ICT News South Africa

#GartnerSYM: The next phase of digital transformation

Digital business transformation is upon us. Enterprises, small and large, have recognised the power of technology to transform their ability to deliver value. But where do we go from here?

The Gartner Symposium/ITxpo in Cape Town is taking place at the recently opened Cape Town International Convention Centre 2, from 17 to 19 September 2018. It will see thousands of chief information officers (CIOs) and senior executives from South Africa, Africa, Europe and the US gather to explore the strategic trends and technologies that are driving digital transformation and shaping the future of IT and business alike.

Mike Harris, executive vice-president of research at Gartner
Mike Harris, executive vice-president of research at Gartner

In the opening keynote address, which took place on Monday, 17 September 2018, representatives from Gartner connected the dots on the digital journey - from culture to technologies, to strategy to operating models. How and and what can you do to adapt to a world of continuous change? And what does the future hold?

As we already know, digital business is a theme that covers how the blurring of the physical and virtual worlds is transforming business designs, industries, markets and organisations. In the continuing digital business evolution, exploitation of new digital models to align more closely with the physical and digital worlds for employees, partners and customers is taking place.

Technology has and continues to be embedded in everything in the digital business of the future. Rich digital services will be delivered to everything and intelligence will be embedded in everything behind the scenes.

Think about how far your business has come in the last five years, or even your career and the transformation that has taken place. Perhaps you have shifted into cloud computing or improving business value through the use of IT in your business.

Some of these changes may have come to your organisation gradually, strategically or unexpectedly, forcing you and your business teams to react quickly to what's next.

And now you face the prospect of digital transformation. Impacting not only the IT organisation, but the entire enterprise, and not only how information is managed but also impacting on how the business value is generated.

How will you rise to the challenge?

If you pursue the right strategy and rapidly adapt to what's next, you will be able to deal with sustained and rapid change, using the approach that Gartner calls ContinuousNext.

ContinuousNext is a strategy to achieve success in a world that is constantly changing. There's a simple formula, says Mike Harris, EVP, Research at Gartner.
It begins with mindsets accepting and embracing perpetual change. Mindsets lead to new practices, which are then amplified by technology. Leading to new capabilities, which when applied, yield new results - continuously and with increasing momentum.
ContinuousNext relates to culture; privacy; augmented intelligence, where humans and learning machines work together; as well as product management, as a discipline and Digital Twin.
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