to change, and leaders need to bring new practices, develop new capabilities and create new ways to succeed – the ContinuousNEXT approach.
“The transition to digital is undeniable and accelerating, disrupting both government and business models. These new models redefine the way organizations create, deliver, and capture value. They are challenging the way CIOs operate, bringing new mindsets and new practices to IT,” Mike Harris, executive vice president and global head of Research, told an audience of more than 9,000 CIOs and IT leaders at Gartner Symposium/ITxpo.
Nearly two-thirds of CEOs and CFOs anticipate business model change, frequently due to digital transformation, and investors are encouraging that change. They reward organizations that wrap every product and service with digital capabilities.
“They are not just interested in data. They are interested in what you do with data through advanced analytics and artificial intelligence. Leaders apply technology and information in unique and creative ways to outperform their peers,” Mike Harris said.
Dynamism
In an environment that thrives on continuous changes, Gartner’s data scientists have found that the single biggest predictor of success is organizational with Dynamism. More than just being business led, and no matter if the governance model is loose or controlled, the strongest determinant of success is dynamism. Dynamism is the ability to embrace change and adopt technology in a new way. More than three-quarters of organizations struggle with dynamism.
Privacy
Mastering privacy and creating trusted digital connections is an urgent imperative for ContinuousNEXT. If CIOs do not manage privacy, their entire digital transformation is at risk.
Many consumers have either deleted some of their social media accounts or updated their privacy settings.
CIOs have a mandate to maintain data protections on sensitive data about consumers, citizens and employees. This means putting someone in charge of a privacy management program, detecting and promptly reporting breaches, and ensuring that individuals have control of their data.
Augmented Intelligence
Augmented intelligence is the logical step beyond artificial intelligence. There is a growing public view that artificial intelligence systems will change the workforce, but Gartner does not view this as detrimental to workers.
Culture
Organizations must have a dynamic culture to enable ContinuousNEXT. However, culture is identified by 46 percent of CIOs as the largest barrier to realizing the promise of digital business. Gartner analysts said changing the culture doesn’t always have to be big, and it doesn’t always have to be hard.
Kristin Moyer, research vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said many CIOs are spending 70 percent of their time in meetings and doing email. They can free up time by cancelling status meetings and replacing them with brief, written updates. Leaders are shifting decision-making authority, so others can take action. CIOs should let the person with the “great idea” become the CEO of their idea.
Digital Product Management
Digital product management is a core imperative of ContinuousNEXT and accelerating adoption means that if CIOs don’t start soon, they may never catch up. Gartner’s 2019 CIO Agenda survey shows that top performers are twice as likely to be doing product-centric delivery.
Amazon is a retailer a tech company. Tesla is a tech company in the automobile industry. Apple is a tech company that now in the health industry.
Mark Raskino, research vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner, said product managers will apply design thinking and agile methodologies to shape user experiences.
Digital Twin
Digital twins are often used to manage physical things, such as jet engines and wind turbines through sensors and computer modeling. However, digital twins are evolving and getting more robust.
Helen Huntley, research vice president at Gartner, said CIOs that they could create a digital twin of their organization, what Gartner calls a DTO. With DTOs, CIOs can virtually see how people work, the systems and processes they touch and how work moves from department to department in their organizations. It’s like taking the roof off of their work location and looking inside.
